Determinants of growth and measures to prevent professional crime in Russia in 1917 – early 1920s

Relevance. Considerable scientific interest is the analysis of the determinants of the development of professional crime in times of crisis, when the political, socio-economic, and cultural spheres of life are particularly unstable in the country. The analysis of these conditions on the example of individual historical periods will make it possible to predict possible changes in the directions of development of domestic professional crime in the present and to determine effective measures against the growth of professional criminal activity in different historical realities.

The purpose of the study is to analyze the causes, factors and conditions of the growth of professional crime in Russia in the 1917 – early 1920s, as well as measures to prevent this dangerous type of criminal activity.

Objectives: to analyze the main determinants of the growth of professional crime in Russia in 1917 – early 1920s; to study individual measures to prevent the development of professional crime in Russia in the chronological period under study; to determine the effectiveness of measures used to counteract professional crime in Russia in 1917 – early 1920s.

Methodology. In the process of working on the study, methods of synthesis, analysis, systematization, generalization, as well as comparative legal and chronological methods were used.

The results. The article examines individual factors, causes and conditions of the growth of professional crime in Russia in 1917 – early 1920s. It was established that against the background of the growing activity of professional criminals in Russia during this period, a targeted policy was implemented to counter the development of this type of crime, but later it was curtailed.

Conclusion. The results of the study allowed us to determine that the development of professional crime in the designated period was influenced by such determinants as the general deterioration of the financial situation of a large part of the country's population, the growth of child homelessness, the lack of effectively functioning law enforcement agencies, as well as some others. The Soviet government made the necessary efforts to combat various manifestations of professional crime, but the "imaginary victory" over this dangerous anti-social phenomenon declared by the Soviet government and the curtailment of certain measures to combat professional crime did not lead to positive results, as a result of which the Soviet criminal world became even more consolidated and monolithic.

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