Improvement of Social Control as a Direction of Crime Prevention

Abstract

Changes in the system of public relationships determine the necessity of creating a crime prevention model that would take into consideration the specific features of social interaction in modern conditions. A key element of such a model is social control, whose subjects could be both state and private law enforcement bodies and representatives of civil society. However, there is a diversity in how different researchers understand the essence of social control, and the existing models are somewhat eclectic and not easily adjusted to changes, which could affect their effectiveness. The authors single out three key factors that should be taken into account when choosing the strategy of state policy in the sphere under consideration. The authors also prove that it is necessary to strike a balance between parental control and creating a space for self-development because self-identification and development of personal responsibility for one’s decisions are obligatory factors of socialization. It is noted that the effectiveness of the selected model of crime prevention depends on the integration of all objective and subjective factors that determine delinquent behavior in the system of social control. The transition from the positivist to the post-modernist model of crime counteraction is accompanied by numerous crises and conflicts of mental attitudes, which is typical for any global social transformation. The problems emerging in this connection in the post-Soviet states include the resilient dominance of the paternalist model of the state, the denial of personal social responsibility in exchange for security guaranteed by the state, which leads to a passive attitude of some part of the society and a low level of reflection on one’s place and role in the system of delinquent behavior’s prevention. The authors formulate key tasks of transforming the existing models of social control as directions of crime prevention.