Manifestations of Criminal Professionalism in the Activities of Robber Gangs of Pre-Revolutionary Russia

Relevance. Professional crime is one of the most dangerous, relatively independent types of crime, which poses a serious threat to modern society and the state. Currently, there is no unified approach to assessing the state, dynamics and trends of this dangerous criminal phenomenon. Mechanisms to combat this type of criminal activity that are adequate to the level of danger have not been identified. In this regard, special studies of professional crime in all its complexity and ambiguity are becoming particularly relevant, including those affecting certain issues of the evolution of this dangerous criminal phenomenon in time and space. The purpose. He purpose of the study is a theoretical analysis and definition of the socio-legal essence of professional crime in pre-revolutionary Russia (using the example of the analysis of socially dangerous activities of robber gangs). Objectives: to analyze the domestic legislation of the pre-revolutionary period, providing for accountability for repeated robbery; to determine the specifics of committing crimes on a professional basis by robber gangs in prerevolutionary Russia; to identify elements of the criminal subculture supported by the community of professional robbers in the period under study in Russia. Methodology. To achieve this goal, such general scientific and private scientific research methods as the method of analysis, synthesis, generalization, comparative legal and chronological methods were used. Results. It was determined that many robbers who traded on the «high roads» during the studied period possessed all the signs of criminal professionalism: the presence of criminal specialization, qualifications, perception of criminal activity as a source of income, connections with the criminal world, including those expressed in the perception and multiplication of values and norms of the emerging criminal subculture. Conclusion. By the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a monolithic, well–structured consolidated and criminal world had formed in Russia, in which the professional criminal «core» played a special role. Professional robbers occupied not the least place in the criminal hierarchy, causing significant harm to economic relations in society and the national security of the country.