Actualities of Criminological Research in Prevention of New Forms of Criminal Behaviour

Abstract

Preventive action ordinarily implies measures and actions that serve to eliminate conditionalities and causes of occurrence of a certain phenomenon. Prevention, as one segment of general crime policy, presumes, in the first place, the elimination of as many direct and indirect factors that lead to occurrence of criminal behaviour as possible. In analysing the objectives of prevention, two crucial questions arise.

One question is: what is the best method for eliminating the conditionalities of criminal behaviour, and the possible answers and solutions for this problem are elaborated through a number of scientific disciplines, but also through practical mechanisms and measures implemented by various segments of society. Among those, on one hand, are criminalistics, criminal law, security studies, as well as other disciplines that take as their subject matter any forms of illegal behaviour, while, on the other hand, preventive activities implement, or make mention of, various measures of social, economic, pedagogical, educational, medical, sports, or cultural character. However, there is the second question as well, which, in our opinion, is neglected and overseen to some extent: what are the conditionalities and causes that lead to occurrence or development of criminal behaviour in a society? We believe that this particular issue has been unjustly neglected, partly due to the fact that there is prevailing interest in the society for developing and improving measures aimed at eliminating direct and indirect factors of criminal behaviour.

Hypothetically, we could conclude that without detection of causes, external and internal in character, there can be no efficient prevention of criminal behaviour, and hence no successful crime policy. Namely, without defining the conditions that lead to violation of a certain right, we cannot adequately and precisely differentiate what measures would be the most appropriate to implement in such a case. The answer to this, second, question can only be found by means of empirical research, grounded in established and accepted theoretical postulates of criminology, and our purpose in this paper is to single out the urgency and relevance of researching the causes of corruption, organised crime, terrorism, human trafficking, cyber crime and other ''contemporary" forms of criminal behaviour, in order to bring ourselves closer to the fundamental imperative of contemporary security policy - prevention.