Methodology and techniques for studying penal and post-penal recidivism in measures alternative to deprivation of liberty

The article presents a search for approaches to the problem of crime recidivism when executing punishments that are not related to deprivation of liberty. The author substantiates his position on the need to study penal and post-penal recidivism in alternative measures using a developed special methodology that gives representative and fairly objective data on criminological recidivism of crimes from convicts who were not deprived of liberty. The share of prisoners with a suspended sentence is reducing. The law enforcement practice increasingly relies on such real alternative punishments as correctional labour, compulsory labour, restriction of freedom. Obviously, this circumstance makes the problem of increasing their efficiency more urgent. The efficiency of the implementation of measures alternative to deprivation of liberty largely depends on the level of criminal activity of persons in respect of whom they are enforced. With this approach, the indicators of criminological recidivism are considered as an important criterion for the efficiency of not only criminal punishment, but also the organization of its execution by corrective services. Objectively established indicators of criminological recidivism of crimes are the basis for developing effective measures to prevent penal and post-penal crime recidivism. In this connection, the absence of a unified and widely distributed system for registering recidivism does not contribute to the implementation of the state's penal policy aimed at reducing the recidivism of crimes, including those on the part of convicts who were not deprived of liberty. To study the level of crime recidivism in the implementation of alternative measures, it is proposed to use a selective case study. In the situation under consideration, this method presupposes the selection of the necessary number of persons to supervise who were convicted without isolation from society and were registered in the records of corrective services and the bailiff department at different times. For each convict included in the statistical sample, based on their personal file, a statistical questionnaire was completed, including the socio-demographic, criminal and penal characteristics of the convicted person. By checking the data on each convicted person through information centers of the Internal Affairs Directorates and the Central Internal Affairs Directorates of the RF subjects, convicts who again committed a crime were found. As a result, groups of persons who committed and did not commit crimes after being registered or removed from the record at the corrective service and after enforcement proceedings in the execution of punishment in the form of a fine. The method used in the study gave representative and fairly objective data on the criminological recidivism of crimes by convicts who were not deprived of liberty. As a result, it expands knowledge about the causes of recidivism, enriches the prognostic potential of criminological science.

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