Cherkasskiy R. Administrative and legal bases of the State Customs Service as a subject of crime prevention and counteraction

The thesis has been provided with a theoretical generalisation and a new solution to the scientific issue of defining the essence, content and disclosure of the specific features of administrative and legal aspects of the State Customs Service as a subject of crime prevention and counteraction, which formed the basis for the development of the relevant concept, as well as proposals and recommendations for improving legislation in this area. The author has proposed to understand the concept of crime as a historically changing, socially conditioned, variable, dynamic, negative and dangerous phenomenon which is expressed in crimes committed by an individual and/or a group of individuals, which are the most socially dangerous acts determined by a combination of certain factors of life of the country's population and an imperfect legal system, the existence of which, in general, leads to particularly negative social, political, economic consequences, etc. It has been noted that, according to a broad approach, crime prevention is a socially important and useful activity of authorised entities regulated by the current legislation of Ukraine, which consists in the formation of a safe social environment and minimisation of destructive, especially dangerous processes existing in it, and which is expressed in systematic prevention, which is objectively reflected in: a set of preventive, warning and educational measures, means and methods aimed at identifying the determinants of crime, marking them, neutralising them, and building public intolerance to them. It has been argued that crime prevention and counteraction are two sides of law enforcement, and therefore, by their nature and content, they complement each other and, therefore, have a single system of subjects and legal framework. After all, a high-quality crime prevention greatly facilitates the process of combating it, as well as ensuring the inevitability of punishment for all those involved in committing socially dangerous acts. The author has established that the subjects of crime prevention and counteraction are a set of individuals and legal entities which, based on the provisions of current Ukrainian legislation, are endowed with a set of powers and possess the necessary competence which, in their entirety, enable them to enter into legal relations for the implementation of measures to prevent and counteract crime in the territory of our State. It has been emphasised that the system of legal framework for preventing and combating crime is represented by a wide range of legal acts: from the Constitution of Ukraine and international legal acts to by-laws issued by authorised central executive bodies. The analysis of these sources has shown that the key place in the relevant system is given to administrative law provisions, which are used to regulate the activities of entities in the field of crime prevention and counteraction. The author has suggested that the administrative and legal status of the State Customs Service of Ukraine should be understood as a list of elements enshrined in the current legislation which characterise the place of this central executive authority in the system of other public authorities. It has been generalised that the State Customs Service of Ukraine performs a number of important tasks which it solves as a subject of crime prevention and counteraction. The existence of such tasks indicates that this central executive authority occupies an important and independent place in the system of public authorities whose activities are aimed at counteracting and preventing this negative phenomenon. The author has emphasised that it is quite difficult to provide an exhaustive list of the SCS tasks, but the above tasks most meaningfully characterise the work of this agency in the area under study. It has been stated that the competence of the State Customs Service as a subject of crime prevention and counteraction is a set of rights and duties (powers) of this agency which it can and should exercise in the area under study in order to solve the tasks and perform the functions of this central executive body. The organisational and staffing structure of the State Customs Service of Ukraine has been defined as a set of management elements (bodies, subdivisions and services) which are in unity and interdependence, and whose activities are strictly ordered, from the highest structural element to the lowest - hierarchically located positions. It has been noted that the organisational and staffing structure of the State Customs Service of Ukraine is based on three components: the management apparatus, customs offices and customs posts. It is on the basis of these elements that the staff of the agency is formed, both at the central and local levels.