FACTORS THAT LEAD TO SMUGGLING

Abstract

Smuggling as a crime is among one of the most serious and widespread crimes; it directly threatens not only the economic sphere but also poses a danger to the national security of the entire state. Evasion of customs duties and illegal movement of goods on transport facilities cause enormous damage to the economic interests of the state. Recently, the problems of combating smuggling have become particularly relevant in terms of its regulatory and organizational support, which objectively brings to the fore the study of the causal complex of both smuggling itself and relevant changes in legislation. The article focuses on smuggling as an economic and criminological phenomenon, and also with a view to the need to develop further measures to counter it. The aim of the study was to analyze the factors that directly determine the phenomenon of smuggling. The factors include: moral and psychological, political, socio-economic, organizational-managerial and legal. It is noted that moral and psychological factors are a consequence of the lack of a state ideology oriented towards the legitimate solution of problems related to the acquisition of property. In such an environment, the cult of illicit enrichment is being introduced into the consciousness of Ukrainians, and traditions, rules and other attributes of criminal subculture are spreading in society, i.e., there is a global criminalization of the consciousness and behavior of citizens. The author considers political factors (resulting in a rather low efficiency of the customs control system and, as a result, smuggling); socio-economic factors (resulting from the polarization of the population by income level and low living standards of the majority of the population of the state, which leads to a high level of social tension between different segments of the population); factors of organization and management of customs and border infrastructures; legal factors (resulting from imperfections, inconsistencies and variability of customs and criminal legislation, decrees and). It is concluded that the identification of the main factors contributing to smuggling is not only of theoretical but also of practical importance, since it makes it possible to develop measures of influence (prevention) on smuggling, taking into account the peculiarities of its manifestation, both on the scale of the whole country and in its individual regions.