Abstract: Based on the historical and legal method, analyzing the sources of Russian police and criminal law in connection with the developing social and political situation, the author comes to the conclusion that administrative and tort law had a long and contradictory period of formation, acquiring historically determined features and features dating back to the Soviet period, a number of which do not correlate with modern the state and directions of development of the Russian state. Despite the fact that the Russian Federation is the historical successor of the USSR and the RSFSR, as a state it is strikingly different from them, due to the changes that have taken place in the last three decades related to the radical transformation of the state structure, the change in the socio-economic basis of society, and accordingly the legal regime, the foundation of which after the collapse of the USSR was the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Currently, the role of administrative responsibility has changed significantly, as has its understanding in the public legal consciousness, ceasing to be a surrogate for criminal coercion. At the same time, to date, it has not been freed from the foundations laid in the Soviet period, which once again confirms the need for a comprehensive state policy in the field of public liability, which should be aimed at updating the current legislation, taking into account its historical and theoretical understanding, a clear distinction between crime and administrative offense, and in particular perspective and criminal misconduct, their prevention and prevention.