Migrants and crime in Russia's Central Federal District

Abstract

The article deals with the issues of criminality of international migrants. Interest in this issue has increased due to the implementation of a range of restrictive measures related to the movement of persons in 2020 and 2021. Taking into account the uneven distribution of migration flows across the territory of the Russian Federation, attention is paid to studying the situation in the Central Federal District, which is the most attractive in migration relation. The data of the state statistical reporting for the period of ten years from 2011 to 2020 are analysed. Two main indicators are used – quantitative indicators for identified foreign citizens and stateless persons who have committed crimes, and their share in the total number of identified persons. The information on the subjects of the Central Federal District as a whole on crime, categories of crime and in the context of individual articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation has been studied. The attention is focused on the situation in Moscow. The indicators of court reports in Moscow on convicted foreign citizens were used. General tendencies of criminality of foreign citizens are noted, the degree of public danger is assessed. As one of the conclusions, it is indicated that this category of criminals makes a significant contribution to the criminal situation in the Central Federal District. In particular, in Moscow there is a high proportion of foreign citizens among those who have committed murder, deliberate infliction of grievous bodily harm, rape, theft, robbery, brigandage, and bribery in the period of ten years.