Some Aspects of Application of a Penitentiary Probation to the Persons who Have Repeatedly Committed Crimes

The article studies problems of fight and prevention of repeated crime following theoretical development aimed at identifying the causes, conditions, relationships and regularities of this social phenomenon and introducing an effective mechanism for its implementation. Particular attention is drawn to the analysis of the relapse of crime in Ukraine and the introduction of a probation institution whіch aims at implementing special measures to prevent recidivism, in particular, at serving the first and subsequent (repeated) crimes and during social adaptation after serving a sentence.

It is important to mention that recurrent crime, unlike the primary one, is a stable, repeated manifestation of criminal behavior and is characterized by persistence, an increased degree of social danger, and a high level of conspiracy. According to the Article 34 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine “The recidivism is a crime, that is committed by a person who has a conviction of an intentional crime”.

In general, the fight against recurrent crime is a topical issue not only of our state, but of the whole modern world. For proper preventive work, criminals have more chances to put an end to their criminal past. The European integration processes, that continue in Ukraine, create the right conditions for bringing the criminal offenses and the prevention of repeated offenses into line with modern European standards and principles.

The introduction of probation reduces the burden on the penitentiary system and prevents criminalization of the individual. It is believed that such measures of educational impact of probation as supervision and provision of necessary assistance can counteract crime, since they are aimed at correcting a person and covicts as consequence refrain from committing new offenses.