When a crime is committed, does it make a difference whether the culprit is a man or a woman? Will the court take into account the gender of the perpetrators?
Today we will talk about the age of criminally punishable women, their responsibility and types of punishment, the extension to the elderly and minors, as well as other equally important nuances.
List and location of them
Correctional colonies are located in different regions of the Russian Federation. Each of them has its own characteristics .
There are those that include women's areas with a children's home.
These include the following correctional institutions :
- Nizhny Novgorod;
- Samara;
- Moscow region;
- Kemerovo region;
- Vladimir region;
- Krasnodar and Khabarovsk Territories;
- Mordovia;
- Chelyabinsk;
- Sverdlovsk region.
Why do they give life imprisonment? Find out the answer right now.
For minors
Correctional colonies for persons who have not reached the age of majority exist in Russia.
About 21 thousand young girls are serving their sentences there.
One and a half thousand girls were placed in educational colonies. One of these colonies is located in Bryansk on Komarova Street 30 .
Maximum security colonies
Strict security zones are provided for the detention of dangerous repeat offenders. They are located in the Perm region at the address: Berezniki Ave. Lenin 81 . The second maximum security colony is located in the Oryol region in the village. Shakhovo .
Life imprisonment zones
In accordance with Article 57 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, a woman cannot be sentenced to life imprisonment.
This means that there are no women's prisons with life sentences in Russia .
However, those women who received 25 years in prison for one crime or 30 for a combination of several crimes live hard. Because they cannot go for walks, and they serve their sentences in prisons located in the taiga.
Pregnancy as an exception
Features of the punishment
All deferment provisions discussed above apply to the offender in the provision. In addition, pregnant women are not subject to compulsory, correctional, forced labor, or arrest.
The general principle is this: conviction and punishment should not prevent a woman from having children, as well as caring for them and the educational process. Whenever possible, courts take into account this point, which is typical for the legislation of many countries.
Read below about whether it is possible to fire a pregnant woman in connection with a criminal case.
Is it possible to fire someone due to a criminal case?
The facts are scary, but real. At times, pregnant women commit particularly serious or serious crimes. If there are no mitigating circumstances, imprisonment is inevitable.
This is one of the circumstances under which a pregnant woman can be fired. For this purpose, the Labor Code of the Russian Federation refers to circumstances that do not depend on the will of the employer and employee. The fourth paragraph of Article 83 speaks about this norm.
Statistics show: women commit approximately 15% of all crimes. Moreover, more than half of the criminals are guilty of crimes of either minor or moderate gravity.
However, controversial issues in the field of criminal punishment of women as subjects of criminal liability remain. They will be resolved as the criminal legal system of our country further develops. In any case, if possible, a woman should hire a good criminal lawyer.
The following video talks about a blatant case from judicial practice on the issue of criminal liability of women:
The most terrible institutions for women
The most severe conditions are observed in those colonies where women who have committed repeated crimes, that is, repeat offenders .
Such prisons are classified as strict regime, where girls who commit theft are not sent.
Since prisoners are imprisoned for murder and other serious crimes , communication between them occurs in a raised voice, which can lead to conflicts.
Mordovia, where three women’s zones are located, is considered one of the most difficult places to serve a sentence.
These prisons have harsh treatment, strict regimes and poor food. Uniforms are not always issued, and sometimes not in full.
The list of correctional institutions in Mordovia consists of:
- IK-13, located in the village of Partsa.
- IK-14 in the village of Partsa.
- IK-2 in the village of Yavas.
Many highlight pre-trial detention center No. 6 in Moscow as one of the most terrible places to imprison women. The fact is that the cells are overcrowded and there are often not enough sleeping places (see photo).
Therefore, prisoners sleep under beds or on the floor. In addition, there is a problem of cockroaches and unsanitary conditions, since the shower is not provided for daily toileting.
Many enter the cell healthy, but leave with syphilis or tuberculosis , since medical care is not provided in full.
How do prisoners live in Russian prisons? Read about it here.
How do women live in the zone? Find out in this video:
Peculiarities of criminal liability and punishment of women
Let us turn to Article 4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. It proclaims that everyone is obliged to obey the law equally. There is also the wording “regardless of gender.”
And yet, further articles of the Criminal Code in some places stipulate the specifics of punishment for female criminals. This is not a contradiction, but only necessary reservations. They relate to very specific cases. We will discuss below what crimes criminal punishment is imposed on mothers of many children and childless women.
What crimes are they punished for?
The answer to this question is beyond doubt. If criminal liability is provided for a certain atrocity, women will bear it equally with men. Guilty - obliged to answer.
But criminal penalties are another matter. Article 44 of the Criminal Code speaks of thirteen types of punishment, from fines to death. Some of them do not apply to women at all or under certain circumstances.
- No criminal can be executed or imprisoned for life.
- If the culprit is already 55 years old, the punishment for her cannot be forced labor.
- If a woman is raising a child (children) under three years of age, the assignment of compulsory, corrective or forced labor is excluded.
- Arrest does not apply to mothers of children under fourteen years of age.
Issues of imprisonment, as well as criminal penalties for pregnant women, are discussed below.
Extenuating circumstances
Article 61 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation considers mitigating circumstances in general. Only clause “c” of the first part can be applied exclusively to women.
All other points are universal and apply to men and women equally. Some of them are listed below:
- the crime is small or medium in severity, committed for the first time, and due to random circumstances;
- a minor is guilty of the crime;
- the criminal is raising young children;
- there was coercion or some kind of dependence (for example, official dependence).
However, the second part of the article indicates: the court may consider other circumstances not listed in Article 61 to be mitigating. Sometimes this creates contradictory situations.
For example, when a newborn child is killed by its mother, the woman is considered to be under severe stress. However, many criminologists believe that there can be practically no justification for such a crime.
Read on to find out whether, according to the Criminal Code, it is possible to defer the serving of sentences for pregnant women and women who are “not in a position.”
This video will tell you more about mitigating circumstances for women in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:
When is a deferment possible?
One more specific question. Article 82 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is dedicated to him. A deferment of actual punishment is possible if
- woman is pregnant,
- raises a child under fourteen years of age and
- committed a crime of minor or moderate gravity.
Deferment is not provided for serious/especially serious crimes, as well as in some other cases.
So far, the law names 12 articles that require serving a real sentence even from pregnant women and mothers with children under fourteen years of age. Most often these are crimes of a terrorist nature (Articles 205, 205.1 – 205.5) or affecting aspects of international law (Article 360).
In addition, the article covers some other issues.
- For example, if a woman avoids raising her child, cancellation of the deferment cannot be ruled out.
- Another point: if the child is 14 years old, the woman will not necessarily go to prison. To do this, she must fully comply with the terms of the deferment and be considered reformed.
We will talk further about criminal liability and the peculiarities of the execution of punishments against pregnant women.
The following video will tell you what the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation says regarding deferment of sentences for women:
Motherhood
In prisons where children's homes are open, there are maternity wards . These institutions help women serving time.
In accordance with the law, these institutions must be designed so that the children living in them feel comfortable. A convicted mother has the right to communicate with her own child if she has free time from work. They are allowed to live together .
After the child turns three years old, then, with the consent of the mother, he is given to his closest relatives. Otherwise, he will be sent to a state institution for education.
The arrangement of the child is that the woman is given fifteen days leave . In the future, the administration will provide the mother with the same leave to visit the baby.
If the mother is serving a sentence of less than three years , then the child can be left in the orphanage and the woman will take him away immediately after release.
However, this right is granted only if all rules are followed and behavior is impeccable.
About motherhood in women's prisons in this video:
“I earn my own money on dates”
In the sector for life prisoners of the Krivoy Rog pre-trial detention center, where 28-year-old Bogdan is serving his sentence, three weddings have recently taken place. In Zhitomir colony No. 8, since the beginning of this year, two or three weddings are scheduled for the end of September. And in Vinnitsa colony No. 1 there is simply an unprecedented boom - since January, 19 “high-ranking men” have gotten married, three can’t wait to get married.
The story of 47-year-old Yuri is in many ways similar to the story of Bogdan. He also broke into someone else’s house, he says.
- ...And then the owners woke up and wanted to commit lynching. My self-preservation instinct kicked in,” says the man. — I’ve been in prison for 23 years.
In the early 2000s, Yuri began to attend meetings held by the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses in prison.
“So I accepted the truth, talked with my brothers, with psychologists. And one day my sister Lilya came. We talked a lot, she saw how I was changing. And a year ago we both realized that something more had emerged between us than a common faith. Some kind of romance began... We got married in August.
Yuri's chosen one is 45 years old. Before this autumn love, she experienced two unhappy marriages. Yuri is proud that he has a job in prison - he glues bags together with his fellow inmates.
— I earn about 1000 hryvnia a month. Just enough to secure dates,” our interlocutor rejoices.
—Have you applied for a pardon?
- Me not. We had many people apply, but nothing worked out. Now I'm thinking about trying it myself. If they don’t have mercy, Lily and I will still be together all the time someday - in another, better world.
For love and for convenience
According to the head of the sector for life prisoners of Vinnytsia Colony No. 1, Anatoly Didur, most marriages are based on religion or on old acquaintances: we talked once at school, met in a youth group...
“There is a category of women who tend to be missionaries as a way of self-affirmation,” says psychologist Inna Kovalskaya. – As for old acquaintances, it is unlikely that the woman who decided to take such a step felt happy. An alliance with a man doomed to life imprisonment, whom she knew as a completely different person, is like an attempt to start a time machine - to go back in time to correct one’s own mistakes and, in some way, compensate for the feeling of guilt. You know, we often tell ourselves: if then, many years ago, I would have acted differently, but this way, everything would have gone differently.
There are also marriages of convenience. If on the part of the convict it is obvious: programs, attention, sex, then on the part of the woman what benefit is there other than self-sacrifice? But such is the case that some “higher-ups” still have wealthy parents or capital obtained through banditry in freedom. There is a category of ladies who want to take a creamy piece of a rich cake.
Such young ladies do not take into account one thing: the degree of required return. Don’t miss dates, carry packages regularly, answer calls at any time of the day or night. A suspicious mother-in-law or brothers will make sure that the wife does not go to other people’s campaigns and does not drive the gifted Mercedes to the seas. The fake is recognized and the cake is taken away.
“If in other colonies divorces are initiated by women, then in ours it is men,” notes Anatoly Didur. – Now two convicts have filed for divorce through the court.
Why fall in love with a maniac
Recently, Ukraine was shocked by the news that serial rapist and murderer 64-year-old Sergei Tkach had found family happiness after being imprisoned for life. A 24-year-old Russian woman came to Ukraine for him and even gave birth to a child from a maniac. Such an impulse cannot fit into the head, but there was an explanation for it.
“With this marriage, the young woman expressed her protest, perhaps without even realizing it,” says Vitaly Khvedchuk, head of the resocialization department of the Probation Department of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine. – Her parents raised her in strictness, and the girl always wanted to break out of the boundaries. The far-fetched love for a serial killer is actually an expression of the desire to act contrary to her father and mother and the foundations in which they wanted to build her life.
