The concept and types of extremist crimes is a topic that has recently become increasingly relevant for law enforcement. Understanding the essence of the phenomenon is necessary in order to correctly classify the committed act, therefore, to appoint for him a measure of punishment for the guilty. Correct classification, a detailed study and disclosure of terminology allow us to improve legal standards and develop the current legislative framework, identifying and eliminating omissions in it.
Where to begin?
Considering the general characteristics of extremist crimes, it is necessary to start with the provisions of the Criminal Code. This topic is raised in article 282.1, in a note to it. It is indicated here that the phenomenon under consideration should be understood as such illegal acts, the commission of which was prompted by hatred by a person due to reasons of belonging to a race, religious branch, political party, ideological direction, nationality. Also, this group of crimes includes acts committed as a result of hostility with a certain social group. We should talk about criminal acts if the essence of the event falls under the provisions of the Special Part of the Criminal Code, as well as paragraph "e" of the first part 63 of the article of the Criminal Code.
An equally important and basic document for determining the terminology and understanding of the essence of the phenomenon is PPVS on crimes of an extremist nature, adopted in the summer of 2011. It discusses the nuances of judicial practice in relation to this topic. It is important to pay attention to the Special Part of the Criminal Code, namely, articles numbered 280, 282.
Objects of the phenomenon
The object of extremist crimes is social relations that conflict with the constitutional system of the state. They violate sovereignty, go against the current political system. This also includes those acts that violate the equal rights of representatives of different races and nationalities, religious denominations and other social groups. The object of this group of acts is social consent.
CC: Article 280
Analysis of extremist and terrorist crimes begins with identifying the causes of what happened. Since this is often explained by incitement, a third-party appeal, which stimulated a person to commit an unlawful act, a separate norm was introduced into the laws establishing a punishment for initiating this kind of activity. The crime objectively considered in this article has two main significant features: a call to commit an act must be public and stimulate the audience to do something of an extremist nature. These symptoms should be present at the same time. If at least one of them is absent, the corpus delicti is not complete, that is, the event cannot be considered under Article 280.
Clarifying the objective side of extremist crimes, it is necessary to clearly understand what the call for their commission means. The manifestation must be external, and the activities of the accused must be clearly targeted. The appeal aims to influence the consciousness of the audience, its behavior, drown out the will in order to stimulate the commission of some act in the interests of the accused.
The calls are very different: in the form of speech, written text, demonstrations or images, posters. The addressee in the event of a call is some indefinite set of people. If the addressee is just one person, the case cannot be considered as incitement.
Continuing the topic
Considering further the causes of extremist crimes in the form of appeals, it is necessary to pay attention that at present there is no exact interpretation of the essence of the publicity of the phenomenon in the laws, which gives rise to certain difficulties in putting the provisions and rules into practice. For example, reading some extremist text: can it be considered a call? Are these books published based on the works of authors of the leaders of fascist Italian parties or German National Socialists? At the time of reading such a book, only one person gets to know her, but an unlimited number of copies does not allow one to assess how large the audience is, how many people will get acquainted with the question.
Another subtle point related to the definition of extremist crimes is an attempt to justify them, punishable by law. Public justification is the recognition of ideas and their implementation as correct, in need of imitation and following them. But there is no clarification of publicity here, the interpretation of the word in laws and other articles is not presented, therefore the application of the provision in reality is difficult.
Relevance of the problem
Why is the prevention and disclosure of extremist crimes now becoming such a relevant and problematic issue? This is due to an increase in the number of such cases, as well as an abundance of victims. Extremism and terrorism occupy an increasingly significant place in the criminal structure . For many, such phenomena have become almost commonplace. To some extent, this is due to the structure of society, formed by numerous groups that differ from each other in certain ways, on the basis of which hostility or hatred can form. Studies show that the negative trends associated with such a rejection of each other's groups are characteristic not only of our power, but also of a number of other countries. Political scientists, sociologists attribute this to globalization.
Extremist crimes can also be committed more often because of a global economic crisis - in its conditions, hatred of different people, racism are becoming stronger. According to experts, the deterioration of the situation can only be avoided by joint efforts. It is necessary to combat the increase in intolerance, including the fear of Islam, hatred of the Jews. It is important to take into account that at present, the latest technologies play a significant role in the dissemination of extremist ideas.
Present and future
Based on the legal analysis of extremist crimes, a National Security Strategy was developed. Its provisions indicate that the Nazi interests require the exclusion of nationalism, xenophobia, separatism, extremism. This applies not only to secular life, but also to religious ideas and movements.
A document adopted at the state level indicates that national security is threatened by extremism on the part of representatives of groups united on the grounds of religion, ethnic group, nation and others, if any, in order to violate the unity, integrity of the state, the stability of the situation inside, both political and public. Studying this document on crimes of an extremist nature, one can notice that the national security strategy adopted for our country involves protecting the constitutional order and ensuring stability by improving the work of law enforcement agencies. It is necessary to deal with the crimes of the designated group primarily by preventive methods, preventing them, suppressing, identifying and identifying, against the background of other negative events, those that belong specifically to extremism and terrorism. However, experts believe that it is possible to realize all these goals only if the phenomenon of crime is comprehensively studied, and at present enough information is still not collected for this.
Legal framework and relevance of the fight
Like many other countries, the Russian Federation agreed with the convention, signed in Shanghai in 2001 and dedicated to extremist crimes. In the document, all participating countries recognized that extremism threatens the security of mankind on a planetary scale, prevents the formation of friendly relations between countries, does not allow a person to exercise the freedoms, rights guaranteed by laws. Separatism, extremism, terrorist activity are threats to the security of the territory, countries, stability in aspects of the economy, society, and politics.
Another convention on extremist crimes was adopted four years later in Astana. It formulated the tasks, pointed out the need to formulate common approaches to combating these phenomena, and also noted that the legal norms of all participants should be developed and brought to a common view in such a way that the fight against terrorism was conducted as efficiently as possible.
Problem development
It is no secret that extremist crimes can be committed by representatives of various social groups. Currently, the problem is transnational in nature. Extremism is a serious security threat to most of the powers that exist today. This is not just a danger to the health and life of citizens, but also a factor that can destroy the relationship between the powers. Conflicts, contradictions, which are not already subsiding between different states, under the influence of extremism, terrorism can only become even more active. Presumably, a unified legal system to prevent and counter this phenomenon should help to cope with this. And this is only possible if representatives of all countries will unite to make working amendments to the laws of the states.
The criminal law analysis of extremist crimes shows that the dynamics of the situation largely depend on the work of the local law enforcement system. It determines the structure of such events. The task of law enforcement agencies is to prevent and suppress terrorist and extremist acts, to identify and punish violators. This is not only about the letter of the law, but also the real actions taken in practice. Success can be achieved by knowing the specific features that unite the majority of individuals capable of these crimes. Understanding their psychology, one can more effectively approach both the investigation and the prevention of events, as well as more successfully formulate punishment procedures.
About signs
It is possible to decide whether a certain illegal act belongs to the class of extremist or terrorist by analyzing its features and specifics. Crimes of an extremist nature include acts directed against public relations, causing harm to them or claiming it. The object of the crime has basic and optional features. The first group is public relations, the protection of which is implemented through criminal law, the second is the subject of the phenomenon, the victim.
Recently, the idea of conducting a criminal law analysis of extremist crimes through dividing an object into four levels: general, gender, type, direct has been popular. There is another option: vertical classification, in which the type level is divided into complex, sub-general, compound, subgeneric.
The direct object is usually divided into the main, additional, optional. An alternative classification of crimes of an extremist nature involves the separation of objects of acts into mandatory and others; while others are divided, in turn, into mandatory, optional, alternative.
It is important!
As mentioned above, extremist crimes include acts aimed at destabilizing the public environment. At the same time, most of these events encroach on personal interests. The health of citizens suffers, deaths are possible, and the freedoms and rights regulated by the constitution of the state are infringed. In addition, public security, the rule of law in society, community morality and centralized power are oppressed as part of the event, since crimes are aimed at undermining the country's security and its structure.
Causes and consequences
Why in recent years events of the type in question are increasingly taking place? Extremism threatening national security is closely linked to social problems, social difficulties, and unstable social conditions. Young people, trying to find their way in this world, find themselves in conditions when the old stereotypes have already lost their strength, and new social relations have not yet formed quite clearly. This creates confusion and distrust, a negative attitude and lack of faith in the future, against which people become more aggressive. Extremist crimes can be committed by a subject in need of ideology. Such people easily succumb to the ideas of chauvinism, participate in the criminal life of the community.
Fractures, social upheavals, conflicts and crises - situations that sooner or later arise in the history of any society. They are associated with the deformation of society, a change in lifestyle. Under certain conditions, it is possible to create a situation where society loses value, material well-being worsens, and the prospects for the future seem vague. The contradictions in such a situation only deepen, and extremism turns into one of the most pressing problems. Moreover, in such conditions it is extremely difficult to deal with him, and most measures are ineffective, while acts greatly undermine an already unstable society.
Social life and extremism
The prerequisites for committing acts included in the list of extremist crimes presented in the Criminal Code (murder, harm, torture, threats, involving minors in such acts, organizing mass riots) can be called the crisis of the family and the institution of education. The situation is such that the individuality of the child is suppressed during adulthood, this affects his initiative. Both family and educational institutions contribute. This provokes infantilism, pragmatism, lack of adaptation to social life. A person who is influenced by a complex of factors can show a tendency to commit acts of extremism and others that violate laws and rules.
The task of preventing such events was entrusted primarily to the state, but so far it has not been possible to develop and implement measures that would solve the problem of extremism. In earlier times, extremists promoted anti-constitutional ideas, looking for followers among the townsfolk, but now the proportion of serious crimes is much higher.
Goals and criteria
In relation to crimes of the type in question, it is customary to speak of special harmfulness. It is assumed that unlawful acts as the main goal are to violate the foundations of the constitution and provoke hatred between representatives of different nations, races, faiths. In a number of cases, this is achieved by forming movements, currents, associations that spread some extremist idea. It is not always easy to understand whether a promoted idea belongs to the indicated type - for this it is necessary to organize a linguistic and political science examination with the help of psychologists specializing in this field.
One of the important criteria for determining whether an individual act belongs to extremism is unlawfulness. Normally, the activity of any group of persons, if it is associated with extremism, is prohibited by law. An equally important aspect is the ideological orientation of the activity of this group of individuals. They deny the views of other people, justify their position by some teaching, which only they can interpret correctly and completely. To explain their actions, those guilty of a crime may even deny the provisions of their own ideology if they contradict the logic of actions.
Modern experts in the legal sciences and psychology, sociology share terrorism and extremism, since not all events from the first category fit into the second. ; , .
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It is noteworthy that recently in our country the average number of crimes of an extremist nature has grown at about the same rate as others, but we can not talk about the absolute accuracy of statistics, as changes were made to laws. Some criminal acts, previously not classified as extremist, now fall into this category. The difficulty of applying the law at the moment is due to the fact that the application of the stipulated norms does not have support in the form of awareness of criminogenous signs, which leads to the incorrect classification of a certain case in a different category and distorts the statistical picture.
The scientific approach to forensics also does not contain a single decision regarding the method of qualification of criminal acts. A lot of textbooks and personal works have been published on this subject, articles, dissertations and comments have been written, but the difference in approaches in them is so significant that the situation becomes even more complicated.
Conducting an analysis of statistical information, predicting at what pace the problem will develop in the future, many experts come to the disappointing conclusion that there are no working methods to prevent extremism. Only the activation of public activity, drawing the attention of the whole society to the problem will allow us to collect the necessary resources in order to develop effective programs to combat extremist crimes. Many scientists believe that in the future we will see a surge in the number of criminal acts of an extremist nature, they will become more dangerous, because criminals are constantly looking for new ways and forms, while the phenomenon will still be latent. Experts working on this issue suggest approaching the solution of the problem by amending laws, forming commissions to prevent and combat extremism, as well as through monitoring public opinion and educational work with the younger generation.