In Ukraine, a mass review of sentences under Article "Theft" (185 of the Criminal Code) has been ongoing 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, decriminalized this type of crime, which affected the number of cases considered by the courts. According to a publication in Glavkom, to date, more than 2 thousand people who committed theft 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, a decision was made to punish theft of property with imprisonment in order to stop the growth of the crime rate, which posed a significant threat during the occupation of territories. In particular, the penalty for looting by 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, imprisonment of citizens for stolen inexpensive items began to be used more often. This led to a revision of the legislation and the creation of a distinction between administrative and criminal liability. Now only for thefts exceeding 3028 UAH (taking into account inflation), individuals can be held criminally liable.
According to statistics provided by Vatras, more than 513,000 criminal offenses have been registered in Ukraine since the beginning of 2024. As of the end of November, more than 6,000 theft cases had been decriminalized, and more than 2,000 had been closed. This has significantly reduced the number of criminal cases, which has made it possible to relieve the burden on courts and pre-trial investigation bodies.
