Development of Criminal Liability for Organized Forms of Criminal Activities.

The paper, relying on the comparative historical method of cognition, undertakes an analysis of the development in Russian legislation of statutory regulation of responsibility for organizing criminal activities. The aim of the study was to determine the historical prerequisites for the emergence of this institution, its formation and acquisition of certain forms in the process of its development. A retrospective review of the legislative framework of various historical periods in this aspect made it possible to determine the patterns of establishing criminal liability for organizing criminal activity depending on the historical period. Particular attention is given to the norms of criminal legislation of the pre-revolutionary and Soviet periods of Russian history, the main legal landmarks that established criminal liability for the type of criminal activity in question are studied. It is concluded that in criminal legislation, almost until the 18th century, there was no liability for organizing a criminal community; its final formation occurred only in the modern period.