Проблемы судебного толкования запрета занятия высшего положения в преступной иерархии (ст. 210.1 УК РФ)

Уголовное право. 2026. № 4(188) . С. 13–22.

Karavaeva Y.

the controversial nature of Article 210.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation does not prevent its active application in practice, as evidenced by the significant number of sentences handed down based on the results of cases of occupying the highest position in the criminal hierarchy since its criminalization. At the same time, the established judicial practice only illustrates the problematic nature of this criminal law norm, since, as the appeal to judicial acts shows, there is no need to speak about the uniformity of judicial interpretation. Thus, an analysis of these acts shows that in some cases the courts refer to the fact of having a criminal status as the basis of liability, while in others they refer to actions committed in connection with its presence. The issue of a specific criminal status, which makes it possible to establish the «highest position» occupied by a person, is also problematic, since, ignoring the possibilities of grammatical interpretation of the norm, as well as criminological studies of the criminal community, courts usually conclude that a person occupies a higher position in connection with the content of specific actions committed by him. This logic leads to the fact that in addition to «thieves», carriers of other criminal statuses are also held accountable. The current approaches of the courts to the qualification of the crime in question embody alternative models of judicial interpretation identified in science, however, their implementation in relation to the same criminal law norm seems unacceptable.

Keywords: судебное толкование, высшее положение в преступной иерархии, «вор в законе», высшее положение, преступная иерархия, судебное толкование, «вор в законе», криминальный статус, криминальный статус