The paper contains a comprehensive analysis of the amendments made to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation by Federal Laws No. 3-FZ dated January 28, 2022 and No. 38-FZ dated March 06, 2022. Noting the next round of strengthening criminal repression for pedophile assaults, the author draws attention to the legislative bias in assessing the public danger of acts, since rape or violent sexual acts committed against two or more minors are punished more severely than the murder of these victims. Having identified technical and legal flaws in the content of Part 5 of Articles 131 and 132 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the author identifies issues that may arise when qualifying violent sexual crimes committed against two or more minors; involving the commission of another grave or especially grave crime against the person; with a special relapse. Critically assessing the content of Part 3 of Article 133 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the author raises the question of the validity of strengthening criminal liability for group coercion to sexual acts only against minors (paragraph «a«); attribution of «use of mass media» to the number of signs that increase the public danger of harassment. The author pays special attention to one of the obvious defects of the norms of Chapter 18 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which violate the principles of equality and justice, namely, the normative separation according to the degree of public danger of sexual intercourse and sodomy or lesbianism with a person under the age of 16, which does not correspond to the principle of gender equality. The conducted legal analysis testifies not to the consistent normative implementation of the strategic course, but to the spontaneity of decisions aimed at solving particular problems.

The actively defended idea of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on the inclusion of an offencse  of criminal misconduct in the criminal legislation was reflected in the revised draft federal law submitted to the  Parliament on October 13, 2020. The purpose of the study is to determine the key changes in the content of the  institutions of criminal misconduct and other measures of a criminal law nature proposed for consolidation in the  Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, to assess the objective need of the reforms initiated by the Supreme  Court of the Russian Federation. The methodological basis is a set of methods of scientific knowledge. General  scientific (analysis and synthesis, dialectics) and specific scientific research methods (system structural, formal legal)  were used. A comparative analysis of draft laws allows us to classify the substantive content of acts constituting a  criminal misconduct as key changes and the modification of other measures of a criminal legal nature. The authors  critically assess the idea underlying the classification of acts as criminal misconduct. By laying in the criteria for  the isolation of acts that are minimal in terms of the degree of danger, not legally significant elements of corpus  delicti, but the types and amount of punishments, the lack of criminal experience, the interests of the business  community, the developers of the draft law violate the system of law, since the proposed approach excludes the  assessment of the public danger of the act based on the significance of the protected by the criminal the law of  public relations. The meaning of the differentiation of criminal liability declared by the initiator of the reforms is  lost with the proposed duplication of other measures applied both to persons who have committed a criminal  misconduct and to those guilty of committing crimes of small or medium gravity, and the proposed conditional  nature of other measures levels the idea of liberalizing the criminal law. The paper focuses on the provisions of  the project that require revision and additional comprehension.

Orientation: Mediation is becoming an increasingly popular conciliatory procedure, which makes it possible to increase the psychological protection of parties in disputes in educational, social environment and legal practice.Research purpose: To develop and empirically confirm the model of mediators’ professional competencies to determine the features of mediators’ professional competencies and personal characteristics in the conciliation procedure with varying degrees of success.Motivation for the study: Today, the profession of mediator is becoming increasingly popular; however, there is not enough information in scientific literature about the issues of specialists’ professional suitability to training and experience, desirable personality traits and competencies.Research approach/ design and method: A total of 103 mediators from the Russian Arkhangelsk region took part in the study. Research methods include psychological testing using Bardin and Presnov’s ‘11 personality factors’, Costa and McCray’s Five-Factor Personality Questionnaire adapted by Bodunov and Biryukov and questioning (the author’s self-assessment questionnaire of mediators’ professional competencies). Statistical processing was carried out using descriptive statistics, correlation (Pearson’s χ2), multivariate variance and stepwise multiple regression analysis using the SPSS 23 software package.Main findings: The mediators’ professional competence model includes communication, conflict management, problem analysis, planning and self-control. A self-assessment questionnaire for mediators’ professional competencies, which can be used by the 360-degree method, has been developed and tested. A conclusion was made that the success of a conciliation procedure is influenced by such personal qualities as self-control, communication, curiosity and morality. From the list of mediators’ professional qualities, compiled by the authors, the following ones directly influence the success of mediation: activity, specificity, openness, poise, organisation, responsibility and communication skills.Practical/managerial implications: It is necessary to provide additional support for novice mediators, because this will facilitate more active involvement in activities, conduct more conciliation process and subsequently lead to increased success.Contribution/value-add: The developed questionnaire for assessing professional competencies will help in the training and selection of mediators. It will allow us to highlight what key and specific competencies of the mediator hinder the achievement of a successful result in the rehabilitation procedure and require development.

Consumer lending services are among the most demanded in the financial market. The high socio-economic significance of the activities of entities providing consumer loans is increasing in the context of regional imbalances in the implementation of banking services and the focus of credit institutions on clients with a certain income and stable income. Solving the problems of the availability of financial services for citizens living in small settlements, as well as persons who cannot receive funds from credit institutions due to low income, negative credit history, lack of collateral, microcredit organizations increase the purchasing power of the population, maintain the standard of living socially vulnerable citizens, stimulate the country's economy, involving (through investment) low-income strata in economic processes, making tax payments. The increased requirements for professional lenders determined the expansion of the illegal financial services sector, supported by high consumer demand. In order to counteract the illegal activities of illegal creditors and protect the interests of consumers of credit services, the legislator established administrative and criminal liability.The analysis of the current norms, which provide for liability for illegal activities for the provision of consumer loans (loans), carried out in the course of the study, made it possible to identify technical and legal flaws in the content of Art. 14.56 of the Administrative Code and enshrined in 2021 Art. 171.5 of the Criminal Code.Having identified the problems arising in the implementation of Art. 14.56 of the Administrative Code in practice, the author proposes to exclude from the disposition of this norm the signs that specify the subject of an administrative offense (legal entity, individual entrepreneur). The inevitability of the liability of illegal usurers will be ensured by changing the approach to determining the moment when illegal professional activities for the provision of consumer loans (Art. 14.56 of the Administrative Code) are concluded from the date of the conclusion of the consumer loan agreement on the day the creditor submits executive documents for organizing the enforcement of court decisions on the collection of the corresponding debt.Having determined the disposition of Art. 171.5 of the Criminal Code casually, with a triple reference-blanketness, the legislator not only deviated from the rules of legal technique, but also disoriented the law enforcement officer in the content of the criminal law prohibition. The author substantiates the proposals to state Art. 171.5 of the Criminal Code in a new edition, excluding the name of the violated law and detailing the signs of the subject of the crime. As crimi-forming signs, the composition covered by Art. 171.5 of the Criminal Code, it was proposed to determine alternatively: the large size of consumer loans (loans) issued by an illegal lender (over 2 million 250 thousand rubles); administrative punishment of a person under Art. 14.56 of the Administrative Code.