Abstract:
In today’s context, shadow economic activity plays a significant role in creating a unique socio-economic and cultural space, adversely affecting the development of the national economy as a whole and its strategic industries, in particular, contributing to the development of other illegal activities. Among the shadow business areas, special attention should be paid to its types that go beyond national borders. These are offenses related to the movement of goods / items across the customs border.
Today, not only smuggling but also other offenses related to the movement of goods / items across the customs border are a threat to Ukraine, as non- criminalized forms of cross-border shadow business cause the greatest economic and political damage. But their criminological analysis is complicated by the inconsistency of the legal assessment of a number of such offenses, the presence of temporarily occupied territories with different legal status, etc.
Given the predominantly organized nature of offenses related to the movement of goods / items across borders, the distribution of roles within criminal groups, the ramifications and resilience of corrupt relationships of the perpetrators, the organizational and legal imperfection of the available preventive measures, thorough criminological intelligence on the current state of these offenses in Ukraine at the present stage and improving its prevention system.
Comprehensive analysis of offenses related to the movement of goods / items across the customs border as a separate criminological group of socially dangerous economic activities provides an opportunity for a clearer definition of the main directions of their prevention.
