Current Issues of the Addiction-Driven Public Danger of Drug Criminals

The category “public danger of a criminal” is considered. Based on the analysis of diverse views on this category and law enforcement practice, criminological and criminal law criteria for the public danger of a drug criminal with drug addiction are presented. Particular attention is paid to the psychobiological criteria of the social danger of a criminal addicted to narcotic drugs. The study of the category “public danger of a criminal” was the basis for determining the author's idea of the essence of the public danger of a drug criminal caused by their drug addiction. The article provides data from official statistics on the situation with drugs in the Russian Federation. The importance of analyzing the public danger of a criminal is noted: the correct interpretation of this category provides for the effectiveness of criminal law norms, the development of special preventive measures, and the shaping of modern criminal law views. Based on the materials of criminal cases, the characteristics of persons committing crimes related to narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances trafficking were analyzed. The general criminological and criminal law characteristics of drug criminals include: they are 14 to 35 years old; they are largely single men with no permanent source of income; the main motive for primary drug use is curiosity, which is satisfied in their acquaintances' apartments or in drug squats, and the source of the acquisition of drugs is unknown persons; the recidivism rate is high. Particular attention is paid to the psychobiological characteristics of the public danger of a criminal: current research proves the existence of a relationship between drug addiction and criminal behavior. The author notes that the content of the public danger of a person who commits a crime in the field of illegal drug trafficking and has drug addiction is expressed in the class of the danger of drugs and psychotropic substances a person uses and the danger of committed crimes. There are three classes of the danger of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances; the basis for differentiation is the severity of the prohibition for their circulation and the degree of their harmful effects on public health. The hazard class of narcotic drugs corresponds to the Lists approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 681 of 30 June 1998. Crimes in the sphere of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances illicit trafficking are differentiated into three groups: increased, average, and basic public danger; the ranking criterion is various factors, including the focus on sales, the presence of a special subject. The author points out that the use of the described model of a drug criminal's public danger caused by drug addiction will positively affect the development of specific preventive measures and the implementation of the principle of punishment individualization.

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