NCJ Number
182353
Journal
Russian Politics and Law Volume: 36 Issue: 5 Dated: September-October 1998 Pages: 27-43
Date Published
September 1998
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This article analyzes the development and operations of organized crime in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics under perestroika and in Russia in recent years and comments on possible ways to address the corruption of public officials.
Abstract
The structures of organized crime during perestroika developed under the close attention of the press, which had liberated itself from censorship and discovered the topic of crime. Journalists published numerous articles about rising criminal groups starting in 1987-88. Their reports focused on adolescent gang in Kazan, a teenagers’ movement called Lyubera in the Moscow satellite city of Lyubertsy, and numerous adult criminal groups. Criminal groups control liquor-selling kiosks and markets, especially those of manufactured goods and secondhand cards. They do not cause much trouble to private citizens, although they struggle over spheres of interest. Ethno-criminal groups emerged immediately after the beginning of peretroika and limited their criminal activity mostly to small businesses following the legalization of cooperative enterprises. Bitter struggles between local criminal groups and ethnic groups continues and may be permanent. Debates about ways to curb corruption have been taking place for many years. The existing criminal laws against bribery are ineffective. The main reason why corruption goes unpunished is that ways other than money can reward bureaucrats who have facilitated decisions. Solving the problem of corruption will require attention to the more profound issue of reducing and eliminating gray zones in social behavior. Creating rules that do not generate incentives for corruption in the government and economy requires the creation of a rational bureaucracy that has limited power and works under strict procedural control.