Organized Crime in the Soviet and Russian State, and the Need for Its Neutralization

Abstract

The article discusses issues related to the functioning of an organized criminal community in the Soviet and modern Russian state. The process of criminalization of Russian society after the collapse of the USSR is traced. In order to weaken the criminal influence on law-abiding citizens, especially young people, it is very important to suppress the propaganda of the “romance” of a criminal lifestyle in the media. Modern Russian society needs works, television programs, and films that would show what colossal harm the criminal bosses and leaders of criminal groups and their followers inflict on the people; how, drawing into the orbit of their influence, they morally cripple adolescents and youth; the tragedy of a person who has bought on the “romance” of the underworld. Without significant support from the media, the efforts of law enforcement agencies in confronting the underworld will be useless. The initiative put forward by the president of the country will undoubtedly entail an intensification of the struggle against the leaders in the criminal hierarchy. However, it will hardly be possible to suppress organized crime with the help of criminal law measures alone. For these purposes, it is also necessary to widely use the experience of applying organizational and preventive measures used in different years in the fight against the criminal community.