Criminological and Criminal Law Signs of Mental Violence in Crimes Against Public Security Under the Criminal Law of Ukraine

The author examines topical aspects of specifying mental violence in the criminal legislation of Ukraine on the basis of Articles from the Section «Crimes against Public Security», namely «Banditry», «Terrorist Acts», «Intentionally False Report about a Threat to Public Security, or a Threat of Property Destruction or Damage». Special attention is paid to the empirical data collected on the basis of indicators of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, the guilty verdicts of the courts of Ukraine under the above-mentioned Articles. On this basis, the author specifies objective attributes of the presence of mental violence in the above-mentioned crimes, analyzes their significance and, using the cases of court verdicts, proves the presence of mental violence. Mental violence is expressed through the use of the following terminology: coercion, compulsion, involvement, threats, recruitment, use of weapons, exerting psychological pressure against the victim, threat (of explosion, arson or other actions terrorizing the population, posing danger of human death, considerable damage to property or other grave consequences). The author has analyzed and presented the percentage ratio of all crimes under consideration and, using the conducted analysis, has developed recommendations on supplementing the formal components constituting these crimes with a compulsory object of the mental health of the population. Besides, having assessed the cumulative data from the survey of police officers whose work is connected with crime investigation, the author concludes that, within the framework of crimes against public security, such criminal means as involvement and coercion are varieties of mental violence which, through psychological influence, change a person’s mentality and behavior. To improve the professional competence of investigators in the spheres of psychology, criminal law and criminology, the author suggests developing for investigators an algorithm of actions for identifying mental violence in crimes against public security.