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Russia’s Criminal Justice Scenario Analysis
Russia’s Criminal Justice Scenario Analysis
Keith Blanc
April 21, 2024
School of Criminal Justice, Liberty University
Author Note
I have no known conflict to disclose.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Keith Blanc
Email:
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Russia’s Criminal Justice Scenario Analysis
Table of Contents
Abstract……………………………………………………….….……..……….……………..3
Culture & Economy of Russia………………………………………….………….…………..4
Russia’s Government ……………………………………………….……….………….....…..6
Major Components of Russia’s Criminal Justice System…………………………..……..……6
Scenario – Internet Violation Harm to a Minor in Russia…………………..……..……………10
Analysis of Criminal Justice System and Corrections …………………………..….………….10
Human Rights……………………………………………………………………..…………….11
Conclusion…….….……………………………………………………..………………………12
References………………………………………………………………………………………..13
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Russia’s Criminal Justice Scenario Analysis
Abstract
Russia Federation has transformed from a communist country to an authoritarian having the view
of democracy with by providing a form of legislation methods to assure freedom for the people
as described by western culture, it is in terms of aspirations to Russia. Corruption is a driving
force of the people and culture as a means to an end used as a tool for self-purpose. The economy
of is currently experiencing influx of changes due to BRICS as well as conflict with Ukraine that
is exasperated by other nations and sanctions against them. The worldview seems to have a
shared perspective that Russia is in violation of many human rights due to torture and their failed
corrections system. Their corrections system is among the worst in the world and dehumanizing
in such a way that individuals are unable to recover from prolonged detention.
Key Words: democracy, corruption, BRICS, torture, human rights violation
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Russia’s Criminal Justice Scenario Analysis
Culture & Economy of Russia
Russia is the largest country in the world. According to Terrill (2016) Russia is a paradox
due to the country being highly industrialized according to world standards but still not
considered advanced in terms of its economy. Perhaps due to its culture being old school, the
people have a distrust for others and value protection over freedoms. Protection from enemies
without as well as enemies within the county have played a significant roll development in
Russia and adds to the citizenry pride and love of country even when tested to their limits
(Terrill, 2016, p.362).
In 1991 the Soviet Union dissolved, and the Russia Federation emerged creating a new
focus from socialist economy to a free market economy. Terrill states that most of the political
efforts has been made towards achieving the goal of improving the economic system through
control of the infrastructure and economy (Terrill, 2016, p. 363). Infrastructure will play a critical
role in the coming years of Russia who is now a part of BRICS, a world trade currency.
According to Agarwal and Kumar, Russia has prospered economically under BIRCS or remained
the same at least on some variables and will achieve 0% poverty by 2030, assuming that New
Development Bank loans for infrastructure development and specific goals are met by Russia
(Agarwal and Kumar, 2023, p. 17). During this change process one can hope that all goes well
for the people there.
Over 33 years have now passed since the change of the economic system in Russia and
the people are experiencing the ongoing effects of it. As stated by Durkheim, anomie (or the
deregulation of appetites) would be worse in times of prosperity than in times of depression,
since prosperity stimulates the appetites just at the time when the restraints on those appetites
have broken down (Snipes et al., 2016, p. 142). Durkheim’s theory of crime states that within the
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Russia’s Criminal Justice Scenario Analysis
culture of Russia students of Criminal Justice can look for three things including: 1. Stable
volume of criminal behavior; 2. Punishments would be less violent and changed from repression
to restitution with an expansion of functional law; and 3. “in modern (i.e., organic) societies, the
volume of criminal behavior would increase during periods of rapid social change” (Snipes et al.,
2016, p. 143). Raid social and economic changes brought on by change in leadership as well as
the current conflict with Ukraine have the watching and has brought conflict to Russia within the
world economy and their boarders.
One important impact Russia has on the world is in gross domestic product. The conflict
in Russia and Ukraine causes a global disturbance that affect the world economy. According to
Liadze and other authors in their article “the Economic coasts of the Russia Ukraine Conflict,”
Russia’s share of global GDP was expected to be 1.6 percent in 2022, according to the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), whereas Ukraine’s economic output was predicted to
account for 0.2 percent of world production” (Liadze et al., 2022, p. 5). With world economic
sanctions being placed on Russia due to the conflict, its own economy will be impacted, and the
citizens will be affected.
Demographics of the age of the citizenry in Russia is an area of considerable
consideration with all the country is facing going forward. It is reported that in the 1990 Russia
began to have a negative population growth rate similar to many world countries and possibly
due to environmental and poor health factors (Hosking and Vodovozov, n.d.). Below is a graph of
2021 showing the ages of the population within Russia.
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Russia’s Criminal Justice Scenario Analysis
Russian Government
The Russian citizens, like most modern societies are governed by their constitution which
was adopted on December 12, 1993 and consists of nine chapters and 137 articles detailing the
rights of the people and the governments powers. Chapter 1 of The Constitution Russian
Federation specifics human rights highlighted by chapter 2 and identified through articles 20-25
that touch on criminal justice issues according to Terrill. (Terrill, 2016, p. 371). Similar to the
United States, the Russia Federation has three branches of Government which include an
executive, legislative and judicial branches which are separate in power from one another.
A Russian president is technically elected to a six-year term and can be elected twice but
in July 2020 constitutional amendments solidified the power hold of current Russia President
Vladimir Putin. As stated by Grigoriev, “The 2020 amendments thus bring a logical
constitutional closure to the process of constructing a personalistic electoral autocracy in Russia
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Russia’s Criminal Justice Scenario Analysis
– a type of political regime ‘that permits certain institutions normally associated with democracy,
such as elections and political parties, to exist, while remaining authoritarian in the basic patterns
of power distribution and reproduction’” (Grigoriev, 2021, p. 2). Russia is considered more of an
authoritarian government due to the president and oligarchy families control over large financial
economic institutions and power structures.
Other components of the government help make up a working and functioning society.
Russia has a prime minister who is appointed by the president with the responsibility to organize
and operations of the government. The Federal Assembly is a bicameral parliament made up of
the Council of the Federation with 166 members and the State Duma who adopts legislation. The
Council of Federation handles and sees all issues dealing with financial, international, boarders,
and war (Terrill, 2016, p. 374). Last government component worth comment towards are the 43
political parties Russia has, with specific mention to the United Russia party that supported the
current Putin presidential administration and the Communist Party who are the only ones who
could still be considered opponents according to Terrill (2016).
Russian Police and Criminal Justice System
In 1991 the former KGB similar to the United States FBI was disbanded and the policing
was then separated into three sperate sectors which include: a central intelligence service, an
inter-republic counterintelligence service, and a state border service. The politsia are the law
enforcement and they focus on three revolving issues being 1. recruitment and training, 2. crime
prevention, and 3. the public perception of the police (Terrill, 2016, p. 389). The public
perception is considerable because of the known, and even expected corruption among the
people of Russia. Corruption is a tool used among the police, politicians, and citizens in Russia
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Russia’s Criminal Justice Scenario Analysis
and has been for years because it is way to solve problems and obtain desired results quickly
(Kazyrytski, 2020, p. 434).
As stated by Terrill (2016) authorities in the Russian Federation and reports by the
Ministry of Internal Affairs showed that substance abuse was on the rise and thus small crime in
conjunction with ages of offenders between 17 and 30 years old being addicted to narcotics and
infected with HIV/AIDS (Terrill, 2016, p. 393). Violent crime according to the world-
statiitscs.org has decreased significantly in the last 16 years with reports only as recent as 2018,
however. Below is a graph comparing intentional homicides, male (per 100,000 male) and shows
Russia at 13 per 100,000 and U.S. at 7.7 per 100,000.
Source:World Bank (citing: UN Office on Drugs and Crime's International Homicide Statistics database.)
Although violent crime is one area most focused on, another is technology and cyber-
crime. Russia is known for committing many acts of cybercrime throughout the world and is a
growing concern. One example shared with me by a current FBI agent working with their
Science Application International Corporation (SAIC) office out of Utah and assigned to assist
Church Security Department told me how sometimes they receive up to 20 cyber-attacks directed
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Russia’s Criminal Justice Scenario Analysis
at Utah elementary schools per week as hoax she referred to them as in the form of shootings,
bomb threats and other ways which they believe to be mostly by Russia (Blanc, 2024).
In contrast, one Russian law specifically protects children from internet content harmful to
them. The Russian Federal Law 29.12.2010 No. 436-FZ “On Protection of Children from
Information Harmful to their Health and Development,” states that all information that is
negative for minors involves non-traditional sexual relations, disrespectful attitude towards
parents or family members, pornography, cruelty to animals or humans, information justifying
violence, and information that may cause children to desire to engage in prostitution (Isakova
and Millorov, 2021, p. 2).
According to their study, Isakova and Millorov (2021) crimes related to the circulation of
pornography were 2,099 cases out of the 300,337 total crimes using the internet in Russia
(Isakova and Millorov, 2021, p. 6). Law enforcement agencies in Russia are more at liberty to
conduct search and seizure strategies that infringe on induvial rights and go against constitution
protections, but perhaps in order to try and catch, stop, and reduce crimes done online.
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Russia’s Criminal Justice Scenario Analysis
Scenario – Internet Violation Harm to a Minor in Russia
For this mock scenario, I will say that I was traveling overseas and had a long layover
flight in Moscow Russia where I decided to stretch my legs. Upon stopping in a café and
checking my email I was approached by a young female who appeared to be over 18 and asked
me where I was from, noticing I was foreign and wanting to spark up a conversation. After a
short conversation I shared with her my YouTube channel Your Mindful Mission where I share
yoga, personal training exercise, and in the process of creating martial art videos as a free
resource for anyone interested.
After leaving the café shortly after, I was arrested by the politsia for crimes against the
Russian Federal Law 29.12.2010 No. 436-FZ “On Protection of Children from Information
Harmful to their Health and Development” by sharing my YouTube Chanel with an undercover
law enforcement agent of Russia. The crime committed was specifically explained was due to
martial arts videos I have within my channel (or will) that may entice violence to supposed
minors. My argument against that claim was I that I teach how to defend against violence.
Analysis of Criminal Justice, Court System, and Corrections
Similar in structure to that of the United States Russia has higher and lower court
systems. Russia has a Constitutional Court, Supreme court, including regional courts deal with
appeals, while district courts are the have a single judge and jury handling criminal cases.
Justices of the peace courts handle backlog of older cases. All courts are subject to law under the
constitution but as mentioned earlier, corruption to achieve a means to an end is accepted in
Russia by the people.
After anyone is detained by police in Russia a prosecutor must be informed within 12
hours and the prosecutor must approve of the individual detention or release them, and if
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Russia’s Criminal Justice Scenario Analysis
detained the individual must be interrogated within the first 24 hours (Terrill, 2016, p. 428).
Torture is a common practice within Russia and used on those being detained. In referencing
Osechkyn (2023) “The scale of torture in contemporary Russia has been of concern to the
international community and human rights monitoring organizations for years. There are
numerous reports, documentation, and NGO reports that point to cases of torture or inhumane
treatment committed by Russian law enforcement agencies or representatives of the prison
system” (Sobon, 2024, p. 4). Torture may include a quick confession making it easy on the jury
process who have three questions to answer, which include: “Did a criminal act take place, did
the accuse commit the criminal act and is the accuse guild or not of the charges” (Terrill, 2016,
p. 435). Sad for anyone over 16 in Russia because they have reached the age of accountability.
Human Rights
On human rights Russia is under considerable world pressure to self-correct. In 2022
they were excluded from the Council of Europe including other world leader organizations due
to the conflict with Ukraine and their lack of commitment towards democracy it has been said.
According to the Report of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe in 2023, “Now the
Russian people have no recourse to the European Court of Human Rights for violations of their
human rights and freedoms, carried out by their own government” (Report of the Secretary
General of the Council of Europe 2023). As Russia continues to make less friends on the world
stage, worldview of their lack of human rights is fixated on every aspect of their country within
and without.
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Russia’s Criminal Justice Scenario Analysis
Conclusion
Russian prisons are not just and the criminal justice system including courts, while
structured with good intent are run by people who fall to corruption. As Russia is in worldview
and being that of an unpopular stance for the most part, the nation itself will continue closing
itself off and focusing on prosperity and security within by increasing infrastructure in support of
BRICS as well as reducing internal crime and victimization. In order to accomplish this, one
possibility is continuing to employ is pride of its nation through its citizenry having a patriotic
view home but also maintaining a nonpolitical sense of character. The bible says, “Ye are the
light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid” (King James Bible, 1769/2017,
Matthew 5:14). This scripture can help Russia as they focus their agendas as being morally
valued to their people and the world.
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Russia’s Criminal Justice Scenario Analysis
References
2023 report of the secretary general of the Council of Europe - secretary general - www.coe.int.
Secretary General. (2023). https://www.coe.int/en/web/secretary-general/report-2023
Agarwal, M., & Kumar, S. (2023). BRICS countries’ increasing role in the world economy,
including Institutional Innovation. BRICS Journal of Economics, 4(2), 173–191.
https://doi.org/10.3897/brics-econ.4.e99451
Blanc, K. (2024, April 7). Maggie.
Grigoriev, I. S. (2021). What changes for the Constitutional Court with the new Russian
Constitution? Russian Politics, 6(1), 27–49. https://doi.org/10.30965/24518921-00601003
Hosking, G., & Vodovozov S.Encyclopedia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Religion of russia.
Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/Russia/Religion
Isakova, Y., & Millerov, E. (2021). Legal issues in the field of digital technologies in Russia.
E3S Web of Conferences, 273, 08083. https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202127308083
Kazyrytski, L. (2019). Fighting corruption in Russia: Its characteristics and purpose. Social
& Legal Studies, 29(3), 421–443. https://doi.org/10.1177/0964663919859052
King James Bible. (2017). King James Bible
Online.https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/(Original work published 1769)
Liadze, L., Macchiarelli, C., Mortimer-Lee, P., & Juanino, P. S. (2022, March 2). The Economic
Costs of the Russia- Ukraine Conflict.
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Snipes, J. B., Bernard, T. J., & Gerould, A. L. (2019). Vold’s theoretical criminology (8th ed.).
Oxford University Press.
Sobon, A., Mrozek, J., & Gawliczek, P. (2024). Use of torture in areas of Ukraine occupied by
the Russian Federation. EUROPEAN RESEARCH STUDIES JOURNAL, XXVIΙ (Issue 1),
50–64. https://doi.org/10.35808/ersj/3348
Terrill, R. J. (2016). World Criminal Justice Systems: A comparative survey (9th ed.). Routledge.
