Establishing intent to illegally sell drugs using information and telecommunication technologies as a condition for criminal liability
- DOI
- 10.5922/vestnikhum-2025-4-4
- Pages
- 42-53
Abstract
The relevance of the topic of the article is determined by practical issues arising in the formation of intent to illegally distribute prohibited substances when such intent is realized in the course of operational-search measures such as an “operational experiment” and a “test purchase,” since, in cases where this intent is formed under the influence of law enforcement agencies, this necessarily leads to the conclusion that the elements of a crime are absent. The article examines issues related to establishing the formation of intent to illegally distribute narcotic drugs using IT technologies, as well as issues of provocation and the consequences of its application. The prohibition on the use of provocation to commit a crime contained in the Federal Law “On Operational-Search Activity” should be regarded as a legal fiction, since criminal law lacks effective response measures to this negative phenomenon, with the sole exception of Article 304 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which concerns bribery and official corruption. The aim of the study is to develop criteria by which it is possible to assess the causes and motivating factors behind the emergence of intent to commit crimes related to illicit drug trafficking. In the course of the research, judicial decisions were analyzed and the views of Russian scholars on this subject were taken into account. The article proposes possible solutions to the identified problems in order to achieve public interests in the form of protecting the rights and interests of citizens from various provocative actions aimed at forming criminal intent.