To the issue of the character of public danger of crimes connected with illegal trade in drugs, psychoactive substances and their analogues
The paper examines the public danger of crimes connected with illegal trade in narcotics, psychoactive substances and their analogues. The correct understanding of this category and its evaluation are especially important when determining punishment for the above-mentioned group of crimes. Existing disagreements in understanding the category «character of public danger», its content and characteristics result in a number of both general problems and problems specifically connected with the above-mentioned group of crimes. The analyze the category «character of public danger of a crime» to determine its essence regarding crimes in the sphere of illegal trade in narcotics, psychoactive substances and their analogues. They stress that the character of public danger is based on the characteristics of the object of crime. This also refers to drug offences. That is why the character of public danger of a crime includes a system connected with certain social relations protected by criminal law, an additional object, subject matter and a victim of the criminal offence. The paper pays special attention to the generic object of drug offences - health of the people; the authors also note that crimes in the spheres of illegal trade in drugs, psychoactive substances and their analogues are not personified and are aimed against an unspecified wide range of people, and they pose danger to the health and life of the whole nation. The conducted research allowed the authors to conclude that subject matter of crime is especially important when determining the character of public danger in the sphere of illegal trade in narcotics, psychoactive substances and their analogues; it changes the direction of the character of public danger. That is why the evaluation of the character of public danger should depend on the type of the drug crime’s subject matter and should be carried out within the corresponding type.