Zhivova Y. Modern tendencies and criminological prevention principles of banditry in Ukraine

The dissertation is devoted to a comprehensive scientific study of banditry in Ukraine, the results of which provide a criminological description of this crime. The current level and trends of crime in Ukraine as a whole over the past 25 years, crimes committed as part of a group and using weapons, as well as crimes under Art. 257 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the geography of its commission, the state of pre-trial investigation and latency are shown. The person who commits them has been analyzed; the reasons and conditions for the commission of banditry have been established and general social, special criminological, individual preventive and victimological measures have been proposed to prevent it. Foreign experience in preventing the crime under investigation and the possibility of its use in Ukraine has been studied. Thanks to the periodization of scientific studies of domestic and foreign scientists with criminal law, criminological characteristics of banditry, as well as its prevention, it was proposed to consider banditry in Ukraine within four main periods: 1) pre-revolutionary period (before 1922) 2) period of political banditry (1920–1950s) 3) period of traditional criminal banditry (1960–1990s); 4) the newest period (from the beginning of the 1990s to the present). Banditry is disclosed as an object of criminological research and an author's interpretation of the concept of a gang is provided, according to which this is the activity of an armed organized criminal group aimed at systematically obtaining constant income, achieving control over a certain socio-economic sphere or a certain territory using armed violence or the threat of its use. It is proposed to amend existing legislation to improve the process of preventing and countering banditry by supplementing article 257 of the Criminal Code on the exemption from criminal liability of persons who, as part of a gang, voluntarily left such a formation and reported its existence to State authorities or local authorities, and actively contributed to its disclosure