Criminological Support of Operational-search Activity on

Counteraction of Criminal Leaders in Places of Deprivation of

Liberty

Alevtina Yurievna Kripulevich

and Isa Khamzatovich Dakashev

Federal State-Owned Institution of higher education "Samara Law Institute of the Federal Penitentiary Service", 24v,

Rylskaya St., 443022 Samara, Russia

Keywords: Operational-search activity, criminological support, criminal leaders, penal system, penitentiary crime.

Abstract: Correctional institutions have a well-functioning organizational and management structure, the main goals of

the activity of which are the relaxation of the rules in the regime of serving the sentence, committing crimes

on the territory of correctional institutions, as well as ensuring control over the collective of convicts and

maintaining the influence of the criminal subculture on them. These structures are headed by the so-called

criminal leaders, with whom the employees of penitentiary institutions are fighting, where the main role in

countering them is assigned to the operational units. The research carried out within the framework of the

article was carried out in order to substantiate the possibility and necessity of using criminological information

in the activities of operational officers of places of deprivation of liberty for more effective work to counter

the illegal activities of criminal leaders. To achieve this goal, there were solved the following tasks,

demonstrating, among other things, the close relationship of such sciences as criminology and operational-

search activity. The specificity of the projection of these branches of science in relation to each other provides

new opportunities, methods, tools, tactical devices that allow fighting against organized crime more effective.

The article presents the conclusions about the possible results contributing the more effective work based on

criminological support of operational-search activities in the fight against criminal leaders. The

methodological basis of the research is the dialectical method of studying social processes and phenomena.

In the course of the research, we used such methods of collecting and analyzing information as statistical;

analysis and synthesis; specifically sociological, method of modeling.

1 INTRODUCTION

Today, one of the effective problems that affect the

functioning of institutions of the penal system of the

Russian Federation is the suppression of the activities

of representatives of organized crime in places of

deprivation of liberty.

The problems of increased public danger of

criminal leaders have been raised at the state and

departmental level for a long time. It is relevant today

for the leadership of the Federal Penitentiary Service

to take measures against this category of persons in

order to suppress their illegal activities in places of

deprivation of liberty, as well as to neutralize the

influence on the bulk of convicts, suspects and the

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accused. Describing the current state of the illegal

activities of criminal leaders in places of deprivation

of liberty, one should note not only their ever-

increasing activity but also the desire to create

organized groups in correctional institutions with

non-public power. Leaders cooperatively with

negative group members extol immediate criminal

goals, based on the conditions conducive to the

intended acts and the circumstances of the

functioning of places of deprivation of liberty.

When implementing operational-search measures

aimed at combating criminal leaders in penitentiary

institutions, operational officers use a criminological

system of preventive activity, which is aimed at

achieving common goals and objectives,

demonstrating, among other things, the close

Kripulevich, A. and Dakashev, I.

Criminological Support of Operational-search Activity on Counteraction of Criminal Leaders in Places of Deprivation of Liberty.

DOI: 10.5220/0010643200003152

In Proceedings of the VII International Scientiﬁc-Practical Conference “Criminal Law and Operative Search Activities: Problems of Legislation, Science and Practice” (CLOSA 2021), pages

367-372

ISBN: 978-989-758-532-6; ISSN: 2184-9854

367

relationship of such sciences as criminology and

operational-search activity. The specificity of the

projection of these branches of science in relation to

each other provides new opportunities, methods,

tools, tactical devices that allow fighting against

organized crime more effective.

2 METHODS

The methodological basis of the research is the

dialectical method of studying social processes and

phenomena. In the course of the research, we used

such methods of collecting and analyzing information

as: statistical (in the study of quantitative data);

analysis and synthesis; specifically sociological

(when questioning and interviewing), modeling

(when drawing up a criminological portrait of a

criminal leader).

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Criminal leaders are the so-called fundamental

central element of the penitentiary crime since we are

talking about the category of persons who are the

most stubbornly opposing themselves to the norms

and rules, the rule of law established by the legislation

of the Russian Federation, the values of society and

involving, persuading new persons into organized

crime (Burlakov, 2019). Most convicts, suspects and

the accused in correctional institutions are negatively

influenced by criminal leaders and the members of

negative groups, including attempts to make

correctional institutions a base for recruiting and

training new members of extremist and terrorist

groups. Not insignificant is the fact that the criminal

activities of criminal leaders in Russia have their own

specifics, which are constantly changing and adapting

to the developing economic, political and socio-legal

spheres of the state (Sokolov, 2004). The main task of

law enforcement agencies in modern conditions is to

understand and explain crime, predict its level, in

order to influence it with the help of effective

institutional solutions (Smith, 2017). Recently, an

effective toolkit has been created for searching and

processing various information data, including

information about criminal leaders (Sukhodolov,

Ivantsov, Molchanova, 2018).

As a result, they acquire antisocial characteristics,

and measures of educational influence, regime

restrictions and operational-preventive activities do

not produce the desired effect on them, the goals of

punishment are not achieved. The environment of the

penitentiary community, where criminal leaders play

a key role, contributes to the quickest acquisition and

assimilation of criminal skills and experience by

convicts, negatively affects the process of correction

and their return to society. As a result of the negative

influence of criminal leaders, the convicts' thinking

changes (being in a group, there is a feeling of

security, therefore the convicts respect the majority

opinion or the leader) (Guseva, 2020).

It should be noted that, according to many

domestic and foreign scientists, the illegal activities

of the leaders of the criminal environment in modern

Russia are implemented both at the local and state

levels (Shelley, 1994), having a negative impact on

all spheres of social life and the state (Waller, 1994).

Based on the performance indicators of the penal

system of the Federal Penitentiary Service, published

annually by the department, the number of persons

registered as leaders and active members of negative

groups in penitentiary institutions in 2015 was 1,398

people, in 2016 - 1,398 people - 1,380 people, in 2017

- 1,463 people, in 2018 - 1,299 people, in 2019 - 1,608

people, in 2020 - 1,642 people. The presented

statistics data show that the number of this category

of persons is increasing despite the fact that the total

number of people serving sentences in places of

deprivation of liberty has decreased in recent years.

It should be noted that the increase or decrease in

a crime depends on purposeful work with criminal

leaders, both in penitentiary institutions and in the

country as a whole. To substantiate and support the

adoption of managerial decisions to counter criminal

leaders and prevent the criminalization of society, law

enforcement agencies need to take into account the

opinion of both specialists in the field of science and

representatives of public organizations (Sukhodolov,

Marenko, Bychkova, Lozhnikov, 2020).

Of course, the questions of creating a unified

policy to counter their illegal activities in penitentiary

institutions require deep scientific understanding, as

well as improving the activities of departments and

services of correctional institutions, where the main

work on prevention and counteraction should be

carried out by operational units.

A number of scientists who are the founders of the

theory of operational-search activity (A. I. Alekseev,

D. V. Grebelsky, A. G. Lekar, V. A. Lukashov, S. S.

Ovchinsky, G. К. Sinilov and others), in their first

fundamental works in the 1970s, noted the need for

the widest use of criminological knowledge in the

development of the theory and practice of

operational-search activity (Isichenko, 2001).

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ACTIVITIES: PROBLEMS OF LEGISLATION, SCIENCE AND PRACTICE”

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Let us consider the influence and interrelation of

these branches of science in countering criminal

leaders in prisons, paying attention to the

criminological support of an operational-search

activity, which is carried out by operational devices

in penitentiary institutions.

In the work on countering criminal leaders in

correctional institutions, operational units solve the

following tasks:

 carry out the collection and analysis of

information to identify the leaders of the

criminal environment and, if necessary, put

them on a preventive record;

 implement measures aimed at neutralizing the

negative influence of criminal leaders and

active members of negative groups on other

convicts;

 take measures to prevent the spread of criminal

ideology among the bulk of convicts;

 reveal the true intentions of the convicts upon

arrival at the correctional institution and report

this information to the chiefs of the detachment

in order to provide the most complete picture

of the convicted defendant's correction.

The implementation of these tasks is impossible

without the analysis of criminological information,

which has its actual embodiment in the operational

service of such criminogenic objects as penitentiary

institutions.

When assessing the operational situation,

operational officers must analyze the totality of

criminological indicators:

 the state, structure and dynamics of criminal

acts of this category of persons, which

characterize organized crime in general;

 mechanisms for committing illegal acts,

allowing to identify the dynamics and functions

of the activities of criminal leaders in places of

deprivation of liberty;

 characteristics of the personality of criminal

leaders, including a combination of factors

(economic, social, demographic, ethnographic,

geographic, etc.).

Analysis of the state, structure and dynamics of

criminal acts of this category of persons makes it

possible to determine and predict the likely

manifestations of organized crime in a correctional

institution, which will make it possible to make a

choice of deployment options at certain facilities that

require operational protection. This is contributed,

among other things, by statistical information that

shows tendencies in the manifestation of certain

illegal acts related to the activities of criminal leaders

and should be used as a tool for anticipating probable

processes in a correctional institution. Holding the

necessary criminological information, operational

officers can use it in a predictive sense to form an

approximate model of the manifestation of illegal

activities of criminal leaders in prisons.

A well-functioning organizational and

management structure has developed in penitentiary

institutions, the main purpose of which is easing of

some requirements of serving sentences and

committing crimes on the territory of institutions, as

well as ensuring control over the collective of

convicts and maintaining the influence of the criminal

subculture on them. The main place in the self-

determination of penitentiary crime is belonging to

criminal ideology, which they present as an example

of universal human moral values (honesty, justice,

mutual respect, mutual support, etc.).

In modern Russia, there is a fairly large group of

people of operational and preventive interest (Bykov,

Zenin, Kudryashov, 2018). The most important and

relevant element of organizing the activities of

operational units is, first of all, an assessment of the

operational situation, which is formed and based on

criminological knowledge (Gaikov, Galkina, 2013).

It should be noted that the possession of up-to-date

information characterizing the operational situation

should not be limited to the penitentiary institution. It

is necessary to pay attention to the fact that

correctional institutions are not isolated from the

outside world. Finding the necessary information in

relation to criminal leaders and their closest

associates makes it possible to assess the operational

situation not only in a particular correctional colony

or pre-trial detention center, but also in the area where

they are geographically located. Criminal leaders who

are at large provide tremendous assistance in

obtaining material assets obtained by criminal means,

including replenishing the so-called mutual

assistance fund for representatives of the criminal

world ("common fund") (Agildin, 2019). Within the

participation in such actions, a criminal ideology is

formed among those sentenced to imprisonment, a

stable picture of the world is acquired with a priority

in favor of criminal values. In this regard, according

to their capabilities, levels of competence, operational

units should have information about the state of the

operational situation not only in the institutions of the

penal system, but in the direction of the work of other

law enforcement agencies carrying out operational-

search activities in relation to criminal leaders.

Operational officers use criminological

techniques in their activities that help to understand

the mechanisms of committing crimes; to form an

approximate portrait of the face; to realize the degree

Criminological Support of Operational-search Activity on Counteraction of Criminal Leaders in Places of Deprivation of Liberty

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of criminality of the studied space, objects of

operational service; explore illegal behavior as a

process that takes place in spatial and temporal

dimensions; understand the preceding determinants,

phenomena that affect the unlawful behavior of a

person or a group of persons (Shkabin, 2020).

Criminological knowledge helps in the formation of

forecasts and construction of strategies of behavior

according to the assumed versions in relation to the

considered category of persons ((Eminov, 2020).).

Criminological data on a criminal leader

personality in places of deprivation of liberty make it

possible to assess the object of operational service,

understanding the mechanisms of his committing

illegal acts (Simonenko, 2013). Personality

characteristics include a set of information of a socio-

demographic, criminal-legal, criminological,

psychological, penal and other nature, the registration

of which will allow operational employees to most

effectively use measures in the prevention and

suppression of illegal activities of this category of

persons (Antonyan, Kudryavtsev, Eminov, 2004).

According to the research results, by questioning

convicts, employees of the penal system, we

established an approximate criminological portrait of

a criminal leader in places of deprivation of liberty,

which was formed from the following data: persons

aged 27-42 years - 71.3%, persons aged 22- 27 years

old - 12.1%, persons aged 42 years and older - 16.6%;

lived in cities - 69.1%, in villages - 28.4%, without a

place of residence - 2.5%); educational and cultural

level of leaders among convicts is above average -

71%. It should be noted that among these persons,

before conviction, 69.5% were not officially

employed, 2% were employed and 27.5% were

engaged in shady business. Most of them have

sentences ranging from 5 to 10 years, 82% of criminal

leaders in correctional institutions are repeated

criminals. The majority of persons in this category do

not have any incentives during their stay in

correctional facilities - 95%; the absolute majority of

them adhere to the norms and traditions of the

criminal (prison) subculture - 98%; 60% of them have

been convicted of violent crimes. Among the types of

sentences imposed by the courts, imprisonment

prevails in the absolute majority - 95.5%; most of the

respondents are not married and have no children -

67%.

Summarizing the personal qualities of a criminal

leader, it should be assumed that this is, first of all, a

man aged 25 to 39 years, has a high educational level,

is not married, has no children, and is not employed.

A person has been convicted two or more times, most

often for violent and economic crimes. The motive for

crimes is self-interest. They are powerful, purposeful,

daring, enterprising, decisive, cruel people, they have

a strong-willed character, the ability to subordinate

other people to their will. They are distinguished by a

pronounced legal nihilism, a persistent antisocial

attitude without any internal self-condemnation, a

high degree of criminogenic infection of personal

characteristics.

In correctional institutions, criminal leaders carry

out the so-called informational, organizational,

strategic, disciplinary and regulatory functions. The

implementation of these functions should be

suppressed by the operational staff of the institution.

This activity will be most effective if the operational

staff have criminological information about the

identity of the criminal leader.

Data on the motivation of illegal behavior of

criminal leaders are of particular importance in the

study of their personality, which helps in the

development of tactical directions of operational-

search activities in relation to a specific person.

Having data on the intentions and responsibilities of

specific criminal leaders and members of the criminal

environment, it is possible to organize a special

transparent control over the activities of these

persons, excluding their implementation.

To build a strategy for combating criminal

leaders, criminological information can be obtained

by operational officers from the following sources:

materials of criminal and personal files of

criminal leaders;

materials of service checks;

complaints and statements of convicts and their

relatives, other persons; employee reports;

information contained in the media, the Internet,

social networks;

statements by victims and witnesses;

the results of using special technical means;

information obtained as a result of operational-

search measures from persons from among the secret

apparatus, etc.

A special place in the above list of sources of

information rightfully belongs to persons providing

secret assistance, therefore there is always an acute

question of the availability and selection of a

qualified agent apparatus by operational employees.

The received and studied criminological

information will allow operatives to:

identify the motives and designs of criminal

leaders;

to identify the personal properties of a criminal

leader, details of the biography for the possible

obtaining the information of compromising nature,

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which may undermine the informal leading status in

front of convicts, suspects and the accused;

determine the degree of influence and danger of

the criminal leader for the functioning of the

institution;

on the basis of compromising information, it is

more efficient to recruit criminal leaders and active

members of negative groups into the secret apparatus;

to carry out purposeful work on the formation of

a secret apparatus capable of providing information in

relation to this category of persons;

use criminal leaders as agents of influence;

in the presence of reliable data on the illegal

activities of criminal leaders, aimed at organizing

active opposition to the administration of the

correctional institution, the pre-trial detention center,

crimes and violations of the regime, operational units

carry out a set of operational-search measures within

the framework of operational development.

Criminological support of operational-search

activities in relation to criminal leaders in places of

deprivation of liberty will allow:

take into account certain aspects when improving

federal and departmental legislation in the framework

of countering criminal leaders in places of deprivation

of liberty;

to develop and use effective criteria for assessing

the effectiveness in the fight against criminal leaders

in places of deprivation of liberty;

to increase the level of training and knowledge of

operational officers of the Federal Service for the

Execution of Punishments in their tasks and

capabilities in operational-search prevention against

criminal leaders;

to interact with the operational units of the Federal

Service for the Execution of Punishments with other

law enforcement agencies in the fight against the

illegal activities of criminal leaders in prisons.

The system of criminological prevention and

operational-investigative counteraction to criminal

threats from criminal leaders is complex and requires

deep scientific understanding, as well as the

development of measures to improve the efficiency of

operational and service activities of operational and

security facilities of correctional institutions and pre-

trial detention centers (Goryainov, 2010).

Consequently, the use, interaction of such scientific

areas as criminology and operational-search activity

in the work of operational employees will allow to

more effectively carry out the fight against organized

crime in places of deprivation of liberty.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The criminological indicators distinguished above,

representing the totality of information, methods

studied by the science of criminology, made it

possible to clearly show how operational-search

activity relies on the knowledge presented by this

science, which helps in the fight against illegal acts of

criminal leaders in places of deprivation of liberty. Of

course, the criminological support of operational-

search activity is not one-sided. In turn, the latter

allows criminology to study the mechanisms of

committing a crime from the inside, relying on hidden

processes that can occur and be known to an

absolutely limited circle in the face of operational

employees. And this interaction of two fairly young

scientific directions makes it possible to most

effectively fight against crime and, in particular, with

criminal leaders, who affect the crime situation not

only in places of detention, but also in the state as a

whole and beyond.

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