Social Characteristics of Crime in Irkutsk and Yenisei Provinces in the End of the XIX - Early XX Centuries

Abstract

In the article, the author analyzed the social characteristics of those convicted in judicial places of Irkutsk and Yenisei provinces in the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The main historical source of the study was the statistical data published in the reports of the governors of Irkutsk and Yenisei provinces. Among those the study analyzed «Vedomosti on the number and types of crime», «Vedomosti on violent and accidental deaths», as well as statistics reflecting demographic dynamics. The research studied the following characterisitcs of convicts: sex (with the calculation of the crime rate), age, social status, occupation, marital status, education, and ethnicity. The author focused on the distribution of convicts by class, which represents an ambiguous picture due to the peculiarities of collecting of statistical data. Different statistical data was provided by different departments and was collected differently. The findings of the study allowed to create a social profile of a criminal in Irkutsk and Yenisei provinces: a man aged 20 to 40 years, a peasant or a tradesman, exile, single, illiterate, employed in agriculture sector, or, possibly, a marginal.