The criminal legal situation in ensuring economic security: the state and prospects

Considering the criminal law situation in ensuring economic security, the authors pay attention to the need for the state to develop and introduce into the law enforcement activities effective mechanisms to ensure strategic national interests. Based on the analysis of statistical data and the results of various academic studies, a general description of the criminal legal situation in economic security in criminalization and decriminalization, penalization and depenalization is given, and the trend of its development is determined. We pay closer attention to the role of forming a public opinion about implementing criminal policy in ensuring economic security that objectively responds to the existing threats from economic crimes. On the one hand, this shows the insufficiency of the measures taken by the state in assessing the criminal law situation. On the other hand, these data are influenced by social and media factors, as well as the ongoing administrative reform. The authors highlight the features of legal regulation of the law enforcement agencies' activities in the goals and objectives of the criminal policy set for them in ensuring economic security. It is noted that reliable prognostic information makes it possible to implement the wording of high-quality criminal law rules. The content of the criminal legal situation under consideration made it possible to assess the actual state of protection of the country's economic sphere and the quality of counteraction to economic crimes. The analysis of the amendments in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation over the past decade shows that one trend in modern criminal law reform is a return to the previously known construction of the elements of economic crimes with administrative prejudice. The main vector of criminal policy aimed at increasing the level of economic freedoms, exclusion of the facts of unjustified and illegal prosecution of entrepreneurs in case of nonfulfilment of contractual obligations and the reference of these disputes to the administrative and arbitration spheres has been set. The authors' view on the criminal and legal situation in ensuring economic security gives a full picture of its state and further prospects in resolving the most key issues of the theory and practice of activities in countering economic crimes.