The subject of the research is the criminal community, its characteristics, and features within the framework of criminology. The purpose of the research is to confirm or disprove hypothesis that a criminal community as a criminological phenomenon is nor equal to a criminal organization or an organized criminal group Methodology. The author uses general theoretical methods (comparative analysis, generalization, deduction) and specific methods (formal legal interpretation of legal acts, questionnaires). The main results, scope of application. A criminal organization and a criminal community are different criminological phenomena that differ from each other in significant ways. The differences are both in the degree of criminal organization, and the complexity of the structure of internal and external interaction. From the point of view of a systematic approach, a criminal community is not only a more complex system compared to a criminal organization. It is characterized by an improved structure of internal interaction, in which the hierarchical structure is either complicated, or replaced or supplemented by a network structure. The peculiarity is to complement the system approach with a synergistic one: in the criminal community, the pooling of criminal efforts is carried out more effectively, mainly in the sphere of external relations. The criminal community is a more open system compared to the criminal organization. Certain features can be identified in the contacts of criminal community members with the external environment. The most important feature is a symbiosis of criminal and legal practices that affects the life of entire regions or relatively large masses of the population. The criminal community is a purposeful system with its own specifics. And this specificity is seen in the fact that the criminal community pursues (secretly or openly, at the moment or in the foreseeable future) the achievement of political goals, namely: the possession of power, infiltration into power, undermining power, its capture and retention. It is power, not wealth, that is the real goal of the criminal community, and not just because it is easily converted into wealth. Power is valuable in itself, because it also gives a lot of other advantages.Conclusions. A criminal community cannot be reduced to a criminal organization, much less – to an organized criminal group, and this conclusion requires to be included into legislation.
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