Crime in modern Russia: problems of territorial assessments and their interpretation

The paper highlights conceptual and instrumental problems of assessing the quality of executive bodies in the field of public security and law and order in the context of interregional comparisons. Official data of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation broken down by constituent entities of Russia and types of crime are used as a source of information. The author proves that the official data do not reflect real differences in the quality of public administration in the regions due to the fact that they are influenced by a number of statistical artifacts (among them: shortcomings of accounting and formality of criteria of departmental control) and socio-cultural differences, which in themselves cannot be considered with the help of formalized methods. This applies to both approaches to assessing the quality of administration - by the results of activities (crime rate), and by performance criteria (crime detection). Despite the fact that the overall level of security in the region is an important condition and a marker of social well-being, and this in itself is a sign of the quality of administration, it is extremely difficult to use traditional indicators of crime and crime detection in assessing the effectiveness and quality of law enforcement in the regions. Practical significance of the article lies in the fact that the author outlines the framework for the applicability of official statistical information to assess the quality of public administration in the sphere of public order. The article opens the space for discussion on the choice of objective criteria for the quality of public administration in the field of law and order and for the search for variables that help assess the impact of exogenous factors (religious context, the role of related state structures, for example, prosecutor’s office, and local communities) on the crime rate in the regions of Russia and, consequently, adjust the results of the assessments. The materials of the article can be applied in the practical activities of regional public authorities in the field of public security and law enforcement and in the work of researchers and teachers.