Організована група як обставина, що обтяжує кримінальну відповідальність за вчинення сутенерства або втягнення особи в заняття проституцією

The Article is Devoted to the Consideration of an Organized Group as an Aggravating Circumstance for CriminalLiability for Pimping or Involving a Person in Prostitution (Part 3, Article 303 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).Attention is drawn to the fact that beyond the criteria for differentiating criminal liability highlighted in the legalscience, such a qualifying feature as committing this act against several persons, as provided for in Article 303 of theCriminal Code, has been overlooked. It is noted that the feature of committing the relevant act by a person upon whom the victim was materially or otherwisedependent can be interpreted not only as a characteristic of the victim but also as a characteristic of a special subject,since in the relevant case, the subject can only be a person upon whom the victim was materially or otherwise dependent.Based on the analysis of the legislative definition of an organized group, the following features of this form of complicityare highlighted: 1. The presence of three or more persons who are subjects of a criminal offense; 2. Prior organization; 3.Stability; 4. The presence of a single plan that unites the behavior of the group members; 5. The distribution of functionsamong the members of such a group aimed at achieving the intended plan; 6. Awareness of this plan among all groupmembers.The study of judicial practice in applying Article 303 of the Criminal Code made it possible to establish that thereare frequent cases where the actions of the relevant persons were qualified by the pre-trial investigation bodies as committedby an organized group, but the presence of this qualifying feature could not be confirmed during the trial.A critical analysis was conducted of a court decision where the activities of a criminal group in committing similar(albeit different) criminal offenses against public morality were assessed inconsistently: the creation and maintenanceof a place of debauchery (Article 302 of the Criminal Code) was qualified as committed by an organized group, whereasthe provision of sexual services (pimping – Article 303 of the Criminal Code) at this place of debauchery was not indicatedas having this qualifying feature.Keywords: criminal law, criminal offenses against public order and morality, criminal offenses against morality,involving a person in prostitution, organized group.