2. The structure of the criminal subculture and its functions. The concept of the structure of the criminal subculture

Criminal subculture includes subjective human forces and abilities realized in group criminal activities (knowledge, skills, professional criminal skills and habits, ethical views, aesthetic needs, worldview, forms and methods of enrichment, methods of conflict resolution, criminal community management, criminal mythology, privileges for the “elite”, preferences, tastes and ways of spending leisure time, forms of relations to “friends”, “strangers”, people of the opposite sex, etc.), subject results Tats of criminal communities (tools and methods of committing crimes, wealth, cash, etc.) 1.
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1 Pirozhkov V.F. The laws of the underworld of youth. Criminal subculture. Tver. Ed. "Prize", 1994, Ch. I.
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All this is reflected, above all, in the special “philosophy” of the criminal world, which justifies the commission of crimes, denies guilt and responsibility for what has been done, replacing the base motives with noble and sublime motives: in violent crimes - a sense of “collectivism”, comradely mutual assistance, blaming the victim and etc .; in mercenary crimes - the idea of ​​redistributing the property that people have and appropriating it with the most diverse “positive” motivation. The transition to market relations stimulated in the criminal environment the idea of ​​rapid enrichment, neglect of the economic interests of other people, which gave an outbreak of selfish crime with its own rigid rules of the game.
The criminal subculture is based on defects in legal consciousness, among which legal ignorance and misinformation, social and legal infantilism, legal lack of culture, social and legal negativism and social and legal cynicism can be distinguished. In the youth criminal environment there is a special group sense of justice with its "laws" and norms as an element of this subculture. At the same time, defects in legal consciousness are aggravated by defects in moral consciousness, which neglects the universal principles of morality1.
However, the ethical views of the criminal world are heterogeneous. A number of opposing tendencies affecting the attitudes of the individual and group manifest themselves in them:
1) return to the classic "thieves' traditions" (the trend of traditionalism); to the "laws of NEP thieves";
2) the update of the “thieves' laws” due to changes in society (the trend of modernism);
3) toughening the morals of the criminal community (the tendency to the vulgarization of the criminal subculture, the so-called "lawlessness");
4) copying the norms and laws of the life of society in connection with its democratization (the trend of democratization).
The “thieves' laws” were tested for a long time by the life of criminal communities, constantly improved and polished. They clearly and unequivocally impose requirements on the identity of the professional criminal, covering all
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1 Pirozhkov V.F. Moral and legal education as a means of crime prevention among students of vocational education. M., Ed. VNMTS VET youth. 1987, paragraph 2-3.
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areas of life of criminal communities: at liberty and in prison; interpersonal and intergroup relations; in the regulation of zones and areas of criminal fishing; in leisure activities; relation to this criminal word, etc. They are acceptable to minors for their stability, certainty and clarity of moral requirements; lack of a double standard in life and behavior; clarity of promotion rules in the group hierarchy.
The “thieves' laws” are not stiffened, they are constantly being improved by representatives of the “thieves’ elite ”, taking into account social processes in society, law enforcement measures taken by laws. At the same time, the authorities of the world of thieves clearly take into account the needs and requirements of modern youth and their psychology when modernizing. This is the essence of their modernization. However, there is a tendency of their erosion and degradation, since they limit in a certain way the criminal manifestations of the individual, his claims in the criminal world. So, the title “thief in law”, which was given earlier after serious tests and for “merits” in the criminal world, can now be bought if there is a lot of money. The so-called "thieves in law" - "oranges" and "laurel deer" 1 appeared.
Influenced this erosion and the growth of vulgar crime, in the sphere of which there are no such strict restrictions as in the thieves' world. Vulgar crime, moral, ethical and legal mayhem - these are links in one chain. The law of force rules with a ball in the world of vulgar crime, with constant "fights", accompanied by exchanges of fire between factions, toughening the morals of the criminal community, acts of vandalism, and the sophisticated torture suffered by the victims of criminal assault.
Lawlessness of vulgar crime is opposed by the tendency to democratize the life of criminal communities with a certain consideration of interests between the “upper ranks” of the criminal world and the “lower ranks”, which is to a certain extent a reflection of the democratization process of our society. These trends are important to consider in the preventive work with minors.
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1 Early ripening thieves crowned without sufficient grounds (mainly people of Caucasian origin, especially among Georgians). See. Podleski G., Tereshonok A. Thieves in Law - a throw to power. M .: Fiction, 1994.
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In the criminal environment, their seemingly catchy, perverted aesthetic tastes (priorities) have developed, which are readily absorbed by teenagers and young men. These, as a rule, cynical tastes and preferences manifest themselves not only in leisure culture and ways of entertainment ("beautiful life", pornography and sex, fashionable clothes and special music), but also in ways of committing crimes, in relationships in a criminal environment, a set of privileges for the "elite", tattoos, nicknames, in the external design of the rules, "laws" and traditions of the criminal world.
An important place in the criminal subculture is occupied by myths (criminal mythology), implanting among adolescents and young men images of a "successful thief", "bold robber", "inflexible guy", cultivating "thieves romance", "the idea of ​​thieves fraternity", "thieves' honesty" and etc., contributing to the consolidation of criminal groups, the emergence of certain criminal traditions.
Functions of the criminal subculture. All structural elements of the criminal subculture are interconnected, interpenetrating each other. However, depending on the functions performed, they can be classified into the following groups:
1) stratification (norms and rules for determining the status of an individual in a group and in the criminal world, nicknames, tattoos, privileges for the "elite");
2) behavioral ("laws", "orders", rules of conduct for different classification castes, traditions, oaths, curses);
3) replenishing the criminal community with “personnel” and working with newcomers (“registration”, “jokes”, identifying areas and areas of criminal fishing);
4) the identification of "their" and "strangers" (tattoos, nicknames, criminal jargon);
5) maintaining order in the criminal world, punishing the guilty, getting rid of the unwanted ("disassembly", stigmatization, ostracism, "lowering");
6) communications (tattoos, nicknames, oaths, criminal jargon, "manual jargon");
7) sexually erotic (erotica as a value, "waferliness", "paraffin", sodomy as ways to reduce the status of objectionable persons, etc.);
8) material and financial (production and storage of instruments for the commission of crimes, the creation of a "common box office" for mutual assistance, the rental of premises for dens, etc.);
9) leisure (perverted culture of recreation and entertainment);
10) the function of a specific attitude towards one’s health — from complete disregard for them: drug addiction, drunkenness, self-harm — to bodybuilding, active sports in the interests of criminal activity.
The analysis allows us to conclude that many elements of the criminal subculture are, first of all, multifunctional (tattoos, for example, ethical and aesthetic values, which simultaneously serve as stratification, stigmatization and communication, identification of “friends”, and nicknames - ethical and aesthetic values performing the same functions); secondly, each element of the criminal subculture has a main function (for example, tattoos - a function of stratification, and nicknames - a function of communication); thirdly, each element of the criminal subculture is differently refracted in the psychology of the group and is internalized by the individual (from satisfaction with a prestigious nickname or tattoo to the desire to get rid of them by all means). Knowledge of the adherence of the group and the individual to certain values ​​(for example, enthusiasm for karate) makes it possible to predict their behavior with sufficient probability and to take the necessary preventive measures in advance.
Although the classification of attributes of a criminal subculture is to a certain extent conditional and of a working nature, it lacks the best to model elements of the criminal subculture for a deeper and more comprehensive study. With a different approach, the same tattoos would have to be studied in the study of criminal ideology, in the study of the ethical and aesthetic views of criminal groups, their mythology, etc.

Practical lesson
Theme: Psychodiagnostics of teenage environment of a school or microdistrict according to criminological indicators
The task:
1. By personal observation, expert polls, determine the degree of the formed (tm) criminal subculture in the adolescent school environment or neighborhood of your residence.
2. The results of the diagnosis to issue a reporting work (test).
3. On the examination procedure and the results to make a message in the classroom.

Seminar
Topic: Structure of the youth criminal subculture
Issues for discussion:
1. General characteristics of the structure of the criminal subculture.
2. The essence of criminal ideology and philosophy and their manifestations in the motivation of criminal activity and methods of psychological protection and self-justification before committing and committing crimes.
3. Moral and ethical views and features of the group sense of justice of juvenile offenders.
4. What is the mythology of the underworld and what are its functions?
5. Functions of the criminal subculture and their characteristics.


Chapter V. Stratification of adolescents and young men in the criminal hierarchy
I. The concept and essence of the stratification of adolescents and young men in the criminal hierarchy
There is a hierarchy of positions, roles, and responsibilities in any group of law-abiding teens and youths. However, the division in the criminal environment of people into castes (stratification) and giving them rights and duties in accordance with this is one of the main manifestations of the criminal subculture. As a result of the study, the main principles of this stratification were identified1.
1. "Who is who", or a rigid division of people into "their" and "alien", and "their" - into hierarchical groups from "top" to "bottom". In modern conditions it is difficult to determine who borrowed from whom the division of people into "friends" and "aliens". The criminals of the "new nationalist democrats" or these "democrats" implant these prison camp variations. When some people, local, indigenous, declare themselves "in law", and another, brought here (in this republic - VP) as fate, it turns out, the role of syvok and sixes is assigned2. At the same time, “ours” and “grandfathers” should be obeyed and in every possible way protected from oppressions of “strangers”, and slander, plunder and humiliate them over “others” and lower classes.
2. Social branding: belonging to the "elite" is denoted by the sublime, and to the "lower" and "alien" by degrading and offensive symbols (nicknames, jargon terms, tattoos).
3. Difficult upward mobility and lightweight mobile-nos'.b down. The change of status from lower to higher is difficult, and from higher to lower is facilitated, i.e. and it is very difficult to break out of the “top” among “our own”, but it’s much easier to lose your status.
4. The basis of mobility upwards is the successful passing of tests in competition with rivals, which must be defeated, or the guarantee of “authority”, mobility downwards is a violation of the “laws” of the criminal world.
3. Authoritarianism and strict subordination in relations between the “top” and “base”, ruthless exploitation and oppression

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1 Pirozhkov V.F. The laws of the underworld of youth. Criminal subculture. Tver, Ed. "Prize", 1994, Ch. 1, paragraph 2.
2 Zaymukhametov S. Ugolovshchina. Week, 1993, No. 25.
Los M., Anderson P. The Second Life in Prison. , Funkojonowanie ezlowika warunkach izolacie wie Adama Mickcwieza. 1974. Podguretsky A. Essays on the sociology of law.
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"tops" of "their", standing at the bottom of the hierarchy (E. Anderson, M. Losh, B. Valigura) 1.
6. The autonomy of the existence of each caste, difficulty, often the impossibility of friendly contacts between the "lower classes" and the "elite" because of the threat of ostracism for persons from the "elite" who agreed to the contacts.
7. The existence of a criminal world of its own "laws", value systems, privileges.
8. Sustainability status: attempts of people from the “bottom” to get rid of it are severely punished, as well as attempts to use in the criminal world privileges not according to status (A. Levy).
It was found that the status of the individual in the criminal world is shaped by a variety of factors, each of which is a component in the general hierarchy of the personality’s prestige. Unlike A. Podguretsky2, who singled out five such factors (age, bix, criminal activity, socio-regional origin, recidivism, or term of imprisonment), in our opinion, there are many more factors that can be combined for convenience of analysis. into four classification groups:
1) individual and personal: "experienced"; characterological features (personal qualities); physical strength;
2) social group: age; social origin; nationality; regional affiliation ("fraternity");
3) criminological: category and qualification of a criminal group; criminal experience (recidivism); period of stay in correctional institutions; law enforcement behavior (during the investigation, in court, in the police, etc.); complicity in past crimes;
4) behavioral: behavior in the adaptation period in a criminal group; attitudes towards the weak, defenseless and lower in the group hierarchy; relation to the official asset; attitude to "strangers"; attitude to study and ongoing educational work; attitude to the laws, norms of dormitory (and in closed institutions - to the requirements of the regime). We give them a qualitative characteristic, (see Scheme 5.1).

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1 Los M., Anderson P. The Second Life in Prison. Cambridge, 1973; Waligora B. Funkojonowanie ezlowika warunkach izolacie wiezieng. Poznan Uniwersytet im Adama Mickcwieza. 1974.
2 A. Podguretsky. Essays on the sociology of law. M., 1974, p. 200-212.

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Scheme 5.1
Classification of factors affecting the status and position of the individual in the criminal group of minors and young people


2. Characteristics of factors affecting the position of the individual in the criminal hierarchy


Among the individual and personal factors, minors highly value "experienced", i.e. life criminal experience, the ability to use it for the subordination of others. "Experienced" is better than others, they know the "laws" and "rules" of the criminal world and are able to interpret them to their advantage. They bring with them to the group or institution antisocial experience gained in the institutions in which they were located. For successful self-affirmation in a criminal environment, a teenager must possess certain personal qualities (characterological features). The most valuable in the criminal environment are developed volitional qualities, the ability to dominate others, authoritarianism, rudeness, resourcefulness, resourcefulness, cynicism, cruelty towards even the members of their group1. Those who do not have such qualities are inevitably dispersed along the lower levels of the group hierarchy. In the struggle for leadership in the event of a group, physical strength becomes important. However, with the mutual support of each other’s members in the fight against opposing groups for territory, criminal activity or supremacy “in the zone”, the factor of personal physical strength can be compensated for by cohesion, aggressiveness and armed group. Therefore, it is often not physically strong, but a dodgy, resourceful minor who has “bodyguards” with great physical strength (from accelerated morons), and who has the patronage of an adult mob.
Of the social group factors, age occupies a special place in the adolescent and youth environment. In an asocial and criminal environment, this is manifested in a particularly pronounced way. The lowest status and less prestigious position in the group is the youngest in age, the higher status - in older people. For example, the average age of “bumps” (“bosses”) in correctional facilities is 17-17.5 years. These are the most active in the criminal sense of the person, having the big (till 7-8 years) asocial and criminal experience, who have been
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1 Guseynov I.M. The development of moral and volitional qualities as a condition for the successful re-education of adolescents in a special vocational school. Author's abstract Cand. diss. M., 1982; Goncharov S. One against all. Documentary detective. Russian newspaper. 1995, October 6th.
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on re-education in a special school or other correctional institution, who served a criminal sentence in the EC.
Social origin as such (teenager from intelligentsia, workers or peasants) affects the status of the individual not directly, but indirectly, through the antisocial or criminal experience of the minor’s family, whatever social group of the population he belongs to. If the father, mother or brother is serving or serving a sentence and is quite authoritative in the criminal world, this strengthens the position of the adolescent in the group. If the elder adult brother has a criminal record, then, naturally, his name serves as a sufficient guarantee of the stable position and security of the younger brother in the criminal group. In the event that they begin to oppress him, the answer follows: "I will tell my brother!"
Recently, due to the exacerbation of national relations, the importance of the factor of nationality has increased, although criminal groups of older minors and adult criminals are mostly international in their composition. The same applies to the socio-regional factor ("fraternity"). These factors form a specific sense of "we." Particularly increased the importance of clan (clan) affiliation, revered by some southern nationalities. Persons of their nationality, countrymen, especially belonging to their clan, are needed as reliable guarantors, creating a guarantee of protection of the minor from the claims of others; the presence of fellow countrymen eliminates the need to pass a "registration". (By the way, sayand in the Armed Forces, persons of the predominant nationality in the unit also avoid “registration” .1) Once in the underworld, a teenager begins to actively look for fellow countrymen. Therefore, it is undesirable, for example, in a special school or a colony, the concentration of fellow countrymen in one primary team.
The most significant influence on the status, role and position of the minor in the criminal environment is exerted by criminological factors, which are refracted through the individual-personal and social-group characteristics of the minor. Thus, the experience of criminal activity (recidivism) directly determines his “experience”, since the experience in a peculiar form reflects the acquired asocial (vagrancy, drives to the police, alcohol consumption, etc.) and criminal experience, level of criminal “qualification” 1. Those who are just starting a criminal activity, inexperienced newcomers must pass a “test” and test to take a high place in the group hierarchy, and those with experience do not undergo such testing. Seniority plays a certain signaling role in identifying "its"and the application of the adolescent for the relevant situation in the criminal community. Usually "experience" is reflected in tattoos. Therefore, the tattoo of a repeat offender is especially honorable both in the IC and "in the wild."
The category and qualifications of the criminal group to which the minor belonged were highly valued before being included in this group or arriving at a special school. Thieves, robbers, robbers, racketeers, crooks are most honored. Below are hooligans, rapists. Minor thieves, bums, beggars, baby-killers, child molesters are not authoritative. The influence of fashion on certain types of crimes of young people (to which the teenager belonged) did not obscure, but further exacerbated the importance of the adolescent's belonging to a particular criminal or criminal group. Prestige, for example, non-traditional asocial and criminal formations affects everywhere. It is the prestigious groups there that "rule the ball." Prestigious "winders" or "gangs" subordinate to their influence a considerable part of the territory of a city, region.
Important for self-affirmation of a teenager in a group is the deprivation of liberty in IC or the time spent in a special school, when the term "weight" and "importance" of a person in a criminal group increases, and this gives the teenager the opportunity to go out of the category after oppressed "novice" in the category of "boys" ("normally living"), and then - in the oppressive old-timers ("old lad", "old man", "grandfather"), demonstrating their superiority over others. The "term" factor is fundamental in the group hierarchy and adults; This is especially significant for army units, where conscripts pass from “spirit” to “grandfather” successively “salabona”, "kettle, "crows" (and in the navy - "crucian"), "scoop", "grandfather." In special schools, correctional colonies, where work with the "old men" started, they become masters of the situation.
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1 Blinov A. Serve, soldier, as a "grandfather" served. // Private life, 1993, № 18.
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An important indicator of "qualification" is the number of "walker" in the "zone". For example, in order to become a "thief in law", you must have at least five "walker" (convictions).
A minor’s high status can secure himself if he enlists the support of those who know him not only as a countryman (of one nationality), but also as an accomplice in past crimes. Partners seek to unite in a criminal group, providing protection against the claims of other groups. Therefore, as a rule, they do not send accomplices to one correctional or special educational institution and, all the more, do not allow their joint presence in one primary division of these institutions. However, complicity can also serve as a factor reducing the individual’s status in the group, if the accomplices know their misbehavior: cowardice, the desire to avoid danger, withholding from a group of property obtained by criminal means, and even more so - truthful behavior and revealing the trial.
The strength of the status and the prestige of a minor depend on his behavior in law enforcement agencies (in court, receiver-distributor, in the commission on juvenile affairs), on which the “fall” of some and the “elevation” of others depend. The biggest misconduct is considered to be in the underworld - issuing accomplices, "squealing", and unwillingness to take the blame to shield a leader or adult member of a group1. The origins of this factor must be sought in the confrontation that has developed over the years of totalitarianism between the underworld and the bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (KGB), who implanted "squealing". Therefore, minors naturally accepted the game of "inflexibility", "honesty", dedication to the interests of the group, contempt for "sneaks" ("snitches", "hens", etc.),what adult offenders use to get away from the well-deserved punishment.
Thus, the criminological factors can determine the depth of pedagogical neglect and the level of criminalization of the individual. The more this criminalization, the higher the status of the individual in the group hierarchy.
Among the behavioral factors directly affecting the status of a minor is his behavior during the adaptation period of being in a group (or in a criminal environment: in a special school, correctional institution, remand prison) when he is under the scrutiny of "authorities" and "old people". During this period, it is dangerous for a novice to compromise

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1 Boguslavskaya O. Protection // New World. 1980, № 3.

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ignoring oneself through ignorance and inexperience with actions that are not approved in the criminal world, are despised; it is important not to succumb to the psychological and physical pressure from others, which is perceived as weakness.
At the same time, in order to consolidate his position, a minor must define his attitude towards the weaker than him, as well as towards those who have compromised themselves in the eyes of supporters of the “thieves' laws” and traditions. Pity for them, and even more so - friendship with these people can fundamentally undermine his prestige. So, for example, physical contact (handshake) with the "lowered", "ingot", "snitch" irrevocably throws the teenager into the category of "fallen". Acceptable is a cruel, cynical attitude. The more irreconcilable a minor can be in relations with inferior and weak ones, the higher his status may be. Naturally, the “alien” and official assets in any institution (general education and special school) deserve the same uncompromising cruel and cynical attitude.orphanage, colonies, etc.). Therefore, the members of the criminal group seek to refuse from participation in the asset in every way: if this cannot be done, then, having entered into an asset, these people will avoid giving instructions.
His attitude towards studies carried out in an educational, special educational and correctional institution, educational work, internal order and regime of an institution significantly affects the status of a minor. This attitude is not only negative, but often takes the form of bravado, overt cynicism (hooligan tricks in the classroom, beating attendants, disruptions in student gatherings, and often hostage taking, attempting to rape women from service personnel). Such attempts have occurred even among students of special schools. However, a minor may not externally express his negative attitude, since it threatens with disciplinary consequences (and at liberty - referral to a special school or other correctional institution), resorting to hidden forms of opposition. The ability to break the regime, break lessons,to boycott educational activities with "alien hands", provoking newcomers to this, discrediting activists.

Table 5.1. Ranking conducted by minors and experts, the significance of the factors determining the status of the individual in the group hierarchy

The name of the factors	1980				1990
	Condemned And K		experts		SPTU		experts
	X	Rank	X	Rank	X	Rank	X	Rank
Behavior (life experience)	2.35	one	3.94	2	3.32	five	4.5	3
Category and qualifications of a criminal group	2.87	2	4.86	3	3.0	four	5.0	five
Criminal experience	2.94	3	3.61	one	4.5	6	4.8	four
Age	7.45	9	5.77	6	5.1	7	5.3	6
Personal qualities	3.05	four	5.12	five	6.40	eight	6.7	9
Term imprisonment, stay in specials. Vocational school, special school	3.46	five	5.01	four	9.20	eleven	6.1	7
Physical strength	9.34	eleven	6.32	7	7.95	ten	10.5	14
Behavior at the investigation, in court (law enforcement)	4.62	6	7.03	ten	7.13,	9	6.4	eight
Regional origin (nationality)	5.14	7	8.55	eleven	1.65	one	2.6	2
Complicity in past crimes, offenses	6.22	eight	6.99	9	2.14	2	2.3	one
Attitude to the weak, "nizam"	10.39	12	10.68	14	2.8	3	9.2	12
Behavior in the adaptation period	8.11	ten	6.18	eight	10.12	12	9.7	13
Relation to asset	10.40	13	9.36	12	11.50	14	8.1	eleven
Attitude to the main means of re-education and regime	11.85	14	9.83	13	10.35	13	7.15	ten