The article proves that the act of the violation of secret ballot considered in Part 1 of Article 141 of the Criminal Code is not always associated with obstruction. In some specific cases it even contradicts the title of the stated article. The author argues that the real crime, in fact, encroaches not only on one of the fundamental principles of elections and referenda, but also indirectly on the most important electoral rights of the citizens of the Russian Federation. The immediate object of the criminal act under study is identified. In conclusion the author suggests that a criminal legal norm should be developed in the form of a bill aimed at protecting the most important electoral rights of the citizens of the Russian Federation.

The study addresses the vital issue connected with voters’ attitude to participation in electoral process. Recently a rather unpleasant tendency has been observed of a steady decline in the number of voters caused by various factors which should be confronted. The author of the study argues that mere improvement of electoral laws is insufficient, what is required is a change in people’s attitude to electoral process itself.

The article considers the problem of instability of the electoral law and the necessity of its solution as well as the factors affecting the formation of electoral systems. The author argues that electoral systems should be built and modernized on the basis of their objectives and criteria. Some proposals are made to improve the electoral legislation, optimize the functioning of electoral systems in order to ensure the electoral rights of the citizens of the Russian Federation.

The article considers the issue of the evolution of property rights to land plots in the Republic of Abkhazia. An attempt is made to explore the development of the institution of property at different historical stages of the development of the society. The author stresses the importance of ownership relations for legal regulation of various issues social, economic, political and land property issues.

Based on the norms of electoral legislation the article describes the concepts of methods and forms of election committees practice. Along with the classification of these methods and forms the author reveals some problematic issues of legal regulation of the work of election committees at different levels. In particular, one of the most pressing issues that are discussed in this article is the question of the organization of the work of chairmen of territorial election commttees on a permanent (staff) basis.

The article considers the urgent problem of teenage suicides triggered by the Internet sites implanting the cult of death. The problem is treated in terms of psychiatry (S. Freud, R. Krafft-Ebing) and social science (E. Durkheim, F.B. Berardi). The data of press releases on teenage suicide are presented. The reasons for juvenile suicides are revealed. The author suggests some effective solutions to the problem.

The article is concerned with the problem of modern slavery, particularly its causes. Different aspects of this phenomenon are considered, namely historical, philosophical, social and legal. Special attention is paid to the analysis of socio-legal environment engendering human exploitation at different periods of social development. Modern slavery is understood as both individual facts of forced labor and sexual exploitation.

The article examines existing in criminal science criteria for the delimitation of kidnapping and hostage-taking and the problems arising in connection with these matters. It is noted that the absence of a legal definition of kidnapping creates most of the problems and prevents from the proper qualification of the offense. The author of the article makes proposals to change the existing criminal legislation of the Russian Federation with respect to kidnapping and hostage-taking.

The author continues to explore the issues of persuasion in adversarial criminal process and considers the lawyers’ art of rhetoric as a means of convincing argumentation and effective solution of the problems. It is proved that the success of lawyer’s speech at court depends on whether they will be able to win over the audience, arouse their sympathy. The author came to the conclusion that the main instrument for building lawyer’s convincing argument is their ability to pursue strategic and tactical objectives with the help of speech.