Intentional Homicide in the Light of Police Statistics

Having approximately the same number of suspects each year, we can point to the fact that 38,3% of perpetrators were detected having committed these gravy crimes in 2021.

In contrast, only 5% of perpetrators were identified in 2022, only 2,8 % of perpetrators in 2023, and only 1,9 % of perpetrators in 2024 that indicates an obvious operational weakness of the national criminal justice system in the wartime.

One most important conclusion from the above-mentioned comparative analysis is a big difference in numbers of intentional homicides, which is obviously concerned with the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. At the same time, it is difficult to separate the number of murders committed by Russian military agents from those which were committed by Ukrainian ‘civilian’ criminals.

At the same time, it is necessary to point out the growing gap between the total number of criminal proceedings for intentional homicides and the number of criminal proceedings for intentional homicides in which individuals have been notified of suspicion. This increase can be explained by the fact that the total number of intentional homicides includes homicides committed by Russian occupiers, which makes it impossible to study the dynamics of homicides in Ukraine committed outside the scope of Russian aggression.

As it was mentioned earlier, this chapter should be analysed together with this methodological note on the population of Ukraine. Accordingly, even when discussing a certain decrease in crime rates in a particular segment, it is necessary to consider not only absolute but also relative crime rates per 100,000 population.

Here we can clearly see the value of analysing relative indicators of murder trends, considering the significant decrease in Ukraine’s total population under the influence of Russian aggression.