On Criminological Aspects of Restricting the Right to be Elected in Counteracting Corruption

Abstract

A vital component of state anti-corruption policy is the prevention of people whose personal qualities determine their ability to commit offences from taking up public offices, including elected ones. The author believes that personal qualities determining unlawful behavior should be viewed as a major contra-indication to holding elected office at any level. Taking into account the criminological theory and the results of socio-psychological research, such personal qualities are viewed as criminogenic dispositions of a personality - inclination (readiness) to perceive and evaluate life situations, as well as to act in such situations in an unlawful way that is fixed in this persons social experience. Based on the criminal cases of corruption in recent years involving the leaders of a number of Russian regions and large cities, it is possible to say that there has emerged a real social contradiction between criminological counter-indicators to holding elected office and the actual existence of criminogenic qualities in some people who hold such offices. This contradiction is a criminological problem that the author aims to research. The presented analysis of just one group of restrictions on the right to be elected (criminal record for grave and very grave crimes) shows that the restriction of the right of a citizen to be elected does not take into account the criminological characteristics of a criminals personality, which raises serious concerns regarding the correspondence of such restrictions to the legal principles of justice and proportionality. The author gives suggestions on the amendment of these election restrictions and outlines possible solutions for the presented criminological problem in general.