Confiscation of property as a measure of combating corruption

Introduction: the article considers a controversial issue about introduction of such type of punishment as confiscation of property as a measure of combating corruption-related crimes. Purpose: the authors analyse and compare different approaches to defining legal nature of confiscation of property. Methods: the methodological framework of the research is based on a set of methods of scientific cognition, among which the dialectic method is the major one. The authors use general scientific methods (dialectics, analysis and synthesis, abstraction and concretization) and methods specific to legal science (technical, comparative legal). Special attention is paid to the comparative and systemic methods of research. Results: the authors view corruption as a serious threat for the system of public authority in the Russian Federation. Corruption does not only mean primitive kinds of bribery and elementary abuse. Combating corruption-related crimes requires taking complex measures of different character, including improvement of criminal legislation and enforcement practice, particularly improvement of the effectiveness of administering punishments for persons guilty of committing such crimes. The main method of criminal law is compulsion, which must be legal, justified, fair and ineluctable. Confiscation of property has always been one of the most effective types of punishment in combating corruption-related crimes. Being a strict enough kind of punishment, it does not lead to severance of a convict’s useful social relations, criminal deformation of his personality, or social maladjustment, which is typical of the penalties implying imprisonment. In our opinion, confiscation of property is an effective measure when convicting of the crimes of mercenary nature, especially those causing damage to the state. The authors maintain that confiscation of property should necessarily be introduced into the system of punishments for criminal offences. Conclusions: thus, the item «j» - confiscation of property - must be included into Article 44 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, as well as confiscation of property must be included into Part 3 of Article 45 of the Code as an additional type of punishment. Introduction of this type of penalty will allow for increasing the efficiency of combating corruption-related offences.