Criminological factors of social conditioning of criminal liability for violation of guarantees of persons for their maintenance (Articles 164, 165 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the characteristics of criminological factors of social conditioning of criminal liability for violation of legally established guarantees of persons for their maintenance (Articles 164, 165 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). It is argued that criminological factors constitute a separate subtype, along with family, regulatory, institutional, international, and historical factors.
The social value of relationships, benefits, and interests protected by criminal law, as well as the consequences of unlawful behavior, are outlined. The prevalence of cases of evasion of child support payments and payments for the maintenance of incapacitated parents is clarified. Criminological characteristics and trends in criminal offenses have been identified, as well as current countermeasures: 1) evasion of child support payments is reasonably classified as a minor (among all registered crimes) criminal offense, which at the same time constitutes a significant proportion of criminal offenses under Section V of the Criminal Code of Ukraine; 2) the dynamics of the criminal offenses under review demonstrate a wave-like pattern of decrease-increase; 3) The dynamics of the number of victims of non-payment of child support, as well as the moral and material damage caused to them, shows a steady increase (with the exception of 2022); 4) Experience in combating evasion of child support payments shows improvement, but remains insufficient. The number of cases in which Article 165 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine has been applied is small, with only a few criminal offenses recorded.