Among the numerous decrees the Russian president has signed recently, the one that received the most attention was "On Measures to Protect the Rights of Citizens, on Preserving Order and on the Strengthening of the Fight with Crime". The decree was most interesting for the reasons which gave rise to it, and the results one can expect from it.
The rapid rise in crime, primarily violent crime, has become one of the most painful issues in society.
"I am afraid to go out, not just at night, but even during the day" is an oft-heard phrase. Even allowing for exaggeration, there is truth in this subjective assessment. There is no type of violent crime that is showing the smallest sign of decrease. The number of murders, robberies, muggings, rapes, and so on is growing so quickly that it far exceeds the rate of increase in so-called civilized countries.
In addition, we have only incomplete statistical data, which does not allow us to conduct any serious analysis. Who is committing these crimes: what age groups, what social classes? How do the numbers break down by region? What percentage of crimes is committed by "guests", that is, not by "native" criminals, but by people from other places?
The escalation of violence is real, and it is becoming a factor not only in our everyday lives, but also in politics. Playing on the fears of the population, the more conservative, aggressively hostile "patriotic" forces fault the present authorities for their lack of ability or even desire to impose "order and discipline" -- concepts dear to the hearts of the Stalin-Khrushchev-Brezhnev-Andropov regimes, as well as to the prerevolutionary, czarist regime or, more exactly, the police and Black Hundreds. Russia has always had a yearning for a "strong hand", capable of dealing with "disturbers of public order". The monopoly on deciding what order is, and who is disturbing it, always stayed with those in power.
Today's crime wave is, of course, connected with the general chaos in the country and political instability. This instability, in turn, spawns a feeling of permissiveness and impunity. Very few crimes are solved, and the courts are giving lighter and lighter sentences.
Yeltsin could not refuse to heed the calls to curb crime. But he reacted in the traditional Russian manner: another decree, with emphasis on modernizing techniques for dealing with criminals: the creation of a "rapid response team" equipped with the latest in weaponry, up to and including combat helicopters; a pay raise for crime fighters. Vladimir Kryuchkov, then head of the KGB, presently in prison awaiting trial, had demanded practically the same thing from the Supreme Soviet of the U. S. S. R.
I have no objections to any of the proposed measures; in principle they are all useful, but are they possible, and will they provide results? It is unfeasible to create such highly professional units everywhere. It is possible that they will attract the best recruits into this elite group, leaving the vast Russian hinterlands without the necessary reserves.
But the main thing is that the widespread corruption in the country would allow the more organized criminal groups to penetrate even these structures. The "permeability" of our borders with the former Soviet republics will provide the professional criminals with a convenient haven.
There is some fear that soon the authorities will have no recourse other than to find some excuse for creating self-defense units, which used to be coyly named "people's brigades" or "social patrols", and allowing weapons, while raising the penalties for their careless use. In a country where the population is already armed past the danger point this will not surprise anyone, but it will lead to an even more intense spiral of violence.
This vicious circle gives those groups in opposition to the president a ready weapon in their political battles: the impotence of the authorities in the face of criminal bands.
Until the laws are publicly and universally observed by the authorities themselves, until criminals see that sanctions are inescapable, not only in pompous declarations, but in real life, no decree, no matter how good and reasonable, will give results.
Arkady Vaksberg is a prominent Moscow jurist and political observer for Literaturnaya Gazeta.
The rapid rise in crime, primarily violent crime, has become one of the most painful issues in society.
"I am afraid to go out, not just at night, but even during the day" is an oft-heard phrase. Even allowing for exaggeration, there is truth in this subjective assessment. There is no type of violent crime that is showing the smallest sign of decrease. The number of murders, robberies, muggings, rapes, and so on is growing so quickly that it far exceeds the rate of increase in so-called civilized countries.
In addition, we have only incomplete statistical data, which does not allow us to conduct any serious analysis. Who is committing these crimes: what age groups, what social classes? How do the numbers break down by region? What percentage of crimes is committed by "guests", that is, not by "native" criminals, but by people from other places?
The escalation of violence is real, and it is becoming a factor not only in our everyday lives, but also in politics. Playing on the fears of the population, the more conservative, aggressively hostile "patriotic" forces fault the present authorities for their lack of ability or even desire to impose "order and discipline" -- concepts dear to the hearts of the Stalin-Khrushchev-Brezhnev-Andropov regimes, as well as to the prerevolutionary, czarist regime or, more exactly, the police and Black Hundreds. Russia has always had a yearning for a "strong hand", capable of dealing with "disturbers of public order". The monopoly on deciding what order is, and who is disturbing it, always stayed with those in power.
Today's crime wave is, of course, connected with the general chaos in the country and political instability. This instability, in turn, spawns a feeling of permissiveness and impunity. Very few crimes are solved, and the courts are giving lighter and lighter sentences.
Yeltsin could not refuse to heed the calls to curb crime. But he reacted in the traditional Russian manner: another decree, with emphasis on modernizing techniques for dealing with criminals: the creation of a "rapid response team" equipped with the latest in weaponry, up to and including combat helicopters; a pay raise for crime fighters. Vladimir Kryuchkov, then head of the KGB, presently in prison awaiting trial, had demanded practically the same thing from the Supreme Soviet of the U. S. S. R.
I have no objections to any of the proposed measures; in principle they are all useful, but are they possible, and will they provide results? It is unfeasible to create such highly professional units everywhere. It is possible that they will attract the best recruits into this elite group, leaving the vast Russian hinterlands without the necessary reserves.
But the main thing is that the widespread corruption in the country would allow the more organized criminal groups to penetrate even these structures. The "permeability" of our borders with the former Soviet republics will provide the professional criminals with a convenient haven.
There is some fear that soon the authorities will have no recourse other than to find some excuse for creating self-defense units, which used to be coyly named "people's brigades" or "social patrols", and allowing weapons, while raising the penalties for their careless use. In a country where the population is already armed past the danger point this will not surprise anyone, but it will lead to an even more intense spiral of violence.
This vicious circle gives those groups in opposition to the president a ready weapon in their political battles: the impotence of the authorities in the face of criminal bands.
Until the laws are publicly and universally observed by the authorities themselves, until criminals see that sanctions are inescapable, not only in pompous declarations, but in real life, no decree, no matter how good and reasonable, will give results.
Arkady Vaksberg is a prominent Moscow jurist and political observer for Literaturnaya Gazeta.
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