Illegal (criminal) economy and its characteristics. The concept of crimes committed in the economic sphere

The concept of criminal economics is focused, first of all, on the study of the causes and mechanisms of economic and socially dangerous phenomena, as well as the prevention and suppression of socially dangerous activities.

The first study of criminal economics was carried out by A.A. Krylov. It is worth noting that he introduced the very concept of “criminal economy” into scientific circulation and gave the following definition: “Criminal economy is a complex system of illegal socio-economic relations and material processes regarding the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of material goods and services" (26) He also defines the criminal economy as organized self-interested non-violent crime (27)

In works with a statistical focus, the term “criminal quasi-economy” is used, which is defined as an unproductive sector of economic activity associated with the illegal redistribution of income and property of citizens through robbery, assault, theft, extortion (28)

A. Nesterov and A. We should not forget that Vakurin give the following definition of criminal economy: “...criminal economy is a specific economic structure, a method of economic management, which is designed to provide a certain, relatively small group of people with excess income, income from criminal activity, income from the use of "gaps" in the legislation" (29)

This concept, in their opinion, covers acts in the economic sphere that fall under certain articles of legislation, that is, economic offenses and crimes. This also includes organized crime, corruption and lobbying for bills beneficial to the criminal world.

Based on all of the above, we come to the conclusion that there is an understanding of the criminal economy exclusively from a formal legal position. According to the logic of this understanding, the entire shadow economy is included in the criminal economy.

The formal legal approach, in the author’s opinion, will be insufficient for an adequate understanding of the nature of the criminal and shadow economy and needs to be supplemented and expanded. The criminal economy, especially in Russia and other countries with undeveloped market systems, should be viewed from a broader criminological perspective.

From this position, the criminal economy includes economic relations, economic activity, the main distinguishing feature of which will be social harm (danger)

The criminal economy covers economic and socially dangerous acts of three types:

criminalized, entailing criminal liability in accordance with current legislation;

non-criminalized, but entailing legal liability in accordance with the norms of other branches of law;

non-criminalized and not entailing legal liability (gaps in legal regulation)

In accordance with the logic of the formal legal approach, the shadow economy will be a subsystem of the criminal economy. Its supporters quite consistently come to this conclusion (30). This approach is the only correct one from the position of law enforcement, when it is extremely important to proceed from existing legal norms. Consistently following this logic, the use of administrative and criminal legal means of struggle should be chosen as a means of solving the problem of the shadow economy. At the same time, in Russian conditions it is hardly possible to agree with such a position.

From the standpoint of the criminological approach, the shadow economy should include sectors of the criminal shadow economy and the non-criminal shadow economy. At the same time, it is not possible to clearly and unambiguously identify the sector of non-criminal economic activity. The reason for this is the complexity of the object of analysis itself - the shadow economy, the close relationship of its positive and negative functions in conditions of an imperfect competitive environment, unreasonable taxation, as well as formal and informal restrictions on opening and running a business.

When identifying the sector of the non-criminal shadow economy, in our opinion, the following considerations should be taken into account.

Non-criminal shadow activities can only be classified as economic activities that are directly related to the production of normal goods, the provision of normal services, the performance of normal work and that contribute to the creation of GDP.

It is advisable to include activities that could not be started or continued under the current tax and regulatory regime as the non-criminal sector of the shadow economy.

It is necessary to take into account the multiplier effect of increasing production and, consequently, tax revenues as a result of spending shadow income in the legal economy.

Given the obvious usefulness of a particular business from the point of view of social needs in certain markets, illegal methods will be a decisive factor in ensuring competitiveness and, when creating an enterprise or deciding to develop it, any most conscientious entity is forced to use them (for example, various “black cash” schemes - unaccounted for cash) The price level is determined mainly by firms using tax evasion schemes and it is almost impossible to legally enter such an area.

In general, to assess the level of crime in the shadow economy, it is advisable to take into account as fully as possible both its economic efficiency and usefulness, as well as its destructive influence. It is worth saying - it is useful to answer the question: “If legal requirements are fully implemented, and taxes and payments are fully paid, then, given the current economic situation, what part of economic activity will be minimally competitive and profitable?” It is in this part that one should look for the criminal shadow sector. The question can be formulated in a more general form: “To what extent and what part, the sphere of the shadow economy associated with the violation of the legal prohibition, ensure the survival of the social organism?”

With a criminological approach, the object of analysis becomes not only the activity itself, but also the rating scale of that activity, embodied in the legal system. With this, a more powerful criterion of socio-economic efficiency is used.

In conclusion, it is also extremely important to note that the use of one approach or another is determined by the nature of the economic system and the quality of the economic regulation system.

The formal legal approach will be fully justified in the conditions of a stable, well-functioning system of legal regulation of the economy, the high development of its institutions and limited government intervention in economic life. This is the situation in most industrialized countries. It is important to know that most socially beneficial businesses and other economic activities can actually compete if fair competition practices are used. Criminally oriented subjects or outsiders find themselves in the shadow economy.

In conditions of a weak state and the absence of a normal institutional environment in the economic sphere, the use of illegal methods becomes one of the decisive factors of competition and survival. Most economic entities find themselves outside the legal framework. In such a situation, the formal legal approach will not be constructive and must be supplemented by a broader economic and criminological one.

The division of the shadow economy into the criminal and non-criminal sectors cannot be speculative. It is worth noting that it involves a systematic analysis of specific areas in specific conditions.

The stated considerations are not intended to provide a final solution to the problem. It is worth noting that they are intended to outline its most significant contours and stimulate the search for a solution, the validity of which needs constant re-checking in the conditions of developing reality. The material was published on http://site

Taking into account the above, the following elements can be distinguished as part of the criminal economy:

illegal economic relations in the sphere of legal economic activity (economic crime and administrative tort);

hidden economy - an activity permitted by law, which is not officially shown or is downplayed by the entities carrying it out in order to evade paying taxes, making social contributions or fulfilling obligations specified by law;

the sphere of illegal business associated with the production, sale and consumption of normal goods and services without a license and special permission;

the sphere of illegal (informal - in the terminology of the SNA-93) employment;

the sphere of illegal business associated with the production, sale and consumption of prohibited goods and services, in which the labor process takes place, and the goods and services produced have effective market demand;

the sphere of criminal activity, within which criminal proceeds are obtained on the basis of the systematic commission of traditional ordinary crimes (professional crime);

the sphere of services related to the use or threat of use of violence in economic relations (contract killings, criminal terrorism) The purpose of this type of activity is to forcefully ensure the functioning of the criminal economy, suppression of competition and social control by violent methods, through the commission of ordinary crimes. The development of this area is associated with the commercialization of ordinary violent crime;

the sphere of creation, interpretation, application, execution of shadow (informal) norms regulating the sphere of criminal economic activity;

illegal economic relations in the sphere of the political market, political activity;

illegal economic relations in the system of state and municipal services in connection with the implementation of economic activities, the adoption and execution of economically significant decisions.

The criminal economy should also be considered as a system of socio-economic institutions, that is, formal and informal rules of economic behavior, as well as sanction mechanisms.

It is advisable to limit the scope of the criminal economy to types of activities that have such characteristics as implementation on a professional basis and an institutionalized nature.

The first criterion means that the scope of the criminal economy includes the commission of acts, the implementation of economic activities by entities with specific professional skills and experience. In the sphere of legal business, the criminal economy should include the commission of socially dangerous acts in the process of professional activity in the interests of personal, organization, and third parties.

The criminal economy also includes professional crime. It is understood as a type of criminal activity that will be a source of livelihood for the subject, requires the necessary knowledge and skills to achieve the final goal and determines certain contacts with the antisocial environment (31)

The second criterion means that its composition takes into account the following types of activities:

firstly, related to the use of institutions of the legal economy, executive, legislative and judicial powers for criminal purposes;

secondly, syndicalized forms of organized criminal activity of an economic nature;

thirdly, types of socially harmful economic activities generated by dysfunctions of public institutions and therefore of a massive nature;

fourthly, activities related to the creation, interpretation, execution and application of informal norms of illegal economic behavior.

The use of these criteria presupposes the exclusion from the sphere of the criminal economy of random, isolated, spontaneous, situationally carried out acts of an economic nature.

Secondly, the core of the criminal economy is, on the one hand, large-scale criminalized economic activity (belongs to the first subsystem “criminalized economy”) - that is, such legal economic activity that is inextricably linked and combined with violations of the criminal law or other in words, with the commission of economic crimes (Chapter 22 of the Code of the Russian Federation). On the other hand, there is criminal economic activity carried out by illegal criminal business structures (in the areas of drug trafficking, etc.) and belonging to the second subsystem “illegal economy”.

Thirdly, the functioning of the criminal economy is unthinkable without the use of non-economic methods of competition and obtaining excess profits. In the “first subsystem”, criminalized entrepreneurship is characterized by the achievement of illegal advantages in competition through the use of various types of fraud and other criminal acts related to deception and breach of trust - commercial fraud, false entrepreneurship, illegal entrepreneurship, deliberate and fictitious bankruptcy, concealment of income from taxation, etc.

In the “second subsystem”, within the framework of the illegal economy, for these purposes, criminal communities use the power tools of imposing monopoly power for “their” business structures operating in the official (legal) economic system in the markets of raw materials, production, circulation, and in the field of credit and banking activities etc. For example, according to the internal affairs bodies, retail trade in the Russian consumer market is almost completely under the strict control of criminal structures. In addition, forceful methods are used to impose clearly unprofitable or enslaving commercial transactions, economic contracts, etc. on business partners (including the sphere of the legal economic system of the state).

At the same time, it would be a serious misconception to associate the criminal economy with the legal economy, the officially operating system of management. The first cannot be called an economy (economy) in a strict sense. It is not a clearly structured hierarchical economic system, but at the same time it has absorbed its individual features, formally borrowing a number of segments. The criminal economy is characterized by such characteristics as fragmentation of sectors and industries existing within its framework, discreteness and, as a rule, short period of operation of individual business structures, spheres and types of economic activity, the presence of transitional structures combining criminal and legal types of economic activity, high dynamics horizontal flow of capital, etc. The criminal and legal economies have a close, inextricable mutual connection and conditionality. These properties are manifested primarily in the fact that even the second subsystem of the criminal economy (“illegal economy”) cannot exist in a regime of complete autarky and inevitably resorts to the services of the infrastructure of the legal economic system. For example, for the purpose of laundering “dirty” money, official channels of money circulation, the existing credit and banking system, the real estate market, etc. are usually used, or for these purposes “their own” business structures, banking and other organizations are specially created in the legal economic system .

The criminal economy is a special sphere of application of labor, it has its own “labor resources”, a unique mechanism for the reproduction and movement of capital, specific patterns of supply and demand formation, equilibrium market price, transaction costs, etc. Finally, it has its own system of values and goals.

Everything related to the specifics and patterns of evolution of the criminal economy cannot but be the object of scientific interest of criminology. Criminological science here should not act as a kind of detached observer, passively examining the events that have taken place, or simply stating obvious facts. From the role of a statistician, she must move to the mode of “working proactively”, to an active forecast of the main trends in the development of the criminal situation in the sphere of market economics, must develop a reliable methodology for countering the development of the criminal economy, suppressing and (or) eliminating factors that determine the strengthening of its position in society , displacement of criminal relations from the space of legal economic activity. This requires studying the phenomena of the criminal economy from the perspective of a systemic method, covering the entire set of endo- and exogenous connections and interdependencies inherent in it. The integrity of the systems approach will allow us to consider the object under study from two sides, as if in two dimensions: through the internal division of the object itself into elements, properties, functions, and in its correlation with the external environment. Its future in the 21st century will largely depend on the ability of modern criminological science to expand the boundaries of its own research, attract the tools of related scientific disciplines and internalize it.

The most important trend in the development of the shadow economy is its criminalization, the increasing influence of organized crime, and the increase in its danger to society. In this regard, it is advisable to identify an independent sector of the criminal economy in the system of economic relations.

The first study of criminal economics was carried out by A.A. Krylov. He introduced the very concept of “criminal economy” into scientific circulation and gave the following definition: “Criminal economy is a complex system of illegal socio-economic relations and material and material processes regarding the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of material goods and services.” He also defines the criminal economy as organized self-interested non-violent crime.

A. Nesterov and A. Vakurin give the following definition of criminal economy: “...criminal economy is a specific economic structure, a method of management that is designed to provide a certain, relatively small group of people with excess income, income from criminal activity, income from the use of “holes” in legislation."

Thus, there is an understanding of the criminal economy exclusively from a formal legal position. In accordance with the logic of this understanding, the entire shadow economy is included in the criminal economy.

The formal legal approach, according to the author, is insufficient for an adequate understanding of the nature of the criminal and shadow economy and needs to be supplemented and expanded. The criminal economy, especially in Russia and other countries with undeveloped market systems, should be viewed from a broader criminological perspective.

From this point of view, the criminal economy includes economic relations, economic activities, the main distinguishing feature of which is social harmfulness (danger).

The criminal economy covers economic and socially dangerous acts of three types:

· criminalized, entailing criminal liability in accordance with current legislation;

· non-criminalized, but entailing legal liability in accordance with the norms of other branches of law;

· non-criminalized and not entailing legal liability (gaps in legal regulation).

In accordance with the logic of the formal legal approach, the shadow economy is a subsystem of the criminal economy. Its supporters quite consistently come to this conclusion. This approach is the only correct one from the position of law enforcement, when it is necessary to proceed from existing legal norms. Consistently following this logic, the use of administrative and criminal legal means of struggle should be chosen as a means of solving the problem of the shadow economy. However, in Russian conditions it is hardly possible to agree with such a position.

From the standpoint of the criminological approach, sectors of the shadow economy should be distinguished: criminal shadow economy And non-criminal shadow economy . However, it is not possible to clearly and unambiguously identify the sector of non-criminal economic activity. The reason for this is the complexity of the object of analysis itself - the shadow economy, the close relationship of its positive and negative functions in conditions of an imperfect competitive environment, unreasonable taxation, as well as formal and informal restrictions on opening and running a business.

When identifying the sector of the non-criminal shadow economy, in our opinion, the following considerations should be taken into account.

Only economic activity that is directly related to the production of normal goods, the provision of normal services, the performance of normal work and that contributes to the creation of GDP can be classified as non-criminal shadow.

It is advisable to include activities that could not be started or continued under the current taxation and regulatory regime as the non-criminal sector of the shadow economy.

It is necessary to take into account the multiplier effect of increasing production and, consequently, tax revenues as a result of spending shadow income in the legal economy.

Despite the obvious usefulness of a particular business from the point of view of social needs in some markets, illegal methods are a decisive factor in ensuring competitiveness and, when creating an enterprise or deciding to develop it, any most conscientious entity is forced to use them (for example, various “black cash” schemes - unaccounted for cash). The price level is determined mainly by firms using tax evasion schemes, and it is almost impossible to enter such an area legally.

In general, to assess the level of crime in the shadow economy, it is advisable to take into account as fully as possible both its economic efficiency and usefulness, as well as its destructive influence. It is useful to answer the question: “If legal requirements are fully implemented, and taxes and fees are fully paid, then, given the current economic environment, what part of economic activity will be minimally competitive and profitable?” It is in this part that one should look for the criminal shadow sector. The question can be formulated in a more general form: “To what extent and what part, the sphere of the shadow economy associated with the violation of the legal prohibition, ensure the survival of the social organism?”

With a criminological approach, the object of analysis becomes not only the activity itself, but also the evaluation scale of this activity, embodied in the legal system. In this case, a more powerful criterion of socio-economic efficiency is used.

In conclusion, it should also be noted that the use of one approach or another is determined by the nature of the economic system and the quality of the economic regulation system.

The formal legal approach is completely justified in the conditions of a stable, well-functioning system of legal regulation of the economy, the high development of its institutions and limited government intervention in economic life. This is the situation in most industrialized countries. Most socially beneficial businesses and other economic activities can effectively compete if fair competition practices are used. Criminally oriented subjects or outsiders find themselves in the shadow economy.

In conditions of a weak state and the absence of a normal institutional environment in the economic sphere, the use of illegal methods becomes one of the decisive factors of competition and survival. Most economic entities find themselves outside the legal framework. In such a situation, the formal legal approach is not constructive and must be supplemented by a broader economic and criminological one.

The division of the shadow economy into the criminal and non-criminal sectors cannot be speculative. It involves a systematic analysis of specific areas in specific conditions.

The stated considerations are not intended to provide a final solution to the problem. They are intended to outline its most significant contours and stimulate the search for a solution, the validity of which needs constant re-verification in the conditions of developing reality.

Taking into account the above, the following elements can be distinguished as part of the criminal economy:

· illegal economic relations in the sphere of legal economic activity (economic crime and administrative tort);

· hidden economy - an activity permitted by law that is not officially shown or is downplayed by the entities carrying it out in order to evade paying taxes, making social contributions or fulfilling obligations specified by law;

· the sphere of illegal business associated with the production, sale and consumption of normal goods and services without a license and special permission.

· the sphere of illegal (informal - in the terminology of the SNA-93) employment;

· the sphere of illegal business associated with the production, sale and consumption of prohibited goods and services, in which the labor process takes place, and the goods and services produced have effective market demand.

· the sphere of criminal activity, within which criminal proceeds are obtained on the basis of the systematic commission of traditional ordinary crimes (professional crime).

· the sphere of services related to the use or threat of use of violence in economic relations (contract killings, criminal terrorism). The purpose of this type of activity is to forcefully ensure the functioning of the criminal economy, suppress competition and social control by violent methods, through the commission of ordinary crimes. The development of this area is associated with the commercialization of ordinary violent crime.

· the sphere of creation, interpretation, application, execution of shadow (informal) norms regulating the sphere of criminal economic activity.

· illegal economic relations in the sphere of the political market, political activity.

· illegal economic relations in the system of state and municipal services in connection with the implementation of economic activities, the adoption and execution of economically significant decisions.

The criminal economy should also be considered as a system of socio-economic institutions, that is, formal and informal rules of economic behavior, as well as sanction mechanisms.

It is advisable to limit the scope of the criminal economy to activities that have such characteristics as implementation on a professional basis and an institutionalized nature.

The criminal economy also includes professional crime. It is understood as a type of criminal activity that is a source of livelihood for the subject, requires the necessary knowledge and skills to achieve the final goal and determines certain contacts with the antisocial environment.

The second criterion means that its composition takes into account the following types of activities:

firstly - related to the use of institutions of the legal economy, executive, legislative and judicial powers for criminal purposes;

secondly, syndicalized forms of organized criminal activity with an economic orientation;

thirdly, types of socially harmful economic activities generated by dysfunctions of public institutions and therefore of a mass nature;

fourthly, activities related to the creation, interpretation, execution and application of informal norms of illegal economic behavior.

The use of these criteria presupposes the exclusion from the sphere of the criminal economy of random, isolated, spontaneous, situationally carried out acts of an economic nature.

Economic crimes- these are criminal acts committed in the sphere of production, distribution, consumption of goods, services, incl. related to the illegal use of official status: theft, consumer deception, violation of trade rules, violation of state price discipline, tax evasion, etc.

Criminal economy- these are actions in the economic sphere that fall under certain articles of legislation, i.e. economic offenses and crimes.

This includes organized crime, corruption, and lobbying for bills beneficial to the underworld. This is a specific economic structure, a way of managing, which is designed to provide a certain, relatively small group with excess income, income from criminal activity, from the use of “gaps” in the legislation.

The criminal economy covers economic and socially dangerous acts of three types:

criminalized, entailing criminal liability in accordance with current legislation;

non-criminalized, but entailing legal liability in accordance with the norms of other branches of law;

non-criminalized and not entailing legal liability (gaps in legal regulation).

The most dangerous areas of criminal economic activity in Russia

Shadow economic activity in various industries and areas of economic activity

criminal economy

Shadow economy (hidden economy)- economic activity hidden from society and the state, outside state control and accounting. It is an unobservable, informal part of the economy, but does not cover it all, since it cannot include activities that are not specifically hidden from society and the state, for example, the home or community economy. Also includes illegal, criminal types of economy, but is not limited to them.

Shadow economy- these are economic relationships between citizens of society, developing spontaneously, bypassing existing state laws and public rules. The income of this business is hidden and is not a taxable economic activity. In fact, any business that results in the concealment of income or tax evasion can be considered a shadow economic activity.

The shadow economy can be divided into the following main enlarged blocks: unofficial, fictitious and underground.

Unofficial (figuratively called “gray”") the economy covers legal, permitted types of economic activity, which are especially common in the service sector (apartment renovation, medical care, provision of housing in resort areas, etc.). However, income recipients hide them from taxation.

Fictitious (“white-collar”) economic activity As a rule, this is done by the management of enterprises and officials in those countries where the public sector of the economy is significantly developed. Persons with access to public property enrich themselves by inventing illegal means (subscriptions to the implementation of tasks and plans, fraudulent methods of obtaining money, theft of material resources, etc.).

Underground (“black”) economy- This is an activity prohibited by law. These include: drug trafficking, smuggling, counterfeiting, human trafficking

refers to a set of unaccounted for, unregulated and illegal types of economic activity. Its common features are:

hidden, secret nature (such activities are not registered by the state and are not reflected in official statistics)
coverage of all phases of the circulation of social wealth (production, distribution, exchange and consumption)
illegal enrichment through concealment of income from state taxation, gratuitous appropriation of someone else's property and redistribution of public wealth

According to various estimates, in Western countries, from 5 to 20% is produced in the shadow sector of the economy. In the second half of the 1990s. In Russia, 40% of all enterprises were under the control of criminal structures.

The shadow economy can be divided into the following main enlarged blocks:

Unofficial(figuratively called “gray”) economy covers legal, permitted types of economic activity, which are especially common in the service sector (apartment renovation, medical care, provision of housing in resort areas, etc.). However, income recipients hide them from taxation.
fictitious("white collar") economic activity As a rule, this is done by the management of enterprises and officials in those countries where the public sector of the economy is significantly developed. Persons with access to public property enrich themselves by inventing illegal means (subscriptions to the implementation of tasks and plans, fraudulent methods of obtaining money, theft of material resources, etc.).
Underground(“black”) economy- This is an activity prohibited by law. This includes: drug trafficking, smuggling, counterfeiting, human trafficking, contract killings and other criminal matters.

A more precise description of crimes in the economic sphere can be found in Chap. 21 "Crimes against property", ch. 22 "Crimes in the field of economic activity" and ch. 23 “Crimes against service in commercial and other organizations” Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

The criminal economy has taken deep roots and expanded significantly in our country, especially in recent years.

The first reason for this phenomenon is corruption (bribery) of government officials and officials charged with maintaining the rule of law in the economy (the criminal world spends up to 30-50% of its income on their bribery). Another reason is that businessmen "black economy" form groups well equipped with weapons and modern technical means. These organized criminal groups, together with the bribed part of the state apparatus, create mafia associations that prevent the exposure of crimes. The third reason lies in the receipt of very high incomes, primarily by mafia leaders. Meanwhile, as economists have calculated, most thieves, swindlers and robbers receive an average income (taking into account the prison term), which is less than the earnings of ordinary workers and employees. In the future, we will more than once touch on the shadow economy, its specific forms and ways to combat it with the help of organizational, economic and socio-economic measures.

Now, after considering the essence of property, we will be able to more specifically analyze its individual types and forms.

Illegal (criminal) economy and its characteristics. The concept of crimes committed in the economic sphere

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