Organizer in Сrime Complicity and Participation in Organized Criminal Activity

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the issue of boundary identification between crime committer and organizer activities. For this purpose, the organizer figure is analyzed in terms of the crime complicity institute, as well as in the context of legal norms establishing responsibility for setting up an organized group or criminal community. Drawbacks of the legislative definition for the term organizer are considered. The disposition of p.1, Art. 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is analyzed to delimitate crime complicity from participation in organized criminal activity. Alternative terminology for this crime subjects is suggested. The opinions of experts are presented on the question of correlation of organizer figure in criminal complicity and organizer of organized group and criminal community. The list of articles providing responsibility for organized group or criminal community creation and directing, fixed in p. 5, Art. 35 of the Criminal Code, is examined. The question is raised as to the qualification of actions of persons involved in organized group and criminal community. The cases where such persons are crime organizers exceptionally and when this role is combined with direct crime committing are considered. The author comes to a conclusion that the boundary between the crime committer and the organizer in criminal legislation is blurred, which leads to difficulties in law enforcement. The author offers possible ways to eliminate existing contradictions between General and Special Parts of the Criminal Code provisions to define the organizer role more exactly. Particularly, it is proposed by the author: to reword p. 3, Art. 33 of the Criminal Code; to expand the list contained at p. 5, Art. 35 of the Criminal Code; to change the headings of a number of articles of the Criminal Code; to repudiate court practice approach according to which all criminal organization participants are recognized as accomplices regardless of real role fulfilled by them.