Alternatives to criminal punishment in the form of real imprisonment in Russia are considered. On the basis of official data of open judicial statistics, the practice of applying certain measures of a criminal nature is analyzed, the conclusion is made that there are no real alternatives to this type of punishment in the domestic criminal legislation the quantitative and qualitative indicators characterizing convicts, the provision on the limited possibilities of the criminal law and the practice of its application in significantly reducing the number of actually deprived of liberty is updated. It is concluded that it is necessary to sound the alarm about the quantitative indicators of those actually deprived of liberty, but only when this measure of a criminal nature will, firstly, be assigned to a qualitatively different contingent of persons who have committed a crime than today, and, secondly, be executed in conditions other than today. From this point of view, we see a reduction in the number of people sentenced to imprisonment in modern conditions only in one case: at the expense of persons convicted of committing minor crimes for the first time. The number of such persons is very small.

The article presents a special methodology of the sociology of criminal law aimed at establishing the parameters of public perception of the justice of punishments imposed by courts. It is generally believed that we are facing a crisis of excessive criminalization: our criminal law has become chaotic, unprincipled and overly expansive, while attempts to make criminal law orderly, principled and restrained are being made in almost every criminal law study, but the significance of these attempts for lawmaking today is negligible. The traditional direction of criminal policy research rests on the absence of a concept of reforming the criminal law; the latest theoretical models of such concepts were also not in demand by the legislator. It can be concluded that the main concept of modern state policy is precisely the absence of such a concept. The study of public knowledge showed that the public knows little about crime, as well as about the system of responding to it, including statistics: crime rate, recidivism rate and average sentences.

One of the directions of the generalizing definition of the criminal record (In addition to the institutional one) is the attribution of its nature to the class of legal facts. A criminal record is an urgent legal fact of conviction for a crime committed by a person (the fact of a single act or a fact-state), expressed in a court verdict of conviction with sentencing, entailing criminal and general legal consequences for the convicted person. When a criminal record has the value of a qualifying attribute of the corpus delicti, or is taken into account as a sign of recidivism of crimes when sentencing, as well as in all other cases when it affects the application of certain articles of the Criminal Code, a criminal record acts as a fact of a single action (it is taken into account only when a person is convicted of committing a new crime and he is punished by a guilty verdict of the court).

The conviction and punishment of a person by a court verdict, being a fact of a single action, entails the emergence of a legal fact of continuous action (condition) of having a criminal record.

The article is devoted to the critical analysis of the criminal law institute of the judicial fine. Using statistical data and materials of judicial practice, the problems that arise in courts when solving private issues related to determining the size and timing of payment of a court fine are considered; difficulties arising from the formulation of the grounds for exemption from criminal liability with the appointment of a court fine; the nature and significance of a court fine are considered. It is suggested that through the institution of a judicial fine, the state seeks to replenish the budget, and the accused (suspect) — to avoid a criminal record. It is proposed to solve these problems through the promise of early removal of a criminal record in the case of voluntary and timely (advance) payment of a fine imposed as a criminal punishment

The article proposes to consider criminal activity as an independent type of complex individual crimes, having qualification rules that distinguish it from other types of complex individual crimes. Three types of crimes in which criminal activity can exist are considered, their comparison with ongoing and continuing crimes is made. Attention is drawn to the peculiarity of intent in such crimes, which determines a unified approach to their qualification. A separate place is given to the question of the moments of their actual and legal completion of the crime, as well as the time of commission, the study of which is necessary when applying the retroactive force of criminal law. The possibility of attempted crimes related to each of the three groups is discussed. The rules for the qualification of criminal activity are formulated, which differ from the rules for the qualification of other complex individual crimes, the main one of which is that criminal activity is characterized by an increase in the degree of public danger, which can change the qualification of a crime within one article of the criminal law in the process of its commission.

The plurality of persons in a crime is not considered in the Russian science of criminal law as an independent criminal law institution. The need to consider the multiplicity of persons in a crime in this capacity is due to the close relationship between the various types of multiplicity, as a result of which their comprehensive study is required to identify the essential content of each type, determine the criteria for their distinction and improve the mechanism for the criminal legal assessment of joint criminal activity. The present study does not imply a detailed study of each of the types of plurality of persons in the crime and can be considered as a theoretical formulation of the problem for its further study. A one-level system for classifying the multiplicity of persons in a crime is proposed: complicity in a crime, participation in a criminal association, special role-playing complicity, bilateral crimes, careless co-initiation, attachment to a crime. The main criteria for differentiating various types of plurality of persons in a crime have been determined. 

The article analyzes the forms of involvement of several persons in the commission of a crime, the core of which is recognized as complicity in a crime. Various names of the generic concept combining these forms are given, as well as specific forms allocated in science are listed, in which several people are united in connection with the commission of a crime. Special attention is paid to the analysis of failed complicity, its differentiation from complicity, unfinished complicity and complicity in an unfinished crime. The 

formulas of qualification of the specified legal phenomena are analyzed in detail. Examples of sentences in which incorrect presentation of qualification formulas entailed a change in court decisions are given. The issue of the existence of unfinished complicity in a completed crime and unfinished complicity in an unfinished crime, is investigated as a debatable one. The conclusion is made about the need for normative fixation of at least some of the most problematic forms of involvement of several persons in the commission of a crime and the regulation of the rules of their criminal legal assessment in the law.

The article pays attention to the definition of the concept and characteristics of complicity of a special kind (sui generis). On the basis of the main features inherent in such complicity it is concluded that the most dangerous organized forms of complicity such as organized group and criminal society (criminal organization) belong to the sui generis. Due to the fact that the very association of several persons into these criminal groups poses a serious public danger, the legislator considered it necessary to prohibit the creation of an organized group or a criminal community, their management and participation in them in special norms of the Special part of the Criminal Code of the RF: art. 205.4, 208, 209, 210, 282.1. The specificity of these norms on complicity lies in the fact that only they represent the characteristic features inherent in sui generis. The study reveals similarities between sui generis and the organizational criminal activity, the independent responsibility for which is also established in the articles of the Special part of the Criminal Code of the RF. Organizational criminal activity is a broader concept and includes responsibility for: 1) the organization of specific crimes or for the organization of illegal (destructive) activity (art. 110.2, part 4 art. 205.1, part 1 art. 212, part 1 art. 232, part 1 art. 241, art. 279, part 1 of art. 322.1 of the Criminal Code); 2) for the organization of the activities of various associations, in respect of which there is a decision on their liquidation (prohibition) or recognition as undesirable (articles 205.5, 239, 282.2, 284.1 of the Criminal Code).

The article is devoted to the problem of excessive qualification for multiple homicide crimes. The author shows the evolution of the attribute “murder of two or more persons”, carries out its correlation with related circumstances aggravating criminal liability, explores controversial issues of criminal legal assessment of attempted murder and murder under aggravating circumstances as independent acts.

In conclusion, a new version of the provisions of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation regarding the murder of two or more persons as a completed crime is proposed.

This article explains for the Russian reader the doctrine of causaion in the criminal law of England. As a result, the following conclusions are drawn: 1) the reduction of causation to a cause sine qua non promoted in the Russian theory of criminal law is inappropriate; 2) mens rea does not allow limiting the range of punishable acts to reasonable limits; 3) the Englih understanding of causality in criminal law is not very perfect, it is contradictory and casuistic and so it is unsuitable for reception, the interpretation of causality in many cases seems too broad; 4) a useful basis of English doctrine is the understanding that causation cannot be interpreted in a purely mechanistic context, the understanding of causation directly affects criminal policy and morality; 5) “blameworthiness” of an act seems to be a better criterion for a causation than its “danger” (as suggested by V. N. Kudryavtsev).

The article analyzes the composition of nonviolent sexual crimes, the responsibility for which is provided for by the current norms of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Turkey. These include: sexual act with a minor (article 104), sexual harassment (article 105) and indecent acts (article 225).

There is no legal definition of sexual act and sexual harassment in Turkish legislation. Nevertheless, on the basis of the established law enforcement practice and the systematic interpretation of the norms of the criminal law, the Turkish doctrine has developed appropriate definitions. As a sexual act, vaginal (insertion of the penis into the vagina) and anal (insertion of the penis into the anus) sexual contacts should be considered. Sexual harassment should be recognized as behavior aimed at satisfying sexual needs, excluding direct physical contact with the victim. Taking into account the characteristics of the object of encroachment, such behavior should be obvious and obviously undesirable for the victim.

The article is devoted to the study of the topical issue in the domestic theory of criminal law of delimiting fraud using electronic means of payment from related offenses. Based on the analysis of the circumstances of the legislative definition of Art. 159.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, existing points of view in the science of criminal law and materials of law enforcement practice, criteria are distinguished for distinguishing the type of fraud under study from related offenses. The article substantiates that the objective side of fraud using electronic means of payment: implies the presence of deceit or breach of trust; characterized by the use of electronic means of payment; the use consists not in simply securing the transaction, but in the direction of the actions of the perpetrator to mislead the victim regarding the preparation, certification and transmission of the order in order to transfer funds within the framework of the applicable forms of cashless payments using information and communication technologies.

Criminal and legal counteraction to crimes in the sphere of turnover of means of payments is provided within the framework of the implementation of the entire package of measures to counteract economic crime. The peculiarity of the criminal law norms regulating the sphere in question is the use of categories in them that are regulated by other branches of law, which requires the law enforcement officer to identify significant signs of the corpus delicti. This article is devoted to topical issues of criminal law protection of the turnover of means of payments. The features and characteristics of the subject of the crime under Article 187 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation are analyzed. A critical analysis of the construction of the criminal law norm is given. The author comes to the conclusion that changes in the disposition of Article 187 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, due to the improvement of industry legislation, cause certain difficulties in law enforcement practice. This is largely due to the innovative nature of public relations, the protection of which is provided by this criminal law norm, which have not yet received appropriate comprehensive legal regulation. Formulated in art. 187 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the legal mechanism as a whole makes it possible to counteract modern threats in this area, at the same time, in order to ensure clarity, clarity, un ambiguity of this legal norm, it is advisable to make appropriate adjustments to it.

Tax crimes cause enormous harm to the entire budgetary system of the state, the economic security of the Russian Federation is jeopardized. The Constitution of the Russian Federation establishes the obligation to pay taxes and fees established by law. Tax evasion can be considered as a tax, administrative offense or crime, depending on how significant this violation is for society and the state, how great the degree of public danger. The correct identification of the signs of the perpetrator of a tax crime is an important and complex issue in qualifying crimes committed in a group way. The problems of law enforcement practice are primarily related to the definition of characteristic powers, on the presence of which the fulfillment of the objective side of the crime depends entirely. This article analyzes the latest changes related to the change in the procedure for initiating cases of tax crimes and how this may affect the current law enforcement practice.

The article offers an analysis of the discussion questions about the branches and system of Russian law. The grounds or criteria for the allocation of a sub-branch of criminal law are proposed to recognize the presence of: international norms that form the basis for cooperation in countering a certain group of homogeneous crimes; the corresponding profile federal law on countering them; a relatively large number of norms in both the General and Special parts of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation devoted to this group of crimes; contradictory provisions contained in the norms of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and the relevant law, which requires their study in aggregate, within one sub-sector, and not within different branches of law. Based on this, the paper proves that the criteria for recognition as a sub-branch of domestic criminal law fully correspond to criminal anti-terrorist law.

One of the means of countering terrorism is criminal law, and the eff tiveness of this counteraction depends, among other things, on the quality of the criminal law norm on a terrorist act. First of all, responsibility for a terrorist act is unreasonably equated with responsibility for the threat of its commission. It is necessary to separate the terrorist act and the threat of its commission according to different norms and establish different penalties for them.

The evaluative sign of “significant property damage” in the CC RF is defined differently in the compositions of various crimes or is not defined at all. He does not express an increased degree of public danger of a terrorist act and cannot characterize its objective side either as a potential (Part 1 of Article 205 of the Criminal Code) or as a real (paragraph “b” of Part 2 of Article 205 of the Criminal Code) consequence of this crime. It is advisable to replace it with signs such as catastrophes and major accidents.

The article presents a study on the actual and topic of criminal law protection of biological safety of the Russian Federation. A brief description of biological weapons as an object and means of criminal encroachment is given, examples of the evaluation of this concept by the scientific community are given, the problems of establishing criminal liability for the use of this type of weapon or its components as a means of committing crimes are analyzed. Legislative formulations of criminal law prohibitions of acts committed with or with the use of biological weapons are compared with a doctrinal approach to clarifying their content, attention is drawn to the need to change the prevailing interpretation of the provisions of part 2 of Article 356 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, it is noted that the legislator does not always take into account the increased danger of dangerous biological materials used in the commission of a crime. As a result of the study, it is concluded that modern legislation regarding the application or use of various biocomponents needs to be improved.

The exact observance and execution of legal regulations and prohibitions in the field of labor relations is one of the conditions for preserving the life and health of their participants. At the same time, the regulation of the legal norms themselves does not always correspond to the principle of accuracy, which can lead to difficulties in law enforcement practice and unjustified prosecution. Thus, violation of labor protection requirements as a crime entailing the most severe consequences for the health and life of employees does not differ in a proper legislative description, which leads to controversial issues in the qualification of criminal acts in practice. The purpose of the article is to determine the optimal legislative formulations of Article 143 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, to identify the mechanism of causing harm to the object of criminal violation of labor protection requirements and thereby resolve qualification issues. The task is to analyze the description of some signs of the elements of crimes provided for in Article 143 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for compliance with the effectiveness of criminal legal protection of employees, as well as to identify, in this regard, problematic issues of their qualifications. During the analysis it is noted that art. 143 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation does not fully comply with the principle of legal accuracy of the criminal law, which may mislead the law enforcement officer. As a result, variants of formulations are proposed that define the subject of the crime, his duties, the non-fulfillment of which leads to criminal consequences, the mechanism of causing harm to the object of violation of labor protection requirements is revealed, a new term defining the victim is proposed, as well as an initiative aimed at ensuring the correct qualification of careless co-occurrence.

The formation of the Concept of animal Protection in Russia is recognized as an important direction of regulating the relationship between humans and the world around them. The issues of responsibility for encroachment on them are given quite close attention both at the international and national levels; they are actively discussed by both specialists and the public. Special attention is paid to criminal law measures. Unfortunately, they are not perfect, partly due to the legislator’s use of many evaluation categories (animal, cruelty to him, juvenile, mutilation, etc.), which have not received an unambiguous interpretation either in theory or in practice. In the proposed article, the authors have made efforts to comprehend them and present their views on ways to improve the current version of the law.

The article deals with the relevance of minerals and other natural formations to the subject of crimes, expressed in the illegal circulation of precious, semi-precious, colored ornamental stones from the standpoint of gemology, mineralogy, criminal and other legislation, science, and related problems of qualifying such crimes. Suggestions of a theoretical nature are made to improve the criminal legislation and the practice of its application. Responsibility for illegal trafficking of minerals and other natural formations that have increased value in the eyes of society is established by Articles 191, 192, 255 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (both in Part 1 and Part 2 of this article, containing independent main elements of the crime). They can also be the subject of embezzlement (Articles 158—164 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), acquisition or sale of property knowingly obtained by criminal means (Article 175 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and some other crimes.

As law enforcement practice shows, the main legislative means of combating corruption crimes are criminal law measures. However, their development and subsequent application are associated with a number of problematic situations. Therefore, the purpose of writing the article is to identify and adequately assess these problem situations, develop approaches to their resolution, identify ways and means of effectively combating corruption crimes.

The article examines the problem of harmonization of international and domestic legislation in the field of combating illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and similar substances, associated with the ratio of objects of drug crimes. It has been established that from the point of view of international and Russian law, these encroachments are recognized as multi-objective, since they are capable of harming a multitude of heterogeneous benefits protected by law. At the same time, the main object of these encroachments is proposed to be considered the health of the population (citizens) or public health as a state of complete socio-economic, physical, mental well-being of the population (citizens). This kind of approach should be reflected in the international anti-drug legislation, the provisions of which are replete with references to the most diverse socially protected benefits, which are recognized as equivalent from a legal point of view. It is shown that in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation the list of objects of crimes related to illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and similar substances is wider than in international law both in terms of the number of narcotic drugs and the number of psychotropic substances. Moreover, in domestic criminal law (unlike international law), analogues of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances are recognized as the subject of these crimes. It is concluded that international and national law should be reasonably correlated in terms of the number of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors enshrined in special control lists.

Corruption as a threat to national security has already penetrated into almost all the most important spheres of life. The sports sector is no exception. The first evidence of corruption in the field of sports dates back to three hundred years before our era, when the athletes of Ancient Greece, at the behest of coaches, awarded the victory for the appropriate fee. The sport has evolved over the years. At present, it is difficult to imagine life without sports in general and sports competitions in particular. With the development of sports, corruption has also developed in it. This circumstance provoked a reaction from the international community and individual states. Thus, various international legal acts were adopted, and articles aimed at combating corruption in the field of sports were supplemented by the criminal legislation of a number of countries. The United States of America was one of the first to establish responsibility for corruption in the sports sector (§ 224 of section 18 of the Code of Laws, criminal codes of the states). In 2017, the Penal Code of the Federal Republic of Germany was supplemented with paragraphs 265c “Fraud in sports betting” and 265d “Manipulation of professional sports competitions”.

The article deals with the problem of understanding the notes to the articles on terrorist offences, including the problem of their identification as a voluntary renunciation or active contrition. This problem has not been solved in the science of criminal law, on which, in turn, depends the resolution of the question of the applicability of the general rule on voluntary renunciation to crimes of a terrorist nature. Purpose: To determine whether and on what basis the institution of voluntary renunciation can be applied to assess the positive behavior of persons involved in terrorist offences. Methodology: the author applies a systematic method, as well as private-scientific methods of legal hermeneutics, formal-legal. Result: Having considered the normative, doctrinal and law enforcement problems on the subject, the author offers a solution to the following controversial questions: what is the purpose of voluntary renunciation in relation to crimes of terrorist nature? How is the competition between art. 31 and note to article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation solved? What is the legal nature of the notes on exemption from criminal liability to the articles on other terrorist crimes? Are there and what are the special features of voluntary renunciation in relation to terrorist offences?