The penal system includes 29 correctional centers
and 81 isolated sections, functioning as correctional
centers, in which 6,407 convicts are registered. Also,
there are 81 federal state institutions "Penal
Enforcement Inspectorate" and 1,348 of their
branches, which are registered with 452,747 people
sentenced to punishments not involving the convicts'
isolation from society, 7,921 people suspected and
(or) accused of committing crimes on house arrest,
3,009 - prohibition of certain actions, 40 - bail with
the obligation to comply with the prohibitions
provided for in Part 6 Art. 105.1 of the Criminal
Procedure Code of the Russian Federation (Brief
description of the penal system..., 2020).
According to the Judicial Department at the
Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, the total
number of persons sentenced to criminal penalties is
also decreasing. If in 2009 it was 892,360 people,
then in 2019 - 598,214 (Basic Statistical Indicators of
Criminal Records..., 2020).
The research is based on the dialectical method.
The following methods were also used: analysis and
synthesis; comparative; technical; sociological;
theoretical; modeling; forecasting.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The main reasons for the decrease in the number of
convicts in Russia can be divided into:
1) reasons associated with a lowering of crime
rates;
2) the reasons associated with the criminal policy
humanization, including legislation and
judicial practice.
The lowering of crime rates is objectively
confirmed by the official statistics of the Ministry of
Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (in 2010 -
2628799; in 2019 - 2024337) (The state of crime in
Russia ..., 2020). Thus, over the past ten years, the
registered crime has decreased by 604,462.
It cannot be admitted that this is always associated
with the effective preventive work of law
enforcement bodies. Researchers aptly note that the
true reasons for such lowering are often: the decline
in the birth rate in the 1990s and early 2000s, ill-
considered decisions on regulating the number of
convicts, sometimes low qualifications of law
enforcement officers, imperfection of certain criminal
norms (Santashov, 2019).
The lowering of crime is due to a complex of
criminological reasons, including the observed
demographic decline, and a decrease in crime
detection (latency increase), a decrease in the
personnel of law enforcement bodies, primarily
district inspectors, who are the primary link in the
crime prevention system.
At the same time, the decrease in the total number
of crimes committed cannot indicate a favorable
criminological situation (Prozumentov, 2020).
An analysis of the judicial practice of sentencing
shows that over the past 10 years there has been a
general decrease in the number of sentences imposed,
a change in the convictions structure (including an
increase in the proportion of those sentenced to
punishments not involving isolation from society)
(Rakhmatulin, Rumyantsev, Shamsunov, 2019).
This is due to the second of the above groups of
reasons: the humanization of criminal policy,
including legislation and judicial practice.
The legislation humanization is associated, first of
all, with the decriminalization of certain elements of
crimes and the introduction of new grounds for
exemption from criminal liability (Pudovochkin,
2020), in particular, exemption from criminal liability
due to compensation for damage (Article 76.1 of the
Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) (Federal
Law of the Russian Federation № 420-FZ, 2011), as
well as with the court fine imposing (Art.76.2 of the
Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) (Federal
Law of the Russian Federation № 323-FZ, 2016), a
deferral of punishment (Kuznetsov, 2020).
However, one cannot speak of a uniform increase
in the use of all so-called alternative punishments.
According to the Judicial Department at the
Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, the number
of fines decreased from 123,495 in 2010 to 74,752 in
2019 (Azarova, Dvoryanskov, 2020).
At the same time, a sharp increase demonstrates
the use of this type of punishment as deprivation of
the right to hold certain positions and engage in
certain activities: from 9,924 in 2010 to 69,880 in
2019 (Borodina, Dvoryanskov, 2019).
Custodial restraint in 2010 (the first year of this
punishment application in its modern form) was
imposed 7,941 times, in 2019 - already 20,420 times.
The dynamics of community service assignments
ranged from 79,874 in 2010 to 141,165 in 2016 (the
maximum value in 10 years). In 2019, community
service was assigned 99,652 times (Basic Statistical
Indicators of Criminal Records, 2020).
There were 41,282 people sentenced to
correctional labor in 2010, and 50,020 people in
2019. Thus, the peak-to-peak amplitude is practically
absent.
Probation in 2010 - 307,206 times, in 2019 -
157,511 (Basic Statistical Indicators of Criminal