Occupation Of The Highest Position In Criminal Hierarchy: Interpretation Of Evaluative Signs

Abstract

Currently, there is not a single state in the world that has not encountered, to one degree or another, the unlawful activity of criminal communities (criminal organizations). They are characterized by a transnational character, a clear hierarchical structure that saves leaders from direct participation in the commission of crimes, a financial base, merging with the state apparatus, diversification, and widespread use of the achievements of science, technology, information telecommunication technologies. The Russian Federation, in the organized crime hierarchy, the highest position occupied by the so-called "criminal lord", who are the ideologists of a criminal pursuits and keepers of organized crime traditions. They involve young people in unlawful activities, introduce thievish concepts into their minds, and thereby prepare fertile ground for the crime reproduction. In prisons, they try to subjugate the convicts to their will, set them negatively against the correctional administrations, oppress and discredit those who have embarked on the path of correction. "Criminal lord" also perform the functions of a kind of arbitrators, resolving conflicts that periodically arise between criminal communities and their participants. Despite the criminalization of occupying the highest position in the criminal hierarchy (Article 210¹ of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), the legislator does not disclose the most significant features of this crime. As a result, the concepts of "criminal hierarchy" and "highest position in the criminal hierarchy" are evaluative, which leads to errors in law enforcement, negatively affects the quality of compliance with the principles of legality, equality, justice, and humanism.