Child wandering is not only a socially dangerous phenomenon, but also an indicator that the child does not receive proper support at home, which is why he is forced to wander the streets. The negative consequences of this phenomenon affect both society as a whole and every family that is faced with a child’s tendency to leave home in an unknown direction, without purpose or reason.
Responsibility for vagrancy
The laws of the Russian Federation do not encourage an antisocial lifestyle and violation of public order, establishing legal liability for them. The rules of law also provide for punishment for vagrancy, albeit indirectly.
It is important that if a minor is caught in such actions, his parents or guardians will bear responsibility for this (under Article 5.35 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).
The legislator’s logic is simple: if a child often leaves home, preferring to wander around friends, abandoned buildings, or goes to other cities without permission, it means that his parents do not pay enough attention to the upbringing of such a minor and, therefore, perform their duties improperly.
Psychologists and teachers agree that a child’s tendency to run away from home depends largely on how comfortable the home environment is for him, how harmonious the relationships in the family are, etc. At the same time, it is possible to understand that a child is dissatisfied with something, that a complex conflict is occurring within him, which can lead to leaving home and vagrancy, by many signs: isolation, irritability, lack of interest in studying, the desire to spend time in dysfunctional companies, etc. d. And if the family does not notice such dangerous signals in time and the child goes roaming, his parents will bear administrative responsibility for this.
The amount of the fine is determined at the discretion of the official considering the case, but cannot be more than 500 rubles.
Parental responsibility is not the only legal consequence of juvenile vagrancy. Thus, if it is established that a third party persuaded a child to engage in vagrancy, and did so intentionally, we can say that the actions of the instigator contained a crime under Part 1 of Art. 151 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (involving children in committing antisocial actions). Responsibility for such a crime will follow in the form of:
- Mandatory work up to 480 hours;
- Or correctional labor for up to 2 years;
- Or up to 6 months of arrest;
- Or imprisonment for up to 4 years.
From which we can conclude that the state takes this crime very seriously.
Legislators have long developed proposals to introduce a separate article providing for punishment for vagrancy specifically for minors, and not for their parents. At the same time, it is planned to enshrine in the law such signs of vagrancy as the unauthorized departure of a child from home and their systematic nature. It is expected that the adoption of the law will reduce the dangerous consequences of this negative social phenomenon, and will also serve as a means of preventing dysfunctional behavior among adolescents.
However, to date, the corresponding changes have not been adopted, therefore, only parents or persons who replace them due to objective reasons or direct instructions of the law bear responsibility for such actions of minors.
Begging is an administrative offense
We often come across cases where strangers on the street very persistently offer to provide some service, ask to buy something or give a sum of money free of charge. As you might guess, in this case we are talking about begging. Begging is a parasitic form of life activity, begging for money or other material and intangible values from strangers. Without bringing anything positive to society, participants in this phenomenon most often generate harmful and negative events.
They can manifest themselves in undermining social balance, disrupting public order and, even worse, encroaching on the rights of other citizens. This phenomenon is not always a sign of troubled society. Beggars and vagabonds existed in any era, regardless of the degree of economic development of the country. As an exception, we can note those states where the article for begging provides for serious liability in the form of correctional labor or imprisonment. In our country there is no form of criminal liability for an adult begging on the street or in the subway. However, this does not apply to cases where an adult uses a child for profit, involving him in begging or vagrancy. It will not be possible to get away with just a fine for such an offense; the penalty here will be much more severe. What does the law of the Russian Federation say? Unlike the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, which had a special article 209 “Parasitism”, which included not only deliberate refusal of employment, but also begging, in modern Russian legislation an adult citizen does not face any responsibility for a parasitic lifestyle. However, at the same time, begging money from passers-by using minors, according to Art. 151 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, is a punishable act and provides for the following punishment: compulsory work up to 480 hours; correctional labor from one to two years; arrest from 3 to 6 months; imprisonment for up to 4 years. Such a diverse list of penalties for begging, each of which differs significantly in severity, is explained by circumstances that can aggravate or, conversely, mitigate a citizen’s guilt. When deciding on punishment, the court can take into account not only the difficult living conditions that forced the mother and child to take up vagrancy, but also selfish motives when a minor engages in begging only for the illegal enrichment of others. There is such a type of begging as “professional beggars.” This type is the most common, since every beggar who is under the “tutelage” of criminal structures brings them considerable income every day.
In the countries of the former CIS, in addition to the usual begging, Internet begging has also developed, including fraud on dating portals or social networks. Vagrancy and begging are socially dangerous phenomena, representing a breeding ground for crime, drug addiction, alcoholism and prostitution, and illegal migration. If we are talking about a child living on the street or traveling without parental supervision, then the task of the state is to remove him from an unfavorable society as quickly as possible. As a rule, vagrancy and begging are interrelated, since a citizen traveling without money is forced to find a means of subsistence somewhere. Without the necessary guarantee of food and money for further movement around the country, a beggar may turn to theft or robbery. Thus, long-term living on the street is socially dangerous not only for the homeless person himself, but also for the citizens around him.
The legislation does not provide for either criminal or administrative liability for vagrancy. The only exception is the involvement of minors in begging. However, if the state has no claims against an adult homeless person as long as he is not suspected of involvement in crime, then a minor beggar should be removed from a socially unfavorable environment as quickly as possible. At the moment, responsibility for actions regarded as begging has not been fully developed. In the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation you can see only Art. 20.1, according to which “petty hooliganism, that is, a violation of public order... accompanied by offensive harassment of citizens... shall entail the imposition of an administrative fine in the amount of five hundred to one thousand rubles or administrative arrest for a term of up to fifteen days.” However, this article does not fully disclose begging as a form of violation of public order and does not reflect its content. But what if the fact of such an unlawful action is obvious, but there is no sanction? Is it really necessary to consider all such violations through the prism of Art. 20.1 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation? The above position does not seem correct, since at the level of local legislation this issue was resolved a long time ago and more successfully than at the federal level. For example, a striking example in this matter is Art. 3.8 “Harassment of citizens in public places” of the Moscow Law of November 21, 2007 No. 45 “Moscow City Code on Administrative Offenses”, the disposition of which defines: “Harassment of citizens in public places, that is, a violation of public order, expressed in intrusive actions of a citizen carried out in relation to other citizens against their will, for the purpose of buying and selling, exchanging or acquiring things in another way, as well as for the purpose of fortune telling, begging, providing services of a sexual nature or imposing other services in public places.”
In this case, all the main types and forms of begging are revealed and its characteristics are identified. This concept most fully reveals the essence of this action as illegal, and therefore violating the protected rights and legitimate interests of citizens. With regard to this article, only one question remains: the responsibility is too small - a warning or the imposition of an administrative fine on citizens in the amount of one hundred to five hundred rubles. In our opinion, punishment should be punishment, even administrative. Considering the fact that the majority of “beggars” are, as a rule, stateless persons of the Russian Federation (or generally people illegally staying in the territory of our country), it would be more reasonable and effective to replace this sanction with the punishment provided for in Art. 3.10 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, namely administrative expulsion from the Russian Federation. If this person is a citizen of the Russian Federation, then the provisions of the now defunct Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated July 23, 1951 “On measures to combat antisocial, parasitic elements” should be applied to him, that is, “direction to a special settlement in remote areas of Russia with mandatory involvement in labor activities of persons engaged in begging, evading socially useful work and leading a parasitic lifestyle, as well as vagabonds who do not have a specific occupation and place of residence.”
The next example of normative regulation of social relations related to the phenomenon of begging is Art. 13.3 “Harassment of citizens” of the Code of the Republic of Bashkortostan on Administrative Offences. In this case, the formulation is constructed more concisely, but in general it conveys all the essential characteristics of the specified action. However, in accordance with Part 6 of Art. 28.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, protocols on administrative offenses provided for by the laws of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, as well as protocols on administrative offenses provided for in parts 3 and 4 of Article 14.1 and parts 2 and 3 of Article 19.20 in relation to types of activities licensed by executive authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation , are compiled by officials authorized by the relevant constituent entities of the Russian Federation.
Protocols on administrative offenses encroaching on public order and public safety, provided for by the laws of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, are drawn up by officials of internal affairs bodies (police) if the transfer of these powers is provided for by agreements between the federal executive body exercising the functions of developing and implementing state policy and legal regulation in the field of internal affairs, and executive authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation on the transfer of the exercise of part of their powers. If there is no such agreement between the federal executive body, which carries out the functions of developing and implementing state policy and legal regulation in the field of internal affairs, and the executive bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation on the transfer of part of the powers, police officers can only take part in When collecting some materials (explanation, report), a protocol is not drawn up by employees of the internal affairs bodies of the Russian Federation under the article provided for by the law of the subject of the Russian Federation.
Analyzing the above, as well as due to the social danger of the illegal actions under consideration, it is proposed to introduce into Chapter 20 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation the following norm: Part 1: “Begging - that is, pestering citizens in public places, leading to a violation of public order, expressed in intrusive actions of a citizen carried out in relation to other citizens against their will, for the purpose of buying and selling, exchanging, acquiring things in another way, as well as for the purpose of fortune-telling, demands or requests for the gratuitous transfer of money, the provision of sexual services or the imposition of other services in public places - entails for: a) citizens of the Russian Federation deportation from their place of residence and referral to a special settlement in remote areas of Russia with mandatory involvement in labor activities (in the event that labor legislation is not applied to these persons due to age, disability and other reasons - referral to labor commissions at the place of residence or place of stay); b) for foreign citizens and stateless persons – administrative expulsion from the Russian Federation.” Part 2: “If this act was carried out in particularly dangerous places (a section of road, highway, other objects), it will entail the imposition of an administrative fine in the amount of 5,000 rubles.”
Borrowing such a norm helps improve legislation and eliminate gaps in the law. It is also worth noting that in relation to the above article, a rich practice of application has developed, which gives grounds to talk about the successful implementation and use of the legal norm in the system of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, since many procedural issues have already been studied, and options for solving them have been proposed. I would like to note that this issue was, is and will be relevant, since begging as a parasitic form of life is rich soil for the further development of criminal thoughts. A big deed begins with a small one. Therefore, it is better to nip this phenomenon in the bud than to fight its more aggressive forms later.
