Violent Crime Against Persons in Modern Russia: State and Problems of Criminological Characteristics

Relevance. Violent crimes that infringe on unshakable human values, namely life and health, are an integral part of society's life. The rapid change in social, economic and political conditions leads to the intensification of social tension of the population and can provoke an increase in the level of violent crime. Modern realities make it necessary to study and analyze up-to-date information about the state of violent crime, as well as to identify existing shortcomings of the accounting system for the crimes under consideration. The purpose of the study is to improve the efficiency of law enforcement agencies based on a systematic study of the criminological characteristics of violent crime against the individual, its state and dynamics in modern Russia, including identifying existing shortcomings in the system of accounting for violent crimes by internal affairs agencies and developing ways to overcome them. The objectives of the study are to identify the real state of violent crime against the individual in modern Russia; to identify changes in its state in the period from 2018 to 2022; to establish the main factors that can have a significant impact on official statistics and accounting and registration discipline in the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, and their accounting. Methodology. The methodological basis of the research consists of general scientific and private scientific methods of cognition: analysis, synthesis, formal-logical, systematic, statistical. Results. The article provides an analysis of the main criminological indicators of violent crime in modern Russia. Particular factors affecting the effectiveness of the crime accounting system are considered, ways of entering information by employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia that may affect the reliability of official statistical data are considered and classified. Conclusion. Within the framework of the study, the range of crimes classified as violent was determined, the validity of attributing crimes committed with the use of instrumental violence to the category of violent crimes against the person was considered. The necessity of introducing separate statistical forms aimed at collecting information about violent crime is substantiated. Factors that may have an impact on the reliability and accuracy of official data are considered, special attention was paid to such a phenomenon as artificial latency of crimes. The interrelation of the method of assessing the effectiveness of the activities of territorial internal affairs bodies with the phenomenon of artificial latency of crimes is analyzed. In our opinion, a real reduction in the level of artificial latent crime could be influenced by a change in the accounting system for evaluating the effectiveness of the activities of territorial internal affairs bodies.