Features and trends of women's crime in Russia

The problem of crime, including violent crime, has been studied quite fully in the criminological, criminal legal, and sociological sciences. Despite this, crimes committed by women, as an independent phenomenon, acquire special relevance and, as a result, arouse scientific interest. The purpose of the research is to study the current issues of women’s crime in Russia through the interpretation of statistical data. The global trend, including for Russia, is a “great decline in crime”, but women’s crime is characterized by a sharp decline and a sharp rise. For instance, in 2003-2004, as well as in 2008-2011, there was a decrease in female crime. However, from 2011 to 2015, there was an increase in the absolute number and proportion of women in a total number of criminals. If the trend of the first decade of the 21st century can be explained by an “artificial” decline in indicators, which was the result of amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Federal Law no. 162-FZ “On Amendments and Additions to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation”, dated December 8, 2003), then the trends of increasing share of women in a total number of criminals after 2011 should be interpreted in the context of society’s socio-economic changes. Increased latency characterizes female crime. However, we think that such crimes can be prevented, for example, by providing a woman with assistance in finding employment, placing a child in preschool educational institutions, psychological aid, and assistance to previously convicted people in re-socialization.