Criminal Penalty Not Involving Convicts Isolation from Society as a

Means of Criminal Counteraction to Crime

Ivan Vladimirovich Dvoryanskov

, Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Maletina

Irina Aleksandrovna Lakina

and Lidia Petrovna Pitkevich

Research Institute of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, Russian Federation

Keywords: Criminal law, criminal means, crime prevention, criminal penalty not involving convicts isolation from

society, reasons for lowering of crime rates, the number of convicts, humanization of legislation, criminal

policy and judicial practice, fines, deprivation of the right to hold certain positions and engage in certain

activities, custodial restraint, community service, correctional labor, compulsory labor, probation,

optimization of punishments associated with bringing convicts to work.

Abstract: Lowering of the crime rate is objectively confirmed by the official statistics of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

of Russia and is due to a complex of criminological reasons, including the observed demographic decline, and

a decrease in the crimes 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. The

research significance is due to the substantiation of the change in the punitive paradigm in crime fighting, the

substantiation of the greater efficiency and, consequently, the preference for the use of punishments that are

not involving isolation from society in combating crime. In particular, over the past relatively short period,

the development of compulsory labor demonstrates high dynamics. In this regard, legal problems are

identified, including those related to shortcomings in the punishment systematization, it is proposed to

combine punishments involving labor. The research methodology is based on traditional methods of

humanitarian research: dialectical, analysis and synthesis; comparative; technical; sociological; theoretical;

modeling; forecasting. As the results of the research, the article presents a criminological and legal analysis

of the currently observed phenomenon of lowering of crime rates and the number of convicts, especially to

imprisonment. Its reasons are revealed, including interrelated (correlated) processes - the humanization of

legislation, criminal policy and judicial practice.

1 INTRODUCTION

Today, the number of people held in prisons and pre-

trial detention centers in Russia is less than 500,000.

Although a few years ago, the number of people

isolated from society reached a million.

From a social and criminological point of view,

this phenomenon is of very great interest, since,

undoubtedly, it reflects the essential processes taking

place in society, on the one hand, and in the criminal

policy of the state, on the other hand. Their detailed

study is required, firstly, to understand the reasons

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and conditions that determine the phenomenon under

consideration, and secondly, to develop proposals for

improving the criminal policy implementation that

supports and enhances the above effect.

2 MATERIALS AND METHODS

As of February 1, 2021, there were 478,714 people in

the penal system institutions. (-4,118 people by

January 01, 2021).

410

Dvoryanskov, I., Maletina, E., Lakina, I. and Pitkevich, L.

Criminal Penalty Not Involving Convicts Isolation from Society as a Means of Criminal Counteraction to Crime.

DOI: 10.5220/0010645600003152

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

410-414

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

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

Criminal Penalty Not Involving Convicts Isolation from Society as a Means of Criminal Counteraction to Crime

411

Records, 2020). The application of this measure has

been significantly reduced.

As for compulsory labor, over the past relatively

short period, the development of this type of

punishment demonstrates high dynamics. So,

according to the departmental statistics of the Federal

Penitentiary Service of Russia, in 2017 there were

587 convicts in the correctional centers (isolated

sections, functioning as correctional centers), in 2018

- 2,501 people, and in 2019 - already 7,386 people.

The potential for the compulsory labor application

is due, on the one hand, to the financial and economic

opportunities associated with the creation of a

network of correctional centers (CC) and sections

functioning as a correctional center (ISCC), and, on

the other hand, by the legal conditions for the

imposition of this type of punishment. The first group

of factors is developing relatively favorably due to the

possibility of creating special sections of correctional

centers and colonies-settlements on the basis of

organizations in which convicts will work (Federal

Law of the Russian Federation № 179-FZ, 2019). The

second is related to the legislative limitation of the

circle of persons who can be assigned to compulsory

labor. According to Art. 53.1. of the Criminal Code

of the Russian Federation, compulsory labor is used

as an alternative to imprisonment in cases provided

for by the relevant articles of the Special Part of this

Code, for the commission of a crime of little or

medium gravity, or for the commission of a serious

crime for the first time.

According to the Judicial Department at the

Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, the number

of people convicted for crimes of little and medium

gravity is relatively stable and fluctuated accordingly:

 crimes of little gravity (309,522 - in 2010;

305,011 - in 2019);

 crimes of medium gravity (281,068 - in 2010;

131,824 - in 2019).

In 2019, a total of 129,548 people were convicted

of serious crimes. For comparison, in 2010 - 203,979

people.

Potentially, an increase in the number of the CC

contingent (ISCC) is possible due to the considered

category of convicts who are assigned imprisonment

for crimes of little and medium gravity, except for

persons who are not assigned compulsory labor:

women who have committed especially serious

crimes or are pregnant or have children of age up to

three years old, or those who have reached the age of

fifty-five, as well as minors, invalids of the first or

second group, men who have reached the age of sixty,

as well as military personnel.

Of course, to this number one must also add those

who were assigned compulsory labor initially or as a

replacement in accordance with Art. 80 of the

Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

(replacement of the unserved part of punishment with

a milder form).

Some of the persons who could potentially be

assigned compulsory labor (sentenced to

imprisonment for committing intentional crimes of

little and medium gravity) are serving their

punishments in colonies and settlements in

accordance with paragraph "a" of part 1 Art. 58 of the

Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. In 2019,

their contingent was 20194, i.e. respectively:

 crimes of little gravity - 10,380 people;

 crimes of average gravity - 9,814 people.

The total number of persons, persons who could

potentially be assigned compulsory labor (if aside

other punishments and measures) was approximately

470,000 people in 2019.

At the same time, the institution of punishment

substitution with a milder form has a serious resource

for expanding the contingent of those sentenced to

compulsory labor (Chernenko, Masalitina, 2019).

Today, the number of such persons, according to the

Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, reaches

approximately 190,000 people, including those who

fall under the grounds for punishment substitution

with a milder form.

The predicted further increase in the number of

those sentenced to compulsory labor requires, in

addition to practical measures, the introduction of

amendments to the penal legislation regulating the

procedure for the appointment and execution of

sentences in the form of compulsory labor (Olkhovik,

2018).

The judicial practice of humanization is also

expressed in the expansion of existing and new

grounds for exemption from criminal liability

(Zvonov, Savin, 2020).

Thus, the court fine imposition increased from

20,692 in 2017 to 52,460 in 2019, and its imposition

is comparable to the appointment of correctional

labor (50,020 in 2019). At the same time, not all

innovations in criminal legislation have found wide

application. For example, the growth in the use of

such a measure of exemption from criminal liability

as compensation for damage in economic cases is

much less significant - from 39 in 2017 to 62 in 2019.

At the same time, it is obvious that these measures

application directly affects the decrease in the number

of convicts.

So, in 2013, 201,803 people were released by

court decisions, in 2014 - 188,610, in 2015 - 174,736,

CLOSA 2021 - VII INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC-PRACTICAL CONFERENCE “CRIMINAL LAW AND OPERATIVE SEARCH

ACTIVITIES: PROBLEMS OF LEGISLATION, SCIENCE AND PRACTICE”

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in 2016 - 174,579, and in 2017 - 186,761 people.

(Forensic statistics data, 2020)

Thus, the application of various types of

punishments and criminal measures not related to

imprisonment is uneven and demonstrates different

dynamics. However, it is characterized by relative

stability, which makes it possible to predict its

preservation in the midterm.

It is also obvious that due to such a policy, the

structure of the convicts contingent is also changing.

In recent years, there has been a trend towards a

steady decline in persons held in prisons. This is due

to the widespread use of alternative punishments,

without imprisonment, and in general with the

liberalization of the penal policy. The number of

convicts in colonies is decreasing, but the number of

persons registered with penal enforcement

inspectorates and correctional centers is increasing.

Accordingly, this should serve as the basis for the

adoption of legislative and managerial decisions to

ensure the proper execution of criminal penalties,

optimization of financial, human and organizational

resources of the penal system.

First of all, the problem of increasing the

resources of the penal system requires a solution.

The currently emerging trend of expanding the

application of punishments and other criminal and

criminally-remedial measures not related to isolation

from society directly affects the number of persons

subject to penal enforcement inspectorates

(hereinafter - PEI), increased according to the

Management of the sentence enforcement not related

to the isolation of convicts from the society by the

Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia (Management

of the sentence enforcement not related to the

isolation of convicts from the society by the Federal

Penitentiary Service) by 200 thousand people (2015 -

853,351 people, 2016 - 871,786 people, 2017 -

989,228 people, 2018 - 1,034,029 people, 2019 -

1,003,165 people). This, in turn, naturally leads to an

increase in the workload on the PEI staff.

The problem of exceeding the limit of the number

of CC (ISCC) remains not fully resolved. This is

facilitated, firstly, by judicial practice, characterized

by the expansion of the application of this

punishment; secondly, unreasonably broader ground

for replacing the unserved part of the punishment

with a milder form, including imprisonment -

compulsory labor (as when sentencing - part 2 Art.

53.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation,

and in the process of serving - Art. 80 of the Criminal

Code of the Russian Federation); thirdly, an increase

of sanctions in the criminal law containing

compulsory labor, which, by the way, directly

contradicts the provision of Art. 53.1 of the Criminal

Code of the Russian Federation, according to which

this type of punishment can be imposed only as an

alternative, if the court comes to the conclusion that it

is possible to correct the convicted person without

actually serving the sentence in prisons.

At the same time, the CC (ISCC) possibilities are

limited both legally and in fact. The limit for filling

the institution (section) is strictly established by the

issued order of the Federal Penitentiary Service of

Russia for each CC (ISCC). Accordingly, areas,

material and technical support, staffing and other

parameters are calculated.

One cannot but take into account the factor of

economic development, which is different in different

regions. In the more industrially developed

constituent entities of the Russian Federation, the

employment of convicts to compulsory labor does not

cause such noticeable difficulties as in those where

agricultural production prevails, which is seasonal

and does not allow to attract convicts to work on a

permanent basis.

In this regard, it is easy to predict the uneven

distribution of convicts in the CC (ISCC), subordinate

to various territorial bodies of the PEI, which is

already observed today.

4 CONCLUSIONS

Thus, the prospects for the application of

punishments not involving isolation from society are

conditioned by the state and dynamics of crime in

Russia, on the one hand, and by the emerging trends

in the criminal policy humanization, on the other

hand, including legislation and judicial practice. At

the same time, their analysis, based on the current

situation and its extrapolation for the midterm,

scientific forecasting is necessary for making

legislative and managerial decisions to ensure the

proper execution of criminal penalties, optimizing the

financial, human and organizational resources of the

penal system.

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