NCJ Number
197694
Journal
International Criminal Justice Review Volume: 12 Dated: 2002 Pages: 93-110
Date Published
2002
Length
18 pages
Annotation
Using newly translated data, this study examined the police and court dispositions of juveniles arrested for serious offenses in Russia during the period 1990-99.
Abstract
To simplify the analysis and present information that is more directly comparable to that available to Western criminologists, the analysis was limited to the equivalent offenses of murder, robbery, rape, aggravated assault, and theft. Data were limited to the cases processed by the People's (district) Courts during the study period. Data were obtained from Prestupnost I Pravonarusheniya, which is published annually by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, as well as from an earlier publication of the same title produced by the ministry of Internal Affairs of the U.S.S.R. (1991). The findings show that the rates of both juvenile offenses and all offenses increased significantly during the study period, although the rate of increase for all offenses was greater than that for juvenile offenses. Most juveniles arrested during this period were charged with theft, as was the case in other countries, such as the United States. Arrests for violent offenses increased dramatically, as did convictions for these offenses. Overall, the findings suggest a broad similarity in the patterns of delinquency with those in Western countries. In Russia, a large percentage of arrested juvenile offenders were diverted from the court system, in most cases to the citizens' commissions. The Russian authorities relied heavily on institutionally based punishment for serious juvenile offenders. There was an apparent trend toward the use of harsher punishments for serious juvenile offenders. 5 tables and 38 references