Crime prevention

The terms “crime prevention”, “crime prevention”, and “crime prevention” are also often used in literature and regulations. Some authors do not consider it necessary to highlight some semantic nuances of these concepts and consider them as synonyms for the general concept of “crime prevention” ^[3] , but there are still certain semantic differences between them ^[4] .

The concept of “crime prevention” can be understood both in a broad and a narrow sense. Broadly understood, prevention is synonymous with prevention. In the narrow sense of the word, prevention is considered to be measures aimed at identifying and eliminating the causes and conditions of specific criminal acts, as well as at identifying persons potentially capable of committing a crime, with the aim of implementing a targeted preventive effect ^[5] . Such activity is one of the stages of a comprehensive crime prevention.

The prevention of crime is reduced to the suppression of criminal activity at the initial stage, when the offender only plans, plans to commit a certain act (that is, at the stage when his activity is not yet criminally punishable ).

Crime prevention takes place when the process of committing a crime is stopped by external influence at the stage of preparation or attempt, when the offender is only preparing the means or tools for committing a crime, looking for accomplices , conspiring to commit a crime, or when the process of criminal attack is stopped before it has been achieved target, caused criminal harm .

The significance of crime prevention was still clear to the thinkers of antiquity and the New Age . Cesare Beccaria wrote:

Better to prevent crimes than punish them. This is the goal of any good legislation, which, in essence, is the art of leading people to the highest happiness, or to the least possible unhappiness, if we talk from the point of view of the relationship between good and evil in our lives.

- Beccaria C. On crimes and punishments. M., 1995.S. 123

According to most criminologists, crime prevention is more effective than other methods of combating crime ^[6] . The damage done by crime to society is enormous. On the "black account" of crime, not only material losses, but also lives taken away by killers , mutilated fates. The higher the crime rate , the higher the indirect costs associated with it associated with ensuring the activities of law enforcement agencies , the exclusion of a significant part of the population from the process of social reproduction.

Crime prevention aims to prevent this damage from occurring. Preventive measures implemented in the early stages of the formation of a criminal personality allow “small blood” to carry out the re-socialization of a potential criminal, returning him to normal life in society.

Crime prevention activities are carried out ^[7] by affecting:

• Causes and conditions of crimes related to society as a whole and specific citizens who are not criminals (potential victims of crimes). It is necessary to influence criminogenic factors common to all types of crimes, such as unemployment , illegal migration , etc. Victimological prevention of crimes aimed at correcting the behavior of potential victims can be considered a separate type of preventive activity.
• The processes of self-determination and self-reproduction of crime and individual criminals. Special preventive action is needed that focuses on the most dangerous types of crime , such as organized crime .
• Separate “hot spots” where society and crime clash in the process of monitoring and law enforcement .

Crime prevention can be either a separate area of ​​activity of a state or public body or a specific person, or act as a by-product of its actions. In accordance with this, it is possible to distinguish specialized and non-specialized subjects of crime prevention ^[8] .

In the activities of specialized entities, crime prevention is the main or one of the main areas. Such entities traditionally include law enforcement agencies : the court , the prosecutor's office , the police , state security services , customs , etc. In Russia , the Security Council of the Russian Federation also performs the functions of crime prevention. In 1997-1998 the Interdepartmental Commission for the Social Prevention of Crimes functioned ^[9] , ^[10] .

Specialized entities also include regulatory bodies: tax, antitrust, sanitary and epidemiological , environmental , financial and other types of supervision and control.

Among non-state actors that carry out crime prevention as part of their main activities in the literature include public organizations and persons assisting law enforcement agencies in the implementation of law enforcement ( voluntary people's squads , public law enforcement agencies, non-staff employees and public law enforcement assistants), private security enterprises and security services, specialized media .

The circle of non-specialized subjects is not clearly defined. Almost all organizations and citizens participate in the crime prevention process, creating jobs, landscaping their territories, organizing leisure activities of minors , etc.

Depending on the scope of the prevention measures, criminologists distinguish a general, special and individual crime prevention ^[11] .

General Crime Prevention

The roots of crime always lie in negative social phenomena, social, political, economic and spiritual problems inherent in a particular society. Therefore, the most effective in terms of reducing the number of crimes committed in the long term are measures aimed at strengthening the economy , providing the population with jobs , social programs to improve living standards, creating a positive moral climate in society, suppressing crime-related phenomena such as drunkenness and drug addiction , vagrancy , poverty , illegal migration , interethnic and other conflicts.

Of course, in relation to many of the listed phenomena (for example, unemployment and alcohol abuse), there can be no talk of their complete elimination. However, targeted measures taken by the state and society can significantly reduce their negative impact: for example, good organization and financing of employment services can not only reduce unemployment , but also improve the living standards of internally unemployed, keep them from moral degradation and resort to illegal means of generating income ; competent organization of anti-alcohol propaganda and ensuring access of youth to non-drinking forms of leisure (sports, creativity, political activity) can lead to a significant reduction in alcohol consumption by the group most vulnerable to its negative effects - youth and minors.

The general prevention measures include the creation of a public administration system transparent to public control, which prevents the emergence and operation of corruption schemes.

In general, general crime prevention is aimed at ensuring a decent human existence in society, creating conditions for achieving normal needs (housing, material wealth, work, leisure and recreation) by legal means.

The development and implementation of general warning measures is carried out by all state bodies with the involvement of specialists from different fields: economists, sociologists, politicians, managers, psychologists, etc. Criminologists also participate in this process, providing analytical reviews of statistical data, predicting the effectiveness of the proposed measures in terms of their impact on crime and carrying out criminological expertise of normative acts and socio-economic programs.

Special Crime Prevention

A special warning is carried out by influencing social groups , individuals and organizations or areas of activity, in respect of which there is reason to believe that they have increased criminogenicity or victimization .

For example, the increased criminogenicity of an individual can be determined by the previous facts of the commission of crimes (in this case, a criminological warning is aimed at preventing relapse ), administrative and official offenses, immoral acts, behavior that clearly does not correspond to the social role played , goals that cannot be achieved for a given person using legal means. The criminogenic characteristics of social groups are similar: this may include the antisocial, protest orientation of the group, political or social radicalism , which contradict moral attitudes and value systems inherent in society as a whole.

Certain areas of activity and facilities may also be more prone to committing crimes, for example, due to their attractiveness to criminals (storage of material assets), weak legal and technical security, and lack of transparency for state and public control, which creates the conditions for organizing “shadow” activities. It is necessary to take into account the victimological aspect: due to their personal characteristics (for example, a tendency to abuse alcohol), membership in a social ( homeless ) or professional group (taxi drivers, security guards, collectors), some people are more often victims of crime. In relation to such areas of activity, facilities and persons, special prevention should also be carried out, aimed at increasing their protection from committing crimes.

A. I. Dolgova identifies the following varieties of measures for the special prevention of crime ^[12] :

• Early crime prevention. Preventive measures can be proactive, developed and implemented based on forecasts that predict a possible increase in the criminality of individual social factors. So, for example, if the state plans to weaken the migration regime or other circumstances that increase the influx of migrants are expected to take effect, measures are needed to create enough jobs for migrants, ensure their social, economic and domestic integration in society, and prevent possible conflicts at the national and racial soil.
• The immediate prevention of crime is aimed at neutralizing the criminogenic factors already existing in society. For example, deficiencies in legislation governing economic and financial activities can lead to the formation of “gray” economic schemes when there are no direct violations of the law, but trade and financial flows are excluded from the scope of state control. Such schemes easily grow into a system of economic criminal activity , generate corruption and lead to the emergence of organized criminal groups . Therefore, measures aimed at returning such categories of subjects to the legal field are important: improving legislation, simplifying legal procedures related to economic activity, tax and financial amnesties .
• The prevention of self-determination of crime is associated with the suppression of the activities of organized criminal groups and individual criminals, aimed at involving more and more new individuals and public groups in crime . Self-determination of crime occurs at all social levels, starting with the state and society as a whole (by lobbying organized crime for laws that facilitate criminal activity, corruption of senior state officials, propaganda of values ​​associated with the criminal lifestyle - “criminal romance”) and ending with interpersonal relationships . Accordingly, measures aimed at counteracting the self-determination of crime should be comprehensive in nature: from creating a positive moral and legal climate in society, an atmosphere of intolerance towards crime and its manifestations, and allowing individuals who have previously committed crimes to realize their personal potential by legal means.

Among the main principles of both general and special crime prevention, all criminologists call legality . The use of discriminatory preventive measures is unacceptable, unreasonably restricting the rights and legitimate interests of citizens.

Individual Crime Prevention

The addressee of an individual warning, which can be considered as one of the types of special warning, is a specific person whose personal characteristics objectively indicate the possibility of a criminal act being committed in the future.

The object of an individual warning can be both the person himself, his negative social qualities, and the social microenvironment that surrounds him (family, life, work collective).

The need to apply an individual preventive effect to a person is determined by establishing a complex of related criminogenic factors :

• The commission of past offenses and immoral acts.
• Deformed value orientations, incomplete socialization of a person, low level of legal awareness .
• The presence of pathological mental disorders that are criminogenic in nature (some mental abnormalities , sexual deviations , etc.).
• The formation of personality in a social environment that is unfavorable: in an incomplete family, in conditions of immoral and unlawful behavior of parents and close relatives, etc.
• Unfavorable living conditions: poor material and housing conditions, negative social climate, etc.

Since an individual preventive effect is carried out in relation to persons who have not yet committed a crime, and is associated with a certain invasion of the sphere of private life , during its implementation law enforcement and other bodies should not go beyond the limits of permissible impact. The application of restrictive and coercive measures is possible only in relation to certain categories of persons specified in the law (for example, conditionally convicted or committed offenses).

In view of this, the main method used in individual crime prevention is the persuasion method . This method is aimed at forming a person's positive ideas about society, correcting negative social orientations by using pedagogical and psychological methods of influence.

The main way of persuading is a conversation , which is a free dialogue with the person. The conversation can be held for various purposes. It can be exploratory in nature, when it is necessary to establish contact with a person, receive "first-hand" information about the characteristics of his personality, social conditions. Subsequent conversations may be warning (informing the person about the possible consequences of his actions) or educational in nature. In addition to conversations, the methods of persuasion include involving a person in social organizations and groups that can have a positive educational impact on him: sports sections, labor and creative groups, public organizations .

More difficult to apply, although a more effective method of assisting . It is associated with the implementation of specific measures aimed at personal development and improving the social situation of a person: sending him to work or study , improving living conditions, and creating a favorable micro-social environment .

Finally, if persuasion and relief were ineffective, a coercive method could be used. If persuasion and assistance should be carried out mainly by state social services and public organizations, then the use of coercive measures is the prerogative of law enforcement agencies . Among the main coercive measures used in the framework of individual crime prevention are:

• Measures of administrative responsibility , bearing both punitive (for example, a fine ), and socio-improving character (isolation from society through administrative arrest or administrative detention ).
• Compulsory treatment of alcoholism and drug addiction , aimed not only at improving the health status of a person, but also at preventing the commission of illegal acts as a result of alcohol or drug degradation of the person.
• Suppression of violations of restrictions imposed on a person as a result of conducting unlawful activities (for example, as a result of probation or parole ).

Special types of individual warnings are the prevention of child neglect and juvenile delinquency ^[13] , as well as the identification of persons who have committed unsolved crimes who can continue criminal activities ( investigative and operational-search activities ).

Other grounds for classifying crime prevention measures

Crime prevention measures may be classified on other grounds. So, G. M. Minkovsky, depending on territorial and social coverage, distinguishes:

• National measures.
• Regional measures implemented in a separate administrative-territorial entity (region, district).
• Local measures limited to one municipality or town.
• Objective measures implemented in a particular organization.
• Contingent measures aimed at certain social groups .

The same author classifies preventive measures according to the content and main direction of impact, highlighting:

• Socio-economic measures related to improving the living standards of the population, the provision of social guarantees.
• Measures related to socio-legal control based on transparency and accessibility for checking the decision-making process by state bodies and officials , conducting business activities, and managing financial flows.
• Organizational and managerial measures based on increasing the efficiency of law enforcement and other state bodies due to the better organization of work of their employees.
• Ideological and moral measures involving the formation in society of beliefs and value orientations associated with law-abiding behavior.
• Socio-psychological measures aimed at suppressing negative criminal trends and attitudes in society, for example, associated with nationalism , increased anxiety, fear of social cataclysms.
• Medical and psychological-pedagogical measures related to the prevention of the spread of socially dangerous diseases , the treatment of persons with mental disorders , psychological and social correction of the behavior of desocialized subjects.
• Technical measures, including the installation of technical means that complicate the commission of crimes (burglar alarms , smoke and smoke alarm systems ), or that allow monitoring activities related to the possibility of committing crimes ( cash registers , video surveillance cameras ), as well as information security measures.
• Legal measures related to the improvement of criminal law and other legal acts that are the basis for the fight against crime.

• Criminology: Textbook for universities / Under total. ed. A. I. Dolgovoy . 3rd ed., Revised. and add. M., 2007.S. 435-467. ISBN 5-89123-931-0 . The authors of the chapters are A. I. Dolgova and E. I. Petrov.
• Criminology: Textbook / I. Ya. Kozachenko, K.V. Korsakov. M .: NORMA-INFRA-M, 2011 .-- 304 p. ISBN 978-5-91768-209-9 .
• Criminology: Textbook / Ed. N.F. Kuznetsova, V.V. Luneeva. 2nd ed., Revised. and add. M., 2004.S. 185-219. ISBN 5-466-00019-1 . The author of the chapter is Minkovsky G. M.
• Criminology: Textbook / Ed. V.N. Kudryavtseva, V.E. Eminova. 3rd ed., Revised. and add. M., 2005.S. 264-291. ISBN 5-7975-0647-5 . The author of the chapter is V. Eminov.