Is Ukraine advancing to a criminal society?
The Donetsk Memorial has recently received statistical data on the activities of courts of the national level and from a number of regions for 1999. Table 1 brings together the data for 1997-99. These data enable us to draw some conclusions on existing tendencies (or the absence of some tendencies) in the system of crime justice in Ukraine. (The data for 1997 are taken from the Penitentiary State Department, while the data for the next two years are given by the Ministry of Justice.)
It follows from Table 1 that a tendency is observed to decreasing the total number of the condemned by 5 - 9% a year. Meanwhile the punishment by incarceration remains the basic one in crime punishments, and the proportion of this punishment continues to increase. This tendency is observed during the last decade. To illustrate the tendency we remind that in 1988 the number of the incarcerated was 29.4 thousand (32%), in 1992 it was 38.7 thousand (33.7%) and in 1998, according to Table 1, it was 86.4 thousand (37.2%). The new Penal Code, which could permit judges to apply alternative measures of punishment, has not been adopted yet. However, the existing PC also permits to apply the alternative measures, but, alas, our courts do not make use of these restricted facilities. It is true that the application of delayed and conditional verdicts is slightly growing, but it certainly cannot recompense the essential (more than by two times) reduction of application fines.
The number of condemned minors remains practically unchanged, although a small reduction is observed in the number of the incarcerated in 1999, compared with the previous year. At the same time, the immense absolute number - more than 9 thousand of minors for the last two years - is disturbing: who knows what proportion of them will be reformed after the incarceration and what proportion will become hardened criminals. I am afraid that when scores of thousands of youths return, our life will not become safer.
In 1999 slightly diminished but still remains enormous the number of convicted women: more than 67 thousand for two last years. One of the most alarming figures in the table is the number of condemned to incarceration for the term up to three years. Lately this proportion is sure 57 - 59%. This means that our penitentiaries get about 50 thousand inmates condemned for petty crimes. Many specialists, including workers of the penitentiary establishments, appear hostages of this short-sighted court practice. This specialists are sure that most of such culprits could be punished by alternative methods. As the result, many thousands of families would be preserved and many thousands of tragedies would be prevented.
Unfortunately, nobody has counted great financial damages inflicted to our beggarly state by such punishments. Very often the material damage caused by these people is infinitesimal compared to the cost of their upkeep in a colony during two or three years. Nowadays, the inmates of colonies are, as a rule, jobless. Thus, the upkeep of the army, consisting of almost 100 thousand parasites, lies on the weal shoulders of the Ukrainian economy. I do not risk to discuss the question what was the cause of their crimes: criminal nature or misery, often an attempt to save themselves from starvation.
The archaic and inhumane nature of the Ukrainian system of crime justice are proved by two kinds of figures in the table. First is the unnaturally low number of not guilty verdicts -less then one thousand a year. This means that if someone got into the jaws of the juridical machine, then the victim will be found guilty of something. The second alarming figure is the number of death penalties. In spite of the obligation of Ukraine to terminate absolute punishments in 1995, in spite of the stormy public discussions and in spite of the multiple reproaches of the Council of Europe, at last in spite of the moratorium on execution of death verdicts, our courts continued to rule about 120 -130 death verdicts a year. Analyzing the situation one gets an awful impression that our judicial system does not react to reality.
Table 1
1997 | 1998 | 1999 | |
Number of the condemned | 257,790 | 232,598 | 222,239 |
Among them number of the incarcerated, persons % of the total number of the condemned | 85,396 33.13 | 86,437 37.16 | 83,399 37.53 |
delayed verdicts, % of the total number of the condemned | 19.4 | 21.63 | 22.07 |
conditional verdicts, % | no data | 18.72 | 21.16 |
fines, % | 9.04 | 5.96 | 3.95 |
number of the condemned minors, persons % of the total number of the condemned | no data | 18,165 7.81 | 17,652 7.94 |
Among them number of the incarcerated, persons % of the total number of the condemned % of the total number of the condemned minors | no data | 4,945 5.72 27.2 | 4,444 5.33 25.2 |
number of the condemned women, persons % of the total number of the condemned | no data | 35,140 15.11 | 32,175 14.48 |
number of the incarcerated up to 1 year, persons number of the incarcerated from 1 year to 2 number of the incarcerated from 2 years to 3 total number of the incarcerated up to 3 years | 13,920 15,836 19,389 49,145 |
51,061 | 12,704 15,786 20,542 49,032 |
% of the incarcerated up to 3 years | 57.5 | 59.07 | 58.79 |
number of . non-guilty. verdicts % of the total number of the condemned | no data | 884 0.34 | 774 0.34 |
number of death verdicts | 128 | 131 | 120 |
Donetsk memorial has some data for 1999 on separate oblasts provided by the Directorate of Justice. These data enable comparison of the work of courts in three regions of Ukraine: in the West (Lviv oblast), in the east (Donetsk oblast) and in the North (Chernigiv oblast). These data are presented in Table 2. The first striking feature is the number of condemned to incarceration divided by 100 thousand of the population. In the Donetsk oblast incarceration is 1.77 times more frequent than in the Lviv oblast, 1.5 times more than in the Chernigiv oblast and 1.25 times more as the mean index in Ukraine. The unexplainable rigor of the Donbass judges is reflected in another index - the proportion of the incarcerated in the total number of the condemned. It is 42% in the Donbass vs. 33 - 34% in the North and in the West. The number of minors condemned to incarceration is also larger in the Donbass. On the contrary, the culprits are fined more often in the West and in the North of Ukraine. The probability to be acquitted is also larger there. Besides, in 1999 no death penalties were ruled in these more humane regions. These data enable us to suppose that the majority of 120 death penalties were ruled in the East Ukraine too.
Table 2
Ukraine | Lviv oblast | Chernigiv oblast | Donetsk oblast | |
Number of the condemned | 222,239 | 8,639 | 5,675 | 25,237 |
Among them number of the incarcerated, pers. % of the total number of the condemned per 100,000 population | 83,399 37.53 168 | 3,008 34.82 120 | 1,906 33.59 140 | 10,597 42.0 212 |
delayed verdicts, % of the total number of the condemned | 22.07 | 24.3 | 24.42 | 23.86 |
conditional verdicts, % | 21.16 | 10.15 | 16.60 | 15.10 |
fines, % | 3.95 | 6.24 | 4.30 | 3.45 |
number of the condemned minors, persons % of the total number of the condemned | 17,652 7.94 | 677 7.84 | 438 7.72 | 2,057 8.15 |
Among them number of the incarcerated, pers. % of the total number of the condemned | 4,444 5.33 | 170 5.65 | no data | no data |
number of the condemned women, persons % of the total number of the condemned | 32,175 14.48 | 1,238 14.33 | 783 13.80 | 3,634 14.40 |
number of the incarcerated up to 1 year, pers. number of the incarcerated from 1 year to 2 number of the incarcerated from 2 years to 3 total number of the incarcerated up to 3 years | 12,704 15,786 20,542 49,032 |
2,031 |
1,095 |
5,367 |
% of the incarcerated up to 3 years | 58.79 | 67.52 | 57.45 | 50.6 |
number of ‘non-guilty verdicts % of the total number of the condemned | 774 0.348 | 36 0.42 | 34 0.60 | 91 0.36 |
number of death verdicts | 120 | 0 | 0 | no data |
All these differences do not change the total picture of the system of punishments in our country. This system remains too cruel, this system cannot diminish the crime level in the country. The system remains the cruel tool of revenge instead of the system, whose main function is to guarantee safety. Any delay to reform it radically and move in the direction of the standards offered by the Council of Europe threatens the society by material and moral losses.
PL commentary. We suggest our readers to express their ideas and propositions concerning the court reform.