CLASSIFICATION OF CONVICTS AS A MEANS OF CRIME PREVENTION IN THE PENITENTIARY SPHERE OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES

Abstract

The article clarifies the criminal and executive, criminological potential of convict classification as a means of crime prevention in the penitentiary sphere of foreign countries. It is noted that modern regulatory and legal acts of strategic planning in the field of reforming the penitentiary system of Ukraine are focused on the need to introduce comprehensive long term changes in accordance with the standards of the Council of Europe. One of these standards is ensuring the safety of convicts and penitentiary personnel, which is achieved by the system of measures to prevent criminal offenses in places of confinement. Among general social measures to prevent criminality in the penitentiary sphere of foreign countries, an important place is assigned to the classification of convicts. It is concluded that the classification of convicts in foreign countries performs not only criminal and enforcement functions (creating favorable conditions for achieving the goal of punishment; promoting the effective implementation of the principle of differentiation and individualization of the execution of punishments, the application of a progressive system; the distribution and placement of convicts in penal institutions), but and acts as an effective general social measure, creating effective preconditions for the prevention of criminal offenses in places of confinement at the special and criminological, victimological levels. The approaches available in foreign penitentiary practice deserve attention as to assessing the degree of public danger of convicts, effective planning of the process of execution/serving of punishment and individual preventive work with them, but they should not be perceived unambiguously (in particular, in terms of creating one institution for the entire state for a certain categories of convicts), since in this way the territorial principle of execution/serving of punishment may be violated. Therefore, if we take into account the analyzed foreign approaches to the classification of convicts in the conditions of reforming the penitentiary system of Ukraine, it is appropriate to talk about the creation of appropriate institutions on an interregional basis. At the same time, it will not be a violation of international penitentiary standards if work with different categories of convicts (prisoners) is carried out in different institutions or different departments (sectors, structural divisions) of the same institution.