On the specifics of the determination of modern recidivism in Russia

Introduction: The article discusses some of the criminological features of modern recidivism, reveals the concept of criminological recidivism and its types. An analysis is given of the main factors that determine the deformation of the consciousness of persons who have previously committed criminal acts, causing the repetition of their criminal activity in modern social conditions. The main problems associated with the prevention of penitentiary and post-penitentiary recidivism of crimes are considered. Materials and methods: The normative basis of the study is formed by the criminal legislation of the Russian Federation, Federal Law No. 182-FZ dated June 23, 2016 “On the Basics of the Offense Prevention System in the Russian Federation”. The methodological basis of the study was modern general scientific and particular scientific methods of cognition of social phenomena and processes (dialectical, inductive, deductive, analysis, synthesis, formal legal, modeling). The empirical base of the study was the materials of the judicial practice of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, criminal statistics data from the official website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation and the Legal Statistics Portal of the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation. The results of the study: the author identified the main causes-deformation of consciousness in the social sphere of persons who have committed a crime and sentenced to imprisonment, which determine the recurrence of crimes. The need to improve the effectiveness of measures aimed at the resocialization of persons sentenced to deprivation of liberty, both those serving sentences and those released, has been established, mainly by changing the attitude to the very essence of punishment, both of society as a whole and of criminals. Findings and conclusions: based on the analysis of positive foreign experience in improving the effectiveness of measures of social adaptation of persons sentenced to deprivation of liberty, a regularity has been established, which consists in the fact that the less socially familiar environment the offender is in while serving his sentence, the more difficult it will be the process of his resocialization after release. In turn, the resocialization of criminals who have been in places of deprivation of liberty will be more successful if the essence of punishment consists in the re-education of convicts, when the very fact of their conviction by the court, and not the specifics of the conditions of detention, will be perceived as punishment, forcing them to embark on the path of correction.