Social and Legal Studios

Corruption, unfortunately, is becoming more and more confidently the norm of social, political, and economic life in Ukraine. In order to overcome corruption (or at least reduce its critically high level), it is necessary, first of all, to accurately study and understand this social phenomenon, to normatively establish the “rules” of counteracting it, and then to educate and reinforce among citizens an outright intolerance of corruption. Actually, this task was set by one of the representatives of legal science and practice, Viktor Trepak, in his monograph “Countering Corruption in Ukraine: Theoretical and Applied Problems”. Empirical material for the study was collected mainly from the professional environment of the author (which is the judicial practice in criminal cases of corruption and administrative offenses related to corruption, the practice of prosecutors in such cases, statistics of the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, as well as a questionnaire survey of law enforcement officers and citizens on the assessment of corruption and anti-corruption activities). After reviewing the content of this monograph, it becomes clear why it is necessary to “bet” not only on large-scale national programs, but also on “short-term and medium-term tasks that will give measurable and rapid results”, and at the same time not to abandon the efforts of indignation of the political will to combat corruption, improving the legal culture of citizens of Ukraine and government officials, development of the national economy, etc. Such studies need to be popularized, because they not only demonstrate the activity of the academic community but also encourage the cohesion of the criminological community, its cooperation with public authorities and all structural elements of civil society (associations and individual citizens). It is possible that awareness of such developments and education of young Ukrainians on their basis will contribute to lead our state onto the path of true democracy, free from various threats and risks