On quantitative and qualitative indicators of juvenile delinquency in modern Russia

The article focuses on the problems of reliability of the reflection of data on registered juvenile delinquency in official statistical information in Russia. For this purpose, the author compares the available statistical information on juvenile delinquency and other statistical data regarding, in particular, some socioeconomic indicators of the life of the Russian state that affect the state of juvenile delinquency. The author notes that the recorded delinquency of minors in our state annually demonstrates a steady downward trend, although small exceptions are observed in some time periods. The author provides data on quantitative and qualitative indicators of juvenile delinquency from the beginning of the current century to the present and carries out their critical analysis. The author notes that it would seem, if this trend continues in a few years, we will be able to “eliminate” juvenile delinquency. Making a forecast by applying the method of extrapolating statistics leads us to this encouraging conclusion. However, this trend cannot be explained solely by such positive factors as an improvement in the standard of living in our state, a way out of the socioeconomic crisis, and an increase in the quality of work of law enforcement officers. The reason for this decline cannot also be solely the presence of a demographic crisis. The author analyzes some problematic factors that “conflict” with the indicated statistical trend. The first factor is an obvious significant increase in the latency of the analyzed type of crime, which is associated with an increase in the influence of Internet content on the life of minors. The latter, “leaving” the real world, go into the virtual world, in which they become latent criminals and victims of various crimes. The second factor is the lack of real socioeconomic and moral-cultural prerequisites for such a significant decrease in the recorded juvenile delinquency in recent years. The third is the predominance of mercenary crimes in the crime structure of juvenile crimes, the presence of an ideology of consumption in our society. The fourth is the presence of a significant number of minors who have committed particularly serious crimes, despite the tendency to reduce the total number of identified minors who have committed crimes. The fifth is the consistently high rate of recurrent juvenile delinquency recorded by many criminologists. The sixth is the expansion of the list of crimes established in Part 2 of Article 20 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, for the commission of which criminal liability is possible from the age of 14. The author concludes that the determining factor that allows us to doubt the reliability of official statistical information is the obvious presence of a socioeconomic and spiritual base of juvenile delinquency and the impossibility of such a significant reduction in the current socioeconomic and moral-cultural conditions.

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