Crime Series of Modern Russia: a Criminological Analysis

Abstract

The authors provide a criminological view on series about criminals and those who should counteract them, which are broadcast in primetime and continue to be popular for a long time after their premiers. From the culturological standpoint, crime series in new Russia demonstrate an evident degradation, manifested in the glorification of those whom Fyodr M. Dostoyevsky called «murderers and prostitutes». The unceremonious crossing of the «red line» of moral prohibitions is highly meaningful - it represents the ideology of nihilism, permissiveness, and dehumanization of a person. A typical feature of Russian crime series is copying the West, and propaganda of Western club culture that is unimaginable without drugs. It is persistently impressed upon the viewers that drug-dealing business is protected by corrupt law enforcement officers. Crime series are often either explicitly or implicitly aimed at creating a negative image of law enforcement agencies: police officers do not only «protect» the business, but commit intentional crimes; prosecutors, as a rule, have close links with criminals, and customs officers - with smugglers. The negative picture presented by the series is aggravated by numerous legal blunders. Endless distortions of Russian legislation together with a typical readiness of servants of the law to violate it give some people the idea that vigilante justice and righteous revenge are admissible. The relative number of people sympathizing with the idea of vigilante justice is high and rather stable. It is an obvious symptom of the pathology of social organism indicating that the processes of the de-organization of legitimate power are under way. Some scholars assess such processes positively in their research, as manifestations of legal pluralism and community justice. It is an attempt to legalize the archaic forms of resolving conflicts in society. Modern experience of the break-up of states shows that when the state ceases to be the regulator of certain spheres of public life, its place is eventually taken by criminals. It is only possible to counteract this by strengthening the state power on the constitutional basis.