More help for ex-convicts – fewer new crimes

At a meeting of the supervisory commission under the Donetsk Regional State Administration, the issue of the work of district police inspectors with previously convicted persons for 9 months of 2009 was considered.
It was noted that 38.5 thousand previously convicted persons are registered with city/district internal affairs bodies in the region, including:
1.4 thousand – persons subject to administrative supervision,
11.6 thousand – those formally falling under administrative supervision,
15.9 thousand – those convicted of offences not involving imprisonment.
In the 9 months of the current year, previously convicted persons committed 6,994 (+141 or 2.1%) crimes, which constitutes 35.9% of the total number of crimes registered in the region.
The aforementioned number of crimes was committed by 5.2 thousand persons, including 3.2 thousand whose conviction has not been spent or expunged in the manner prescribed by law, of which:
150 (-19) – persons under administrative supervision;
1.6 thousand – those formally falling under administrative supervision;
276 (-72) – those convicted of offences not involving imprisonment.
The greatest increase in crimes committed by previously convicted persons occurred in the city of Druzhkivka (+155%), Oleksandrivka (+104.5%), Kostiantynivka (+72.7%), Velyka Novosilka districts (+57.7%), the cities of Shakhtarsk (+52.1%), Artemivsk (+47.7%), Krasnyi Lyman (+46%), Snizhne and Torez (+34%), the Proletarskyi district of Donetsk city, and the Kalininskyi district of Horlivka city (+33%).
Almost every second registered crime was committed by previously convicted persons in the Zhovtnevyi and Illichivskyi districts of Mariupol city, and the cities of Artemivsk, Dzerzhynsk, Zhdanivka, Kostiantynivka, Kramatorsk, Selydove, and the Maryinka and Starobesheve districts.
With the aim of stabilising the criminogenic situation in the region, the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs has taken the following measures:
- to prevent street and property crime, lists of persons who served sentences for committing robbery, larceny, and theft and who were released in 2008 were compiled jointly with the Department of the State Penitentiary Service; in January of the current year, they were processed, and as a result, the number of these crimes was reduced by 10%;
- throughout the year, an inventory of previously convicted persons was conducted, 100% of those convicted who are registered were checked at their place of residence, and photos and data in the IPC (Information Processing Centre) were updated; special attention was paid to tracking migration processes among convicts for the subsequent information of territorial Internal Affairs bodies;
- preventative work with persons under administrative supervision was strengthened; for violation of the rules of administrative supervision, 1,630 (+141) administrative protocols were drawn up under Article 187 of the Code of Administrative Offences, and 154 (+11) criminal cases were initiated under Article 395 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Problems:
1). Insufficient employment of previously convicted persons (only 196 vacancies were reserved by employment centres for those released from places of deprivation of liberty for the current year, of which 173 were filled, although 5.7 thousand previously convicted persons were released and registered with Internal Affairs bodies this year).
2). Low level of assistance in social adaptation after release (except for the police, who conduct preventative work with previously convicted persons, no other bodies actually exert any influence on their behaviour in society; only in 3 cities of the region (Donetsk, Makiivka, Druzhkivka) are there shelters for convicted persons who do not have a place of residence).
Proposals:
1). Increase the number of reserved vacancies for those released from places of deprivation of liberty.
2). Resolve the issue regarding the possibility of creating shelters in large cities of the region (Donetsk, Mariupol, Makiivka, Horlivka, Kramatorsk, Shakhtarsk, Krasnoarmiysk) for previously convicted persons who do not have housing after release from places of deprivation of liberty.