On some practical aspects of criminological characteristics of crimes committed in the sphere of execution of punishments of Ukraine

Abstract

As practice has shown, in order to organize effective activities to prevent the commission of certain crimes, sometimes there is a lack of information regarding their content and nature. In criminology, such a generalization of data on a specific crime is called a criminological characteristic.

Particularly urgent is the problem identified in the field of punishment, one of the key tasks of which is the prevention of recidivism in Ukraine. Moreover, both in the rules of substantive law (in particular, in Part 2 of Article 50 of the Criminal Code (hereinafter referred to as the Criminal Code) of Ukraine), and in the rules of criminal law (Part 1 of Article 1 of the Penal Code of the KVC) systematic elements of the purpose of punishment include activities to prevent the commission of new crimes by both convicted persons and others.

However, due to the low effectiveness of this type of preventive activity, including the lack of information about the perpetrator and, in general, the environment, the causes and conditions that determined the commission of a crime, etc. - the number of crimes perpetrated in the penitentiary agencies and institutions annually (GDP) of Ukraine per 1,000 prisoners is unchanged (even if the total number of these persons is reduced by several times). For example, in 1991, convicts serving a sentence of imprisonment were charged with 800 crimes per 153 thousand persons held in prisons (the rate per 1,000 prisoners was 3.9 crimes (in 1990, 4.44).

In 1991, the colony staff committed 19 crimes. In 1999 (the first year of self-functioning of bodies and PECs within the system of state executive bodies in Ukraine), 429 crimes were registered by convicts who were being held in PUPs (crime rate was 3.85 crimes), while the total number of these persons increased by 10 -year period is almost 10 thousand (up to 164 thousand convicts), and with the participation of police personnel – 6 crimes.

In 2010 (the last period of independent activity of bodies and institutions of punishment execution), 404 crimes were committed by convicts who served their sentences in the prison (the crime rate per 1,000 persons was 3, 52 (in 2009 – 3.85), while reducing the number of convicts by 34 thousand (up to 130 thousand 380 convicts)), and with the participation of the staff of the prison - 93 persons.

In 2016 (the time of active reforms in the sphere of punishment and full subordination of bodies and institutions of execution of sentences to the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine), 298 crimes were committed by convicts, who had a crime rate of 4.91 per 1 thousand persons (in 2015 – 6.54), while reducing the total number of convicts by more than 13% compared to 2015. At the same time, 102 crimes were committed by police personnel in 2016 (111 in 2015).

Thus, if we summarize the crime rates in the sphere of execution of sentences during the 26-year period (1991-2016), it should be noted that, despite the significant decrease in the number of convicts who have served sentences in the penal institutions (correctional centers) and gated (correctional and correctional colonies) (part 2, 3, article 11 of the KVC of Ukraine), from 152 thousand persons in 1991 to 61 thousand sentenced in 2016, the crime rate of these persons in the calculation per 1 thousand from 3.9 crimes in 1991 increased to 4.91 in 2016.

Similar negative trends were also observed with the staff of the GDP, the number of crimes committed from 19 in 1991 to 102 in 2016 (an increase of 5.4 times by 81.4%).

Thus, there is a complex applied problem that in the conditions of holding in Ukraine the measures defined in the Concept of reforming (development) of the penitentiary system of Ukraine, approved in September 2017 by the decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, needs to be solved, including at the doctrinal level.

These circumstances led to the choice of the topic of this scientific article, and defined its main task - to prove the need for more active and effective use in the field of punishment of Ukraine opportunities criminological characteristics – as one of the effective means of information support of this type of social and preventive activity.