The monograph examines the social and legal nature of the category "national security" as a socially significant good, an object of criminal law protection and a general object of crimes. The existence of a specific "sphere of crimes and crime" in public life is substantiated, its general characteristics are given, and the state of crime is analyzed as one of the most dangerous threats to national security in modern conditions. The problem of ensuring national security by criminal law means, the place and role of criminal policy and criminal law in the policy of combating crime and ensuring the national security of Russia are considered. Defines the concept of criminal law impact as a law-mediated reaction of the state to crime and crime, one of the key directions of the policy of combating crime, a comprehensive criminal law institution and one of the elements of the mechanism for ensuring national security. The publication is intended for students, postgraduates, researchers, teachers of law schools, employees of law enforcement agencies and all persons interested in the problems of law and law enforcement.