ELECTRONIC CRIME INCIDENT REPORT AS A REASON TO INITIATE A CRIMINAL CASE (THE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF LEGAL REGULATION IN THE NORMATIVE ACTS OF THE RUSSIAN MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS AND THE RF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CODE)

The integration and active application of electronic document flow to the daily activities of the police have consistently and logically led to the fact that the electronic crime incident report is increasingly used as a reason to initiate criminal cases. The departmental normative legal acts of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia regulate in detail the processing of such reports. However, under the RF Criminal Procedure Code, not all electronic crime reports registered by the Departments of Internal Affairs meet the established requirements, and, accordingly, they can not perform the function of a criminal procedural cause. In this situation, with the obvious relevance of electronic documents, an example of a contradiction and gap in the law is evident, which somewhat hinders the development of electronic interaction between the participants of criminal procedural activity and can cause negative consequences. The paper analyzes and compares the provisions of some normative sources regulating the reception and consideration of electronic crime reports by the Departments of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation and the norms of criminal procedural legislation. The author critically evaluates the legal definitions of the concept of a crime incident report and some organizational and legal mechanisms for accepting and considering electronic crime reports established by the departmental legal acts of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. The study highlights and clarifies the rules of filing, mandatory requisites, and some other requirements for electronic crime reports, which must be complied with according to the provisions of the criminal procedure code. Based on the data obtained, the author offers recommendations to improve criminal procedural law and the algorithm of accepting electronic crime reports using the official websites of the Departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.

OBJECTIVE SIGNS OF CRIMES AGAINST PROPERTY: THEFT OF FUNDS FROM A BANK CARD

The relevance of scientific research is caused primarily by the general transition of the society to the funds’ transfer network. Physical money is replaced by virtual one, the access to which is granted remotely. Therefore, in some situations, a lawbreaker can gain possession of non-cash resources far easier than stealing the cash of a possible victim. For the past two decades, lawbreakers successfully apply lots of ways allowing a lawbreaker both to possess personal information of another person – bank cardholder and, subsequently, to steal money from a holder’s account. The paper determines the objective signs of a crime against property and the list of attributes typical for stealing money funds from a bank card. The authors distinguish the objective signs of two bodies of a crime, which can fall within the definition of embezzlement from a bank card: a theft from a bank account, and fraud using electronic payment facilities. The authors conclude that the embezzlement from a bank card throw the commission of fraudulent acts is possible only when interacting with a third party. The actual presence of another person (a victim or an employee of credit, bank, commercial, or other organization) and the interaction of a criminal with this person is a prerequisite for classifying a crime as a fraud. Any actions aimed at the unlawful seizure of non-cash monetary assets and not accompanied by direct contact with a third party should be classified as theft.

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPLICITY IN THE HOLDING THE HIGHEST POSITION WITHIN THE CRIMINAL HIERARCHY

The author considered the classification of accomplices' acts in obtaining by a person of the highest position within the criminal hierarchy (the thief-in-law status). The research took into account the causal connections between the elements of the co-enforcement system regarding such crime. The paper divided the objective aspect of obtaining the highest position within the criminal hierarchy (the status of a thief in the law) into stages depending on the content of the crime co-perpetrators actions. The author considered the situations with a voluntary refusal of a person from the obtained highest position within the criminal hierarchy (the status of a thief in the law) as well as the conditions for co-executors active repentance. The paper defines an applicant to obtain the highest position within the criminal hierarchy (the thief-in-law status) as a performer. The study established that the status leaders become the co-perpetrators of a crime participating in the decision to grant a person the highest position in the criminal hierarchy (the status of a thief in the law). The co-perpetrators of this crime also include persons who consciously and purposefully disseminate the information about the assignment of a person to the highest position in the criminal hierarchy (the status of a thief in the law). Personal voluntary renunciation of the acquired highest position in the criminal hierarchy (the status of a thief in the law) should be made openly, for example, using the status in social networks or a chat. Active repentance of the accomplices of the crime under consideration provides for the voluntary refusal of a person from the acquired highest position in the criminal hierarchy (the status of a thief in law).

ON THE PROBLEM OF COUNTERACTING THE SPREAD OF DRUG ADDICTION IN THE SAMARA REGION

The paper presents the results of a sociological study of the perception of drug abuse situation by the Samara Region population. For the research, the authors interviewed 2043 residents of the Samara Region living both in urban and rural settlements. The author’s attention focused on the subjective values of the population’s perception of drug addiction as a social phenomenon. The results of the study carried out at a high representative level made it possible to identify the peculiarities of existing public opinion of the Samara Region population about the spreading of harmful habits in general and drug addiction in particular. The study states that the drug addiction problem takes sixth place only by its urgency in public perception. Nearly half of the interviewed people are aware of the importance of the drug addiction problem. Among the key reasons for the drug addiction situation, most respondents mention life dissatisfaction, social deprivation, moral degradation of society, and the lack of organized leisure. The authors note that according to the obtained data, the interviewed people consider conscious negative attitude to the drug usage, the preventive work with the youth on the promotion of a healthy lifestyle, and the punitive measures the most effective for the struggle with drugs. Using the key questions of the checklist, the authors identified the significant difference of the positions according to the age groups of the surveyed people. For example, most admitted tried drugs for the first time in the age intervals from 16 to 29. The authors conclude the problems of drug addiction result from the deviant behavior forms among youth, however, the reasons for such behavior are caused by the complex of social and economic factors.

DIGITALIZATION OF COLLECTIONS IN FORENSIC INVESTIGATION

The paper considers the issue of extensive application of local expert collections in forensic expert practice. The study shows that the necessity of extensive application of such collections and other local reference-assistive means occurs due to criminalistics digitalization. The author specifies the concept of local expert collections; proposes to carry out expert collections digitalization according to the matrix principle of the object’s characteristics fixation. The study identified that the practicality of the extensive application of such collections is caused by the network approach introduction to the forensic expert activity. The author proves the applicability of semantic networks to ensure the efficiency of using expert collections. The necessity to overcome the experienced counter-acting the investigation determines the importance of extensive application of digitalized collections. The author implements the technological approach to the expert studies using the specimen copies from expert collections; proposes to support the information provision block in the forensic expert study technologies with references to the local collections stored in a cloud resource. Within the block of assignments for forensic studies, it is offered to provide an initiative comparison of an object under the study with the collection standards regarding falsification or other change in its characteristics. It provides information security measures. Such measures are the collection exchange channel duplication and block-chain technology. The paper presents a validation procedure for expert collections located in network resources of forensic expert institutions. Expert collection validation involves the research activities regarding the adequacy of their digital representation and the expert collections approval in terms of applicability for solving particular expert tasks. Complex application of expert collections represented in digital format supplies digital criminalistics with new forensic investigation resources.

CONFLICT OF INTERESTS IS THE BASIS OF CORRUPTION

Despite the permanent interest of scientists in the issue of corruption, the nature of its basics as an anti-social phenomenon remains understudied. As such principle, the paper considers the conflict of interests of participants in various public relations related to the exercise and abuse of power. The paper aims at showing the nature of the conflict of interests as the basis of such anti-social phenomenon as corruption, identifying subjective and objective causes of corruption. The authors analyze the gaps and weaknesses of current anti-corruption legislation and the practice of its application. The paper gives specific examples of a conflict of interests in various corruptogenic spheres and manifestations, for instance, in the sphere of economic entities’ participation in tenders announced by state and municipal authorities. The authors consider the legal and moral ways of preventing conflicts, the role of ethical norms in preventing conflicts, the legal framework of their prevention and resolution, the ratio of the conflict of interests and the employee’s qualification, the relationship between the material and personal interest, the activities of commissions for preventing a conflict of interests guaranteeing the role of written notification of a conflict of interests, special aspects of the notification procedure, and the consequences of non-compliance with the written notification. The study shows that a conflict of interests and corruption risks are eliminated both through legal means and moral ones, whereby the moral qualities of leaders and the requirements imposed on the heads of state and municipal authorities are of particular importance. Nepotism, increasingly prevalent in power and management structures (kinship and clientelism), is a common form of a conflict of interests, which undermines the moral foundations of public and municipal service.

INSTITUTIONS OF MULTIPLE CRIMES AND ADMINISTRATIVE PREJUDICE IN CONTEMPORARY RUSSIAN CRIMINAL LAW

Despite the legislator is step by step expanding the number of bodies of a crime with the sign of administrative prejudice, up to the present, the General part of the RF Criminal Code does not define administrative prejudice. It leads to the fact that the Special part of the RF Criminal Code formulates the administrative prejudice features in the bodies of crimes in different ways. In particular, only some of the bodies of crimes contain the duplicity feature as an administrative prejudice element. Within this investigation, the author considers as well the other criminal law institution – multiple crimes. It is caused by the fact that collaterally with the administrative prejudice, the liability for persons previously convicted for identical and (or) similar actions starts to be introduced. It speaks for both the reappearance of liability for special recidivism and the introduction of the criminal law category not covered by this concept. To identify the problems related to the structure of bodies of crimes with indicated signs and specify the ways for their solution, the author carried out the interdisciplinary comparison of norms of criminal and administrative legislation, analyzed doctrinal points of view, explained the position of the executor of law represented by the supreme judicial authorities, and investigated a draft law on the amendments in the RF Criminal Code. As a result of the study, the author concludes that the Special part of the RF Criminal Code formulates the administrative prejudice signs in the bodies of crimes in different ways. It complicates the correct interpretation of specified criminal law norms. Moreover, the author considers incorrect the structure of part 1 of Art. 284.1 of the RF Criminal Code, which contains both the sign of administrative prejudice and the sign of conviction for identical action. The position of the RF Government expressed in draft law No. 536-8 on the amendments in Art. 116.1 of the RF Criminal Code calls for comments as well.

SPECIAL ASPECTS OF INTERRELATIONS, INTERACTION AND CONTRADICTIONS OF LEGAL LIABILITY IN SOME COUNTRIES RELATING TO THE ANGLO-SAXON SYSTEM

The paper considers one of the understudied and controversial problems in the theory of law and branch legal sciences – the structural and substantive features of interrelations, interactions, and contradictions of legal liability in some countries related to the Anglo-Saxon law family (system). The purpose of this work is to provide general theoretical characteristics of specific properties of legal liability through the prism of internal and external signs of the Anglo-Saxon law system, based on regulatory sources, scientific works, materials of judicial practice, statistical, informational, and other empirical data. The author determines the objects, landmarks, and content of comparative law research of legal liability and proposes an author’s technique of primary immersion into the range of problems. The study identifies general and particular features of the legal liability system and its elements within the family of common law with an emphasis on the legislation and practice of Great Britain and the United States of America. The author analyzes the participation of official bodies (officials) in the creation, implementation, and interpretation of various measures of legal liability. The paper presents the legal positions of the European Court of Human Rights. The study considers and differentiates the substantive and procedural-legal, as well as public and private aspects of assigning liability in the countries of the law family under consideration. The author formulates the reasons underlying the interrelations, interactions, and contradictions of the legal liability systems in the respective states. The study reveals the tendency to the interpenetration of the Anglo-Saxon and Romano-Germanic law families affecting the qualitative indicators (grounds) of legal liability as a normative formation and protective means of law regulation. The author recommends studying the issue of using in the Russian Federation the positive experience of establishing and implementing liability in the countries of the Anglo-Saxon law system.

ON THE FORMAL ASPECT OF REGULATION OF THE CRIMINAL LEGAL IMPACT IN RESPECT OF MILITARY PERSONNEL IN THE RF CRIMINAL CODE

The paper analyzes special norms and provisions of the RF Criminal Code reflecting the specifics of criminal law impact towards such a particular subject as military personnel. The author studies the nature, meaning, and varieties of special criminal law norms. The paper highlights the diversity of such norms and their presence in General and Special parts of the criminal law. In this respect, the author explains that these norms have a dual purpose: they are applied both instead of general norms and along with them, supplementing and specifying them. The author emphasizes the certainty, necessity, and reasonability of special norms and provisions in criminal law. The study pays special attention to military criminal legislation as a special criminal legal institution and a set of special rules and provisions that allows differentiating and individualizing criminal responsibility and criminal punishment of servicemen, taking into account the specifics of their legal status and the tasks they perform in the conditions of military service. The author considers special norms and provisions of the General Part of the RF Criminal Code regulating particular military types of criminal punishment and the procedure for their imposition (Articles 44, 48, 51, 54, 55), as well as the norms and provisions of the Special Part of the RF Criminal Code on crimes against military service (Articles 331–352). Besides, the study identifies close interrelation and interdependence of special norms and provisions of the criminal law with the criminal procedure and criminal executive legislation because they are the elements of a single mechanism of criminal law impact on military personnel, and only their combination ensures the effectiveness of such impact. Based on the analysis, the author formulates the conclusions and proposals to introduce amendments and additions to the RF Criminal Code concerning military criminal legislation. First of all, the author proposes highlighting the section “Criminal liability of military personnel” and the chapter “Features of criminal liability and punishment of military personnel” in the General part of the RF Criminal Code and abandoning the provision of part 3 of Art. 331 in the Special part.

ON THE ISSUE OF USING THE RESULTS OF MODELING THE EVACUATION OF PEOPLE WHEN PRODUCING EVIDENCE OF A CRIME OF FIRE SAFETY BREACH

The paper considers special characteristics of classifying crimes related to the fire safety breach. The authors pay special attention to the issue of admissibility of using probabilistic inference of the fire mathematical simulation as evidence when classifying crimes related to the fire safety breach. It is proposed to emphasize the software programs and expert techniques quality before implementing them in the forensic-examination activity. Using the disposition of article 219 of the RF Criminal Code, the authors attempt to discuss the problematic issues related to the application of the results of mathematical simulation of the evacuation of people in case of fire when classifying and proving the obligatoriness (voluntariness) of fire safety requirements. The paper includes examples of problematic issues in the current techniques when calculating the probability of escape of people in the case of fire. The research allows considering both the technical and legal aspects of the application of current techniques for determining the probability of evacuation of people in the case of fire within the frame of forensic fire investigations. The authors propose to correct (develop) and standardize expert techniques used within fire investigations in the cases of fire safety breaches. The paper concludes on the inadmissibility of application of probabilistic meanings (results) obtained in the mathematical simulation of the evacuation of people in the case of fire as the essential evidence in the cases of fire safety breaches. The study allows specifying the problematic issues in using the evacuation simulation results when proving a body of a crime related to the fire safety breaches and substantiating the significance of further research.