OFFICIAL CRIMES IN THE MILITIA IN 1937 AND COUNTERACTION TO THEM

Abstract

The article for the first time in the historical and legal literature examines the official crimes committed by militia officers in 1937, which gives this topic special significance. According to the Regulations on the Workers “and Peasants” Militia (1931), crimes committed by militia officers against the established order of service were recognized as war crimes and were prosecuted by military tribunals. More widely and specifically disciplinary legal relations were regulated in the Disciplinary Statute of the Workers “and Peasants” militia (1931). In the Criminal Code of the USSR in 1927, criminal liability for official crimes was defined as abuse of power or official position. The special term “totalitarian crime” is used to describe the crime of the Stalinist period. The authors divided these crimes into 3 groups: 1) abuse of power, which led to a violation of public order or legally protected rights and interests of individual citizens; 2) abuse of office for selfish reasons; 3) negligent attitude to the performance of official duties. Crime in the militia in 1937 was manifested in abuse of power, which led to a violation of public order or protected by law the rights and interests of individual citizens, was also associated with abuse of office for selfish reasons and careless attitude to duty. There were crimes, but there was some opposition to them. Militia officers were prosecuted for crimes committed by military tribunals, but mostly lower-level members suffered. The desire of the party-state and militia authorities to demonstrate successful reporting indicators, various campaigns against various types of crimes, encouraged local militia officers to falsify and use physical violence against citizens. Undoubted influence on the situation was exerted by the forced strengthening of the totalitarian regime in the state.