COVID-19 and criminality in Russia

Abstract

At the present time, the global community is facing unprecedented development of a pandemic which has created a threat to internal and external security of countries. The COVID-19 containment policy helped minimize the negative consequences of governmental, social, information, environmental and economic nature and, to a greater extent, negative effects on personal safety. The authors consider Russian and foreign researches on the issue of qualitative and quantitative assessment of the negative effects of the deadly virus. The detected trends and patterns of criminality in Russia in the period of the pandemic will help develop effective measures for the prevention of delinquencies. The system approach used for explaining the dynamic rates of transformation of criminality deserves high attention. Besides, the authors use the comparative-legal, the logic-legal and the statistical research methods. The main result of the research is the analysis of the state of criminality in Russia in the period of lockdown. The detected positive and negative indicators are explained in terms of changed circumstances. Special attention is given to criminal activities involving information technologies in the context of their duplication. All the above mentioned factors require urgent steps to be taken aimed at the prevention of delinquencies involving information and telecommunication technologies. A comprehensive approach is needed along with a prompt response aimed at the prevention of mass victimization of vulnerable segments of the population.