Vices and criminality: a social and legal assessment

Abstract

The article presents a philosophical and legal study of relationship between the concepts of vice, sin and crime. On the basis of modern criminological analysis, the authors conclude that the main cause of crime lies in the objective existence of human vices associated with the weakness of human nature. As a part of the study of criminal cases, the authors formulated a generalized criminological portrait of a personality of a police officer who commits corruption crimes. The authors argue that criminalization of a personality goes through several successive stages: vice, passion, sin (immoral behavior, administratively punishable act, and the highest degree is a crime). The authors propose to consider corruption from two sides: 1) as an independent personal vice and 2) as a reflection (result) of the vices of society. The corruption crime is examined by using the triangle of Donald Craessy. On the basis of this approach, the authors argue that social causes alone do not trigger corruption behavior. Only vices push an offender to corrupt behavior. As a mean of preventing of official misconduct, the authors propose moral and ethical standards of official conduct.