Criminological characteristics of gerontological crime
The relevance of the study of gerontological crime is due to the peculiarity of the modern stage of development of the Belarusian society, characterized by an increase in the proportion of elderly people in the total population. Demographic aging affects the activation of representatives of this age group in almost all spheres of life, including the inevitable manifestations of criminological nature - the objective growth of gerontological crime. The problem of gerontological crime is not only extremely relevant, but is also new and complicated both theoretically and practically. Being at the junction of such areas as demography, sociology, jurisprudence, philosophy, psychology, medicine, the problem of gerontological crime is integrative in nature. At the same time, with all the significance of the topic under consideration, questions about gerontological crime, measures to combat it have practically remained outside the framework of criminological and criminal law research. Against the background of an abundance of scientific works on the age specificity of crime, comprehensive studies in the field of gerontological crime in the Republic of Belarus have not been conducted. The purpose of the study is to analyze the criminological characteristics of gerontological crime. The introduction indicates the relevance of the study of gerontological crime, its quantitative and qualitative indicators, as well as the author’s definition of this type of crime. The main part of the article considers and analyzes, on the basis of statistical data, such characteristics of gerontological crime as the state, level, dynamics, structure, character and geography, which in turn makes it possible to judge the real sizes, trends, patterns and consequences of this negative phenomenon. The conclusion states the most important features of gerontological crime, proposes to highlight in science such a new direction as criminal or penal gerontology. The results obtained can be applied in the process of improving the legislation of the Republic of Belarus, as well as in developing effective measures to prevent gerontological crime.