The concept of corruption is known to every citizen. This is a serious crime from which society and the state suffer. A particularly important topic that should be noted here is corruption in law enforcement. How to resist this phenomenon? What methods of fighting corruption exist? All these and other questions will be answered in the article.
Concept of corruption
To begin with, it would be worthwhile to sort out the question of what corruption is. The definition of this concept, according to the most common interpretation of linguistic experts, is as follows: this is a social phenomenon in which the actions of officials cause significant material and economic damage to the state, society or an individual company.
The most common form of corruption is to receive a sum of money for damaging directly or indirectly to an organization or the state. A person involved in corruption schemes is almost always interested in material gain. Moreover, he is aware or only partially understands the harmful effects of his actions. Corruption always goes beyond the laws, industry standards and social foundations. Some people, for example, like to repeat that bribery is a “tradition established in the country”, “an irremovable element of the state mentality”, etc. Such citizens are either corrupt themselves or simply do not understand what they are talking about.
What else can be said about the phenomenon of corruption? The definition adopted by Transparency International states that bribery is a kind of abuse of trusted resources. An even more interesting definition is given by the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Corruption (Article 290 and Article 291 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) is a combination of options for a citizen to use his working position, as a rule, for the sake of his own benefit and as opposed to the interests of society.
About the causes of corruption
Presenting all the possible causes of corruption will not be so simple. Various researchers and specialists compiled their own classifications, giving an idea of the conditions and causes of bribery. Nevertheless, it is still possible to highlight some of the main sources of corruption.
The first thing to be noted here is called the theory of economic nature. It includes theses on the ratio of costs and profits. We are talking about those cases when a person, having some resource, decides to appropriate some of it to himself. He does this for his own benefit, and he is well aware of all subsequent risks. A citizen understands that if he continues to work normally, he will receive much less benefit than when carrying out illegal actions. This implies the second theory of the origin of corruption.
The theory of the "behavioral model" suggests that corruption is based on the factor of obtaining various advantages through rent. For example, a person who exercises his labor functions at a post knows about the possibility of making a profit using the funds provided under his control. Aware of the reliability and the magnitude of the benefits, a person simply becomes unable to restrain himself and his behavior.Experts say that the behavioral model is even more dangerous and widespread than the model of economic nature.
What other causes of corruption can be identified here? Experts say the inefficiency of a particular organization as the main reason for bribery. Here we are talking about those cases when a person, occupying a particular official position, begins to realize the slowness and fragility of regular mechanisms. The employee comes up with the idea that it would be much faster to start a certain process by giving a bribe. Such cases can be described as "corruption due to professional pragmatism." But they always end in a bad way.
Law Enforcement Corruption: Statistics
The law enforcement system is still one of the most corrupt in the country. Moreover, the harm from bribery in this area is not only economic, but also, worst of all, social. The prosecutor's office, the police, the Investigative Committee, the FSB and many other structures do tremendous harm to the state and society when they carry out corrupt activities. A simple example: the internal affairs bodies do not pay attention for a certain amount of money, or even “roof” a certain criminal. He, in turn, continues to break the law. Similar cases in the country are far from rare.
The level of corruption in law enforcement remains incredibly high. Thus, the results of criminal cases show that the most corrupt bodies are the authorities, which are called upon to combat bribery. As of 2015, Russia ranks 119th out of 170 countries surveyed in the ranking of countries by the corruption perception index (Denmark ranks first with the countries with the lowest corruption rates).
Causes of Corruption in Law Enforcement Agencies
Corruption in law enforcement has a number of objective and biased reasons. Objective reasons include:
- insufficiently developed anti-corruption law;
- the relative tolerance of law enforcement officials towards corruption and its manifestations;
- extremely low level of legal culture (inculcated in schools and higher educational institutions);
- low-quality oversight and control activities in the field of law enforcement agencies;
- low wages of employees of designated authorities.
The last objective reason is a vicious circle. On the one hand, corruption is so frequent because of the low salaries of employees (especially in comparison with other countries). On the other hand, it is corruption that is the main obstacle to raising the minimum wage, improving the well-being of the people, etc. It is also worth pointing out the subjective reasons why such a phenomenon as law enforcement appears to be so widespread today. Experts here highlight:
- A sense of impunity for their actions. Directly associated with the ineffective control and supervision of certain bodies. This also includes such a factor contributing to corruption as the immunity status of a deputy or judges, which significantly increases the feeling of impunity.
- Greed and greed. These subjective factors are also associated with one objective - low wages of employees. When the standard of living of workers is already high, the motivation to steal becomes a little lower. A simple example is a European country. In Denmark, Sweden, Finland and many other Western countries, the level of bribery is extremely low. And the reason is simple: strict control and decent salaries.
- Bad example of colleagues. The principle "everyone steals and I steal" was heard by the courts tens of millions of times.Both conformism and unwillingness to remain a black sheep are working.
Thus, the subjective causes of corruption are associated primarily with the identity of the offender, and not with the entire system. All presented sources of bribery help to draw up a program on combating corruption. About it will be described later.
Russian anti-corruption legislation
The most important source on the fight against corruption is the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. It is in it that the concept of the presented phenomenon is fixed and the punishment for it is established (“Corruption” - article 290, as well as 291). In addition to the Criminal Code, there is also a federal law of December 25, 2008. At the moment, this is the largest regulatory act on the crime in question. It enshrines the basic terms and concepts, preventive measures, methods of international cooperation, the basic principles of struggle, etc. Prior to the introduction of the bill, the authorities were guided by the "National Strategy for Combating Corruption."
In 2014, the state set about developing a national anti-corruption plan, which envisages the work of state institutions in the field of counteracting the phenomenon under consideration. The national plan was adopted by decree of the President of the Russian Federation. According to experts, this is a software source, the purpose of which is to eliminate key sources and factors that form the basis for the occurrence of such a phenomenon as corruption.
In the system of law enforcement agencies, the problem under consideration is especially relevant. That is why the national plan governs certain provisions on the fight against corruption in the system of law enforcement. Next, we will talk about the main methods of such a struggle.
The development of legal culture as the main way to fight corruption
The problem of corruption in law enforcement agencies cannot be solved by any special, original method. All the same methods of struggle are applicable here as in other cases. One of these methods will be described below.
Over the past 30 years, the number of corrupt practices has increased significantly. This was the result of negative sociocultural processes. One can argue for a long time about whether these processes are somehow connected with the destruction of the Soviet paradigm of law. Unambiguously, only one thing can be said here: it is the absence of a clear ideology aimed at fostering hatred of corruption among citizens that could significantly improve the situation.
How can the development of certain ideals and role models help the law enforcement system? First, you need to try to eradicate a sense of tolerance in various kinds of economic offenses in law enforcement officials. It is tolerance and indifference to corruption that is the most dangerous element within the whole system. From tolerance comes the feeling of a certain universality, the comprehensiveness of violations. Conformism appears here: when almost all employees steal, why not do something similar to the rest? This, in turn, gives rise to a sense of impunity.
How is it necessary to develop appropriate ideals that do not accept corruption in the staff of the system under consideration? The most effective method is special courses, lectures and seminars. This approach may be somewhat outdated and too formal. However, such a policy is still the most effective method of struggle. Do not underestimate the role of enlightenment. Proper construction of lectures, selection of examples and statistics - all this will help to overcome such a dangerous phenomenon as corruption in the internal affairs bodies.
Supervision and control
The timely conduct of inspections in various government agencies is probably the most optimal and effective prevention.Corruption in law enforcement agencies can hardly be defeated without the quality work of the regulatory authorities. The bodies of the prosecutor's office, the Investigative Committee are all those law enforcement bodies that should oversee other, same bodies. This raises a significant problem: it turns out that law enforcement agencies check themselves? In fact, it is. Other options under the current legislation have not yet been provided, and therefore it remains to work with what is.
The best way out of this situation would be strict accountability. In principle, it exists today, however, it needs significant improvements. The income and expenses of all persons must be open. All financial moves of employees should be "seen through" absolutely for all Russian citizens. Situations should not be created when a person cannot explain the origin of expensive items or large material means.
Corruption in the police, prosecutor's office, the Investigative Committee and other law enforcement bodies cannot be removed without conducting personnel "purges". This is not only about the dismissal of employees, which cannot explain the origin of any material value, but also about banal re-certification, the need to timely improve their qualification level, etc. The staff must constantly change, employees should not "stay too long "in one position for several years. This is a simple, but at the same time very effective way.
Employee selection criteria
Separately, it is worth telling about another wonderful method of combating corruption. We are talking about the careful selection of citizens who want to work in law enforcement agencies. The recruitment commissions should conduct a quality audit of all people entering the service. Not a single employee should have a criminal past, and a number of business and personal qualities must be checked against standards. Of course, it is not necessary to assess the likely exposure of an employee to corruption. The refusal to accept a job with the wording received during such an assessment will be extremely biased. You need to act in several other ways.
Raising a legal culture among existing employees will clearly not be enough. Still, priority must be given to the personnel apparatus, recruiting new employees. The merger of crime and law enforcement is a very dangerous trend. It can only be avoided by the qualitative selection of new employees.
Foreign experience and interaction with the media
It cannot be denied that recently the Russian media have been trying to carefully suppress information about some of the economic fraud of various officials. Such cases are extremely reluctant. Is it worth talking about the possible corruption actions of many other persons still holding senior positions?
How should the media work? Firstly, the information should be submitted in an independent form, in full accordance with all reliable data. We should also talk about such a thing as the prevention of corruption: after all, the struggle should be directed to the source, and not to the result. Secondly, the media should pay attention to foreign experience. It should take into account the policies of those countries that at the moment, according to the ratings, are the least corrupt states of Denmark, New Zealand, Finland, Iceland, etc. In these countries there is no such thing as corruption in law enforcement agencies. Statistics show that the presented countries were able to achieve such a result not by means of repressions and cruel punishments, but by destroying the factors themselves that contribute to corruption.What are these factors? This is poverty among the population, poor quality of services, lack of social elevators, etc. The effectiveness of the presented method is easily confirmed by a comparison of wages in Russia and, for example, in Denmark. The average income of a policeman in Denmark is about 5 thousand euros, in Russia - a maximum of 500 euros. One simple fact is worth noting here: the same rating of corrupt countries clearly illustrates that the lower the level of well-being of citizens in a state, the more economic crimes occur.
Thus, the authorities of the Russian Federation in the fight against corruption should pay attention primarily to the foreign experience of successful countries. The role of the media here is also very important. Citizens of Russia should observe how the main forms of corruption in the activities of law enforcement agencies are defeated through high-quality and effective state policies. The people should know the cause of corruption, which is why this phenomenon in principle exists and is gaining more and more volume.
Criteria for the effectiveness of anti-corruption policies
The implementation of anti-corruption policies is possible primarily due to the existing political elite. Only through volitional actions of the power structures of financial crimes can it become less. The state has a number of special technologies that make it possible to identify both failures and significant successes in the field of combating corruption.
Experts identify a number of stages included in the “strong-willed algorithm” of anti-corruption. These include:
- the struggle of motives (possible goals and organizational functions, economic feasibility and soundness in terms of law, etc.);
- final decision development;
- initiation of certain actions by authorities;
- decision support by social groups, the media and other public authorities;
- correction of tasks and goals;
- assessment of results (comparison of desired and achieved).
Conducting performance criteria is already possible with the help of the above steps. At the same time, some experts highlight other evaluation elements. These include, for example, technologies for implementing anti-corruption policies:
- endorsement of new political and legal values;
- development of special strategies;
- consolidation of civil society institutions and power structures;
- elimination of errors and failures in the system of functioning of anti-corruption instances and more.
The very concept of corruption in Russian legislation should be evaluated not only with the help of objective indicators, but also in the context of social, spiritual and economic consequences. Two approaches should be created to assess the level of corruption in the country: one is state and the other is independent (we are talking about monitoring, the media, etc.). Only a multifactorial approach will make it possible to qualitatively assess the entire current situation, as well as correctly identify criteria for the effectiveness of policies to combat corruption.