Specific Features of Criminal Liability for Being a Leader in the Criminal Hierarchy

Abstract

It is difficult to overestimate the role of the organizer for ensuring the functioning of organized criminal groups. The authors analyze the specific features and problems of legal regulation of criminal liability for the crime under Art. 210.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - occupying the highest position in the criminal hierarchy. An almost total lack of the practice of enforcing this criminal law norm is having an unfavorable impact on the effectiveness of counteracting organized crime. The authors analyze the opinions presented in the criminal law doctrine regarding the expediency of including this norm in the criminal legislation. They also examine the causes of the high latency of the crime provided for in Art. 210.1 of the CC of the RF. By using the formal-logical, systemic-structural, comparative law and sociological methods, the authors come to the conclusion that it is necessary to introduce some amendments into the disposition of the norm under Art. 210.1 of the CC of the RF. The publications of Russian and foreign scholars on the problems of criminal liability of organized crime leaders were studied; the current criminal legislation of Russia and other countries, the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, draft laws presented for consideration to the State Duma of the of Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, as well as the explanatory notes to them, statistical data and published court decisions were also analyzed. Using the analysis of the generalized procedural documents of investigative and court practice, the authors present their recommendations on the application of the norm under consideration, which are primarily connected with establishing the attributes of the objective side and the special subject of crime under Art. 210.1 of the CC of the RF. It is proven that within the framework of Art. 210.1 of the CC of the RF, liability should be based not on the very fact of having the status of a criminal leader, but on committing actions that prove having such a status. When analyzing the functions of the person that testify to their leadership role in the criminal hierarchy, the authors single out several components, including: propaganda of the criminal worlds ideology; management of criminal activities, impact on the criminal community on a specific territory; performance of quasi-judicial and some other functions.