Liability for white-collar crimes in Ukraine: Theoretical and enforcement issues

Abstract

This paper raises current theoretical and practical issues related to the implementation of a comprehensive mechanism of liability for economic criminal offences in Ukraine. The purpose of this study is to identify the main problem areas in the criminal law security of economic relations and to develop conceptual advice on their elimination. The paper uses a wide range of methodological tools (including comparative, historical, systemic, Aristotelian (dogmatic), modelling), which enabled a comprehensive and critical analysis of the current state and prospects for improving the criminal regulation of economic relations in the country. The results of the study are designed to promote the development of a unified conceptual model of protection of the national economy through criminal law. It is established that the prolonged economic crisis and distortions of market relations continue to adversely affect the state and dynamics of economic crime. The author’s opinion is also argued that since criminal law measures cannot objectively have a positive effect on economic processes, they can be relied on only to eliminate certain adverse consequences of economic activity. The study substantiated that the term “criminal offences against the market economy” in the context denoting the crimes for which responsibility is prescribed by Section VII of the Special Part of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, successfully passes conditional verification for compliance with the name of this structural part of the Criminal Code. Over the past five years, Ukraine’s criminal law policy on combating crimes in the sphere of economic activity has not undergone radical changes. Finally, there are hopes for the active development of legal research to become a reliable foundation for quality law-making to optimise the statutory framework in terms of criminal law response to economic and financial torts.