CRIMINAL COMMUNITY (CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION): CONCEPT AND CRIMINAL LAW SIGNS

One of the main threats to security and stability, hindering the socio-economic, political, and cultural development of the state, continues to be the activity of criminal organizations and groups. The importance of the problem under study is substantiated by the data of official statistics on the state of crime over the past five years and the results of the fight against crimes committed with complicity. The increase in crimes committed by organized groups and criminal communities (criminal organizations) is especially important, especially those related to drug trafficking, economic orientation, and fraud. Combating organized crime, considering its transnational nature, is one of the world problems that require the consolidation of efforts of all states and the application of a set of international legal norms and norms of national legislation, as well as preventive measures, including measures of a criminal law nature. Particular attention is paid to the explanations of the Plenums of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on the selected issues. The importance of theoretical understanding of the main categories, concepts, definitions, their specifics are substantiated, which contributes to their uniform understanding and application in practice; eliminates problems arising in the process of qualifying crimes, eliminates latency, increases the effectiveness of criminal law measures to combat crime. The author's position is proposed, according to which it is advisable to differentiate the criminal-legal characteristics of a criminal community (criminal organization) into two groups: mandatory and optional, which will allow solving several problems in the area under consideration.


Introduction
According to the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation (Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of December 31, 2015, No. 683 "On the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation"), the activities of criminal organizations and groups are classified as the main threats to state and public security.
The most significant indicators of the criminal activity of organized groups are cruelty, audacity and cynicism, criminalization of the banking, tax, and environmental spheres, corruption, widespread use of modern achievements of science, technology, information and telecommunication technologies, close connection with the illegal circulation of weapons and drugs, illegal migration, trafficking, terrorism, and extremism; the desire to establish control over the city and budget-forming objects of the economy, the fuel and energy, and defense-industrial complexes.
The illegal activities of criminal organizations are characterized by a stable antisocial orientation, the desire to penetrate the power structures of the state, the seizure of the most profitable spheres, transnational character, diversification, high latency, and an increased degree of public danger.
As a result, counteraction to organized crime, including measures of a criminal law nature, continues to be one of the priority areas of activity of law enforcement agencies not only in the Russian Federation but also in other states.

Problem Statement
In the criminal legislation of the Russian Federation, the concepts of "criminal community" and "criminal organization" are identical. In the domestic science of criminal law, the criminal community (criminal organization) is recognized as the most dangerous form of complicity.
In accordance with the socio-psychological criterion -the degree of consistency (organization) of the actions of accomplices, four forms of complicity in a crime are distinguished. This is the commission of a crime:  by a group of persons without prior conspiracy;  by a group of persons by prior agreement;  by an organized group;  a criminal community (criminal organization).
Complicity in a crime increases the social danger of acts. The combination of intellectual and physical efforts makes it easier for the accomplices to commit the intended crime. They feel more confident when acting in a group. Their behavior, as a rule, is characterized by special audacity and unmotivated cruelty towards victims, which is mainly due to the group nature of the crime and is aimed at strengthening the authority in the criminal community, rallying, and in some cases, intimidating its members.
Realizing a criminal intent, combining their efforts, and acting in concert, accomplices can cause much more significant harm to public relations protected by criminal law than in cases where the crime is committed by one person. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2021.11.4 Corresponding Author: Afanasieva Olga Romanovna Selection and peer-review under

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In accordance with clause "c" part 1 of Art. 63 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the commission of a crime as part of a group of persons, a group of persons by prior conspiracy, an organized group or a criminal community (criminal organization) is provided as an aggravating circumstance. It should be borne in mind that if an aggravating circumstance is provided for by the relevant article of the Special Part of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation as constructive, qualifying or especially qualifying signs of a crime, then it cannot be considered again when sentencing.
The most dangerous form of complicity is the commission of a crime by a criminal community (criminal organization). This concept is disclosed in Part 4 of Art. 35 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, in accordance with which a crime is recognized as a committed criminal community (criminal organization) if it is committed by a structured organized group or an association of organized groups acting under a single leadership, whose members are united to commit one or more grave or especially grave crimes to obtain directly or indirectly financial or other material benefits.
It should be noted that the concepts of "criminal community" and "criminal organization" in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation are identical. Therefore, the use in Art. Art. 33, 35, 63, 104¹, 205¹, 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which completely coincide in the meaning of the concepts, seems to us excessive.
In criminology and criminal law, these concepts are different. According to Malinin and Shimanovich, the criminological concept of "criminal organization" is characterized by the following features: a) the criminal nature of joint activities; b) the implementation of criminal activity on an ongoing basis, that is, its stability; c) generating income by carrying out criminal activities; d) the presence of an internal structure with a pronounced hierarchy; e) creation of a system of protection from social control (for example, by law enforcement agencies); f) the desire to exercise control over the selected type and (or) sphere (region) of activity (Malinin & Shimanovich, 2008).
Dolgova defines a criminal community as an association of persons committing crimes to consolidate the criminal environment; maintaining its norms and customs; exercising control over different groups of persons, objects, spheres of activity and territories; development of relationships in the criminal environment, including among convicts serving sentences in correctional institutions; ensuring illegal interests in state and local government bodies, organizations of any form of ownership (Dolgova, 2017).
Based on the definition of the concept, this is given in Part 4 of Art. 35 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the following mandatory criminal law signs of a criminal community can be distinguished:  Organizationally, a criminal community is a "structured organized group" or "an association of organized groups";  criminal community carries out illegal activities under a single leadership;  members of a criminal community are united for the joint commission of one or more grave or especially grave crimes;  purpose of committing one or several grave or especially grave crimes is the receipt by members of the criminal community, directly or indirectly, of financial or other material benefits.
https: //doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2021.11.4 Corresponding Author: Afanasieva Olga Romanovna Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of the conference eISSN:  26 According to the just remark of Popov, such an interpretation by the legislator of the signs of a criminal community (criminal organization) does not clarify the practice (Popov, 2016).
According to Part 4 of Art. 35 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and to its organizational structure, a criminal community can function in the form of:  structured organized group;  associations of organized groups.
The main structural element of a criminal organization is an organized group. In the first case, the criminal organization may consist of one, but structured, organized group. The second type of criminal organization is an amalgamation of two or more organized groups, which may or may not have an internal structure.
The concept of "organized group" is disclosed in Part 3 of Art. 35 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. An organized group is understood as a stable group of persons who have united in advance to commit one or more crimes.
An organized group, being the primary element of a criminal organization, is characterized by the following mandatory features:  it is an association consisting of two or more persons capable of bearing criminal responsibility for committed socially dangerous acts;  it has group stability;  its purpose lies in uniting persons is to jointly commit one or more deliberate crimes.
According to the general rule, all members of an organized group must be sane at the time of The sign of the stability of an organized group is evaluative and requires correct interpretation.
The stability of an organized group should be understood as its stable existence for a sufficiently long time. In such groups, as a rule, there is one-man management, internal contradictions between its members are absent or timely resolved, discipline and conspiracy are observed, which allows such an association for some time, which in some cases can be calculated in years, to engage in criminal activity, avoiding criminal liability for committed crimes.  The stability of an organized group can be evidenced not only by the long time period of its existence, the repeated commission of crimes by the members of the group, but also by their technical equipment, the duration of the preparation of even one crime, as well as other circumstances (for example, special training of the members of the organized group to penetrate a depository for withdrawal of money (currency) or other material valuables).
There is an opinion in the academic community, which states that the stability of an association of criminals should also be understood as its ability to actively counter measures of law enforcement and other state bodies to suppress criminal activity or prevent the commission of new crimes (Lizogub, 2008).
The purpose of an organized group is to commit one or more crimes. Moreover, in part 3 of Art.
35 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation does not specify the categories of crimes. Therefore, it can be assumed that these can be crimes of any gravity. A criminal community, unlike an organized group, is created to commit only grave or especially grave crimes (parts 4, 5, article 15 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). This is the purpose of the creation and operation of a criminal community, but this does not mean that its individual members cannot commit crimes of small or medium gravity.
An organized group can transform into a criminal community -a more dangerous form of complicity in a crime. To do this, it must become structured. The sign of structuredness means that within an organized group, formations are created that have a specific purpose (for example, territorial "units" or "brigades", units that ensure security, financial and logistical support for the activities of a criminal community (supply of weapons, vehicles, communications, etc.)).
In accordance with Art. 2 of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime https: //doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2021.11.4 Corresponding Author: Afanasieva Olga Romanovna Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of the conference eISSN:  28 The need for structuring may occur due to various reasons; for example, an increase in the number of members of an organized group, when effective management of a large criminal association is possible only by structuring it. In all cases, the result of structuring is the emergence of middle managers responsible for the activities of individual departments (leaders, authorities, "foremen"). At the same time, structural divisions can be of two types: territorial and functional.
Territorial structural divisions carry out criminal activity in a certain territory, for example, in a specific settlement. Functional structural units specialize in certain types of criminal activity, which is not limited to a certain territory (illegal manufacture, purchase or sale of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, firearms and ammunition for them, organization of prostitution, fraud using electronic means of payment, organization of illegal migration, etc. others) (Mameli, 2002).
The functional structural subdivisions of an organized group also include subdivisions whose members may not be directly involved in the commission of joint crimes. These include units that ensure the security and stable operation of the grouping (intelligence, counterintelligence, units responsible for financing, weapons, logistics, etc.) (Albanese, 2015;Gilinskiy, 2012).
Another constructive feature of a criminal community is the presence of a unified leadership in it.
Leadership is understood as a sole or collegial activity in managing a community, which may consist in planning crimes, coordinating the activities of structural units, distributing responsibilities between participants, issuing binding instructions, monitoring their execution, applying punishments to guilty persons, distributing proceeds from criminal activity.
In cases of arrest and imprisonment, murder or death of a leader from other reasons, the criminal community may be left without leadership. If the leadership does not pass to another person, then such an association can no longer be considered a criminal community. It transforms into a less dangerous form of complicity -an organized group. The goal in the form of direct, as well as indirect, financial or other material benefits is borrowed to characterize the criminal community from the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime https: //doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2021.11.4 Corresponding Author: Afanasieva Olga Romanovna Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of the conference eISSN: 2357-1330 29 (paragraph "a" of Art. 2). It should be noted that in the Convention this feature is indicated in relation to an organized criminal group and, according to the fair comment of Oreshkina, it cannot be considered successful. This additional goal is alien to the domestic criminal legislation and does not fit into its system. In the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, a selfish goal is traditional, with which this new goal competes because of the identity of their content (Oreshkina, 2010).

Research Questions
The subject of the article is the most dangerous form of complicity -a criminal community

Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study is to provide a solid methodological basis for law enforcement practice, which will ensure the correct qualification of crimes committed with complicity. It is based on studying the totality of international legal norms and norms of domestic criminal legislation, the provisions of the science of criminal law, materials of judicial practice.

Research Methods
When carrying out the research, the study used a set of general scientific and specific scientific methods. The relevance of the research topic is confirmed by the data of the official statistical reporting https: //doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2021.11.4 Corresponding Author: Afanasieva Olga Romanovna Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of the conference eISSN:  30 Compared to 2016, in 2020 there is an increase in grave and especially grave crimes committed by OG and CC (CO) (+40.5 %), fraud (+46.0 %), economic crimes (+60.7 %) and related to drug trafficking (+73.5 %).

Findings
The results of the study made it possible to differentiate the criminal-legal characteristics of a criminal community (criminal organization) into two groups: mandatory and optional.
The main characteristics are stability, presence of an internal hierarchical structure, unified leadership, criminal nature of joint activities.
Optional characteristics are obtaining, financial or other material benefits (directly or indirectly); availability of a system of protection against measures to counter crime, technical equipment, special training of members of a criminal community (criminal organization).

Conclusion
Summarizing the above, we note that the winged dictum of the lawyers of the Roman Empireabsoluta sententia expositorenon-indigent -a clear meaning does not require explanation, continues to remain relevant today. Clear monosemic concepts and signs determine the formation of a solid methodological basis not only for their adaptation in the science of criminal law, but also for their use in law enforcement practice, in the field of combating organized crime, do not allow its latentization. Each mistake in the use of terminology can have significant negative consequences when qualifying crimes committed by criminal communities (criminal organizations), reduces the effectiveness of criminal law measures.