Concept of economic crimes in legal doctrine and legislation, their differentiation

Ukraine’s transition to a market economy, the development of entrepreneurship, the promotion of competition, and the expansion of foreign trade contributed to the creation of new opportunities for criminal activity in the economic sphere. At the same time, the low probability of detection and the high profits associated with economic crime make the economic sphere very attractive to criminals. In turn, the huge losses associated with economic crime undermine social protection systems and destabilize economic systems, thus clearly indicating a failure of self-regulation. The legislator, having in mind economic crimes, operates with the concept of “CRIMINAL OFFENSES IN THE SPHERE OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITY” (Chapter VII of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) and is limited only to their list. According to the legislative approach, an economic crime can be defined only as a socially dangerous culpable act (action or inaction) committed by the subject of the criminal offense provided for by the Criminal Code of Ukraine and provided for by the provisions of Chapter VII of the Special Part of the Criminal Code. At the same time, on the basis of the generalized data of the legislative and doctrinal approach, it is proposed to define an economic crime as a socially dangerous culpable act (action or inaction) committed by the subject of a criminal offense, which consists in the implementation of illegal economic activity (economic processes, relations, operations) or violation of requirements for legal economic activity to satisfy the selfish interests of a person or a group of persons, encroaches on the sphere of economic relations and poses a threat to the economic security of the state, leads to an imbalance of the state’s economic system. At the same time, the so-called economic crimes (Chapter VII of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - criminal offenses in the sphere of economic activity) should be separated from crimes due to which law enforcement agencies can interfere in the sphere of economic relations. Economic crimes can be differentiated according to various criteria: according to the spheres of social relations that regulate one or another type of economic activity; according to the content of the committed crime; by immediate main and additional objects; by subject characteristics; by criminal law characteristics.