FORMING A GROUP FOR THE PURPOSE OF COMMITTING CRIMINAL OFFENCES AS A CONTEMPORARY THREAT TO DEMOCRATIC SOCIETIES – NEW CHALLENGES IN THE PROCESS OF ACCESSION OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA TO THE EUROPEAN UNION

The views of the contemporary criminal law doctrine have been emphasizing the importance of finding adequate criminal legal instruments of state response to organized crime for more than a decade, primarily bearing in mind the danger this form of crime poses to the contemporary, democratic society. The adequacy of the state response to organized crime requires a number of instruments that should be effective in the strategic field, in the field of ratified international documents, amended legal texts, which in the future would contribute to an even more effective fight in the field of detecting, proving and conducting proceedings for organized criminal offences. Taking into account the degree of danger of organized crime to modern society, including the criminal offence of forming a group for the purpose of committing crimes, it is necessary to react in all the fields mentioned above, especially with regard to the process of accession to the European Union. The authors analyse the legal characteristics of the criminal offence of forming a group for the purpose of committing criminal offences, which is one of the basic types of criminalisation associated with organized crime. The authors also analyse the normative and practical measures that are a prerequisite for a more effective fight against organized crime and an important stepping stone on Serbia's path to the European Union.