Hierarchical structure in the criminal community
The article discusses the development of the hierarchical structure of the criminal community. The beginning of the stratification of prisoners is associated with the development of the prison system of pre-revolutionary Russia. Criminals isolated from lawabiding citizens since the creation of the prison system in Russia made up a community that was a well-organized and close-knit community of «thieves». Being a mirror image of society the prison commune was heterogeneous and, accordingly, was stratified into a ruling class, into an exploited class and outcasts. With a change in the social system and the punitive policy of the state the system of stratification in the criminal community was modified too. So, by the beginning of the twentieth century, when there was a sharp increase in the number of prisoners, the prison commune was losing its significance and the prison community was replacing it. At the initial stage of the functioning of the camps, convicts were kept without protection under the supervision of the administration. Labor was mandatory for all categories of offenders serving their sentences. Changing the conditions of detention in the camps entailed the stratification of the camps into categories. Accordingly the previously existing formal system of stratification of the contingent has undergone a change. In modern conditions stratification has its own characteristics in different correctional institutions. The article reveals these features as well as characterizes certain categories of convicts.
Keywords: stratification; a convicted; law; the criminal world; criminal subculture
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