Mareichenko O. Criminal liability for banditry

The dissertation improves the theoretical provisions of criminal law in terms of criminal law characteristics of banditry and on this basis developed proposals to the Criminal Code of Ukraine. In particular, the author's definition of a gang as a stable organized armed criminal group consisting of two or more persons organized for joint activities aimed at committing one or more attacks on individuals or legal entities is proposed. It is proposed to consider criminal liability for banditry within seven historical periods of its regulation: from the time of «Russian Truth» to the entry into force of the Code of Criminal and Correctional Punishment in 1845; the validity of the Criminal and Correctional Penal Code of 1845 and the Criminal Code of 1903 (1845-1917); the period of uncodified development of criminal legislation from 1917 to 1922; the period of validity of the Criminal Code of the USSR from 1922 to 1927; the period from the entry into force of the Criminal Code of the USSR in 1927 to the adoption of the Criminal Code of the USSR in 1960; the period of validity of the Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSR in 1960 in 1961-2001; the period of adoption of the current Criminal Code of Ukraine from 2001 to the present. The current versions of the Criminal Code of Europe and the former USSR on the regulation of criminal liability for banditry are analyzed, based on which the following conclusions are made: the use of the term «gang» to denote criminal groups is common and traditional for criminal law in many leading European countries; a significant difference from «banditry» in Article 257 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine is the differentiation in the Criminal Code of many states of responsibility of persons who created a gang and gang leaders from gang members and persons who participated in gang attacks; The Criminal Code of many states has incentive norms for gang members, so the adoption of such an approach by the domestic legislator may help to identify more gangs and convict the perpetrators of activities in their composition. It is proposed to consider public safety as a generic object of crimes against public safety as an effective protection of vital interests for society and the individual, human and civil rights and freedoms from unlawful encroachments, emergencies that threaten to harm the life, health or property of a large number of people. And under the main direct object of banditry to understand a set of social relations that provide effective protection of vital interests of society and the individual, human and civil rights and freedoms from violent illegal encroachments using weapons committed by gangs, as well as from the threat of such encroachments. The argumentation of the substantiation of the opinion that the criminal responsibility for the crime provided by Article 257 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine from the age of fourteen is quite justified, given the high level of public danger of banditry, has been improved. The position that the Criminal Code of Ukraine should be supplemented by Part 1 of Article 67 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine item 2-1) is additionally substantiated in the following wording: «commission of a crime by an official using his official position”, as power or official authority are manifestations of the use of official position. The idea of differentiating the responsibility of gang organizers and leaders from gang members, as well as from persons who took part in the gang attack The position that the subject of banditry is common and can be any person who: 1) is a natural person (both private and official), regardless of citizenship (citizen of Ukraine, foreign citizen or stateless person) has been further developed; 2) a sane person; 3) at the time of the crime she must be fourteen years of age or older The proposal to criminalize coercion to participate or commit a crime in an organized group, criminal organization or gang is supported by the Criminal Code of Ukraine, differentiating it depending on the method of coercion and the amount of destroyed or damaged property.