Armament as a criterion of Banditry in the Russian Federation

The article deals with the problems of qualifying banditry, in particular, on the basis of the armament of an organized group, the number of committed or planned crimes. Judicial practice on the qualification of organized crimes is controversial in terms of determining the presence or absence of the criterion of armament, as a result, recognizing an act as banditry. At the same time, the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, although it contains a reference to the Federal Law “On Weapons”, still does not sufficiently reveal this criterion and contains definitions that are ambiguous for understanding. In this regard, court decisions in similar cases are also different, which in turn contradicts the principle of justice. It is proposed to make changes to amend paragraph 1 of clause 5 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated January 17, 1997 No. 1 “On the practice of applying by courts of legislation on liability for banditry” to resolve the problem under discussion.

banditry, armament, signs of banditry, crime, reformation, criminal law, judicial practice, weapons, organized crime, fight against crime, qualification of banditry

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