Social conditioning of criminalization of offenses qualified as collaborative activity

Abstract

One of the types of social relations that arose during the war in Ukraine is relations with the occupiers, which can be carried out both within the legal field and be an illegal, criminal manifestation in the form of cooperation with the enemy and assistance to him. Such illegal nature of relations with the occupiers is considered a collaborative activity. The legislator was faced with the task of determining the composition of such an offense and establishing the punishment for actions that constitute collaborationism. Despite a fairly large number of studies of individual and complex issues of criminal liability for collaborative activities, a number of questions remain open.
 The purpose of this study was to establish the social conditions and the existence of the necessary grounds for the criminalization of socially dangerous acts that constitute collaborative activity.
 In the theory of criminal law, it is clearly established which factors must be taken into account when deciding on the criminalization of a particular illegal act - they are defined as the grounds for criminalizing illegal acts: the existing (real) social danger of the act; its relative prevalence; the need for a criminal legal guarantee; fulfillment by the state of international legal obligations The above research allows us to assess the social conditionality of the criminalization of collaborative activities. First, taking into account the importance of the protected order of social relations, which is encroached upon by collaborative activity, actions containing signs of such illegal activity are socially dangerous. Secondly, official statistical data on the number of registered cases of collaborative activity and persons prosecuted under Art. 111-1, testify to the sufficient prevalence of collaborative activities on the territory of Ukraine. Thirdly, collaborative activity should be punished most severely, namely by establishing criminal liability for it. And, fourthly, the establishment of criminal liability for collaborative activities correlates with the provisions of international legal acts and ensures Ukraine’s fulfillment of relevant international legal obligations.