Vasileva D. Criminological Characteristic of Crimes in the Field of Gambling

The dissertation is devoted to the development of criminological characteristics of crimes in the field of gambling, which should become the basis for the further construction of effective system of measures to combat this category of crimes. During the study of the concept of crime in the field of gambling, two approaches as to its definition have been identified – in the broad and narrow senses. The first includes all crimes related to the phenomenon of gambling business: economic crimes, corrupt crimes, crimes against property, crimes against morality, etc. On this side, basing the general concept of crime, the crime in the field of gambling is proposed to be considered as the social phenomenon that derives from the activity of a part of society and is manifested in the system of criminal acts committed in the gambling business. A narrow understanding of this concept is covered by the term «gambling business». It is proved that the object of this criminological research is expedient and possible to be reduced to below narrow understanding of crime in the field of gambling business, basing the following considerations: 1) it is inappropriate to apply the concept in a broad sense to the object of a criminological study, since it is too broad and vague and can’t be covered by one study of this level; 2) the gambling business itself is a major, system-forming phenomenon in the whole range of crimes in this area, hence the reduction of its volumes will lead to a proportional reduction in the total amount of crime associated with it.