2024 Issue №2

In contemporary society, the fight against human trafficking has become a significant global issue. Human trafficking is considered a highly latent crime, often perpetrated by organized transnational criminal groups (organizations). Consequently, law enforcement agencies face certain challenges in detecting, investigating, and preventing these crimes. Addressing these issues can be facilitated by the competent use of criminalistic characteristics by law enforcement personnel. The aim of this study is to analyze the practice of investigating criminal cases of human trafficking and to examine the element of the criminalistic characteristics of human trafficking, specifically the data on the individual who committed the crime. Methodological Basis: To achieve this goal, the author employed the dialectical method, as well as a range of general scientific and special methods of scientific cognition (analysis, comparison, analogy, systemic method, etc.). Results: Based on the analysis of empirical material (statistics from the Judicial Department of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation over the past five years, as well as the practice of investigating criminal cases in the Russian Federation under Article 127.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), the author attempts to construct a descriptive model of the individual committing human trafficking. Conclusions: In the Russian Federation, the detection, solvability, and prosecution of human trafficking crimes committed by organized criminal groups remain at a relatively low level. It appears that improving the specific methodology for investigating human trafficking, particularly by constructing a criminalistic model of the individual committing the crime as stipulated in Article 127.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, may help address this problem.

Recently, the Special Part of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation has been supplemented with provisions that establish liability for preparation for another crime and forms of complicity in committing another crime. In doctrine, such provisions are referred to as criminal law norms with dual prevention, as they are designed to prevent other, typically more serious, offenses. In 2022, the heightened threat of sabotage within Russia led to the introduction of Article 281.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which establishes criminal liability for aiding and abetting sabotage activities, analogous to Article 205.1 of the Criminal Code. Using formal-legal methods, comparative analysis, and the analysis of qualitative (court rulings) and quantitative (statistics) data, the article identifies the technical-legal shortcomings of this new provision, which may complicate qualification and hinder the effective prevention of sabotage. Specifically, it highlights the “overload” of part 1 of Article 281.1 of the Criminal Code with alternative actions and the redundancy of special criminalization of aiding in the commission of sabotage. Based on the analysis of the provision stipulated in Article 281.1 of the Criminal Code, a new version is proposed, which includes the separation of preparatory and auxiliary actions into different parts of the article, as well as a new definition of financing sabotage activities.

The article explores contemporary issues and questions related to the application of forensic environmental expertise within the framework of preliminary investigations, and evaluates its role in law enforcement activities. The research formulated and proposed the main tasks of forensic environmental expertise at the current stage, highlighted its features, and identified problems associated with the imperfection of the current methodological support for this type of forensic examination. Based on the analysis of empirical material and law enforcement practice data, the problem of insufficient awareness among investigators and inquiry officers regarding the current prospects for using specialized knowledge in investigating environmental crimes was identified. To address the identified problems and optimize the entire process of investigating this group of criminal cases, measures were proposed for the implementation of technologies based on the use of Big Data in the activities of law enforcement officers and expert institutions.

The article examines the main theoretical approaches of legal scholars related to the essence and understanding of general legal principles, and analyzes the distinctive aspects of general legal principles compared to others. The relevance of the article is due to its contentious nature regarding the content and essence of general legal principles among different authors. The novelty of the article lies in the analysis of contemporary general legal principles, and the identification of the relationship between legal principles and doctrinal principles. The aim is to define general legal principles, explore the place and role of general legal obligations in the system of legal principles, and determine their characteristics within the system of legal principles.