In Ukraine, a mass review of sentences under the article "Theft" (185 of the Criminal Code) continues for the third month due to changes made to the legislation in July 2024. The changes adopted by the Verkhovna Rada, on the one hand, increased administrative fines for petty theft, and on the other hand, decriminalized this type of crime, which affected the number of cases considered by the courts. According to the publication in "Glavkom", today more than 2,000 people who committed thefts have already been released early after changes in the legislation.
After the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, criminal liability for looting was strengthened, in particular, for persons who committed thefts during the occupation. According to People's Deputy Volodymyr Vatras, at the beginning of the war, it was decided to punish theft of property with imprisonment in order to stop the increase in the level of crime, which caused a significant threat during the seizure of territories. In particular, the punishment for looting the occupiers was increased from 5 to 10 years in prison.
However, in two and a half years, the situation has changed, and the parliament decided to review the approaches to criminal liability for theft. During the war, citizens began to be imprisoned more often for stolen inexpensive things. This led to the revision of legislation and the creation of a distinction between administrative and criminal liability. Now only for thefts, the amount of which exceeds UAH 3,028 (inflation adjusted), individuals can be held criminally liable.
According to statistics provided by Vatras, since the beginning of 2024, more than 513 thousand criminal offenses were registered in Ukraine. As of the end of November, more than 6,000 theft cases were decriminalized, and more than 2,000 were closed. Thanks to this, the number of criminal cases was significantly reduced, which made it possible to relieve the courts and bodies of pre-trial investigation.
