Alexander I. Sotov

The modern criminalistic recognition of corruption crimes was resulted after long evolution of scientific views, developed by both Russian and foreign scientists. Initially, such kind of crimes was a matter only for criminal law studies. However, their criminalistic awareness started already in the first quarter of the 20th century. The increasing role of the state in social life after the First World War make it inevitable due to increasing risk of any disruption in functioning of the administrative apparatus. The concept of "white-collar crime" was put forward in the United States, as a kind of criminality which was significantly different from the crime of the "lower classes" ("blue collar"), since such criminals are formed in completely different social conditions and have different skills than ordinary offenders. Basing on it, the doctrine of "corporate criminality" was developed. Soviet scientists followed a similar path, which was shaped not only under the doctrine of the class nature of crime but for increasing demands to solve practical problems. Initially, they considered "economic and official crimes" as a unified group, since it was the state that became the main business entity. Subsequently, the managerial component was selected out, and that ideas became foundations of a modern understanding of corruption crimes