Deradicalization as a means of preventing religious extremism

Introduction: the article discusses current legal and management approaches to overcome influence of the ideology of religious extremism at the stages of pre-criminal behavior of an individual. The article reveals the features of the most promising area of early warning of religious extremism and offers legal means for its implementation. Materials and Methods: the material basis of the study was the norms of current Russian legislation, legal acts of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Austria on countering extremism, statistical data of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs on quantitative and qualitative indicators of extremist crimes, as well as published materials of judicial practice. The author used the dialectical method, statistical, comparative-legal and logical methods as academic methods. Results: the article analyzes the current state of extremist crimes committed on the grounds of religious hatred or enmity. Based on the results obtained, the author substantiates the hypothesis to integrate measures for deradicalization of the individual into the domestic system of anti-extremist activities as the most promising means of early warning of religious extremism at the stages of pre-criminal behavior of the individual. Discussion and Conclusions: the article substantiates the opinion that deradicalization is a complex of legal, social, psychological and psychiatric measures aimed at voluntary correction of the behavioral component of the individual by gradually reducing the negative impact of the ideology of extremism by means of motivating a person to self-distancing from extreme ideological views and criminal forms of behavior based on them.