Victimological aspects of the criminal situation and their role in improving the efficiency of the penal system

The article considers the problem of victimization as one of the aspects of crime. Expert assessments of the factors of victimization of the population and the main sociodemographic categories constituting a «risk group» are presented. In the opinion of the authors the research of the victimological aspects of the criminal situation, having a complex character of the influence on preventing offenses through studying a wide range of socio-psychological properties of the individual and forms of behavior, have a significant potential not only for harmonizing relations in society, but also indirectly with more specific positions for the liberation of reserves of socio-economic development of specific territories, improving the dynamics of demographic processes, increasing the efficiency of functions of state institutions, especially the penal system. The article presents the results of sociological polls conducted by the Vologda Research Center of the RAS in the Vologda Region, which testify to the existence of a stable (18-20%) level of risk factors for victimization and victim traits. This poses a potential threat to the deterioration of the criminal situation in the event of more severe risks (for example, economic ones), which necessitates scientific research on the range of problems associated with victimization, in particular the development and implementation of regional monitoring systems for the victimological situation.

Keywords: crime; victimization; victimality; sociological research; penal system.