The personality of the offender who commits crimes against people with disabilities and the victimological characteristics of the disabled victim

Abstract

One of the vulnerable and unprotected groups of the population are persons with health problems with persistent disorders of body functions, leading to limitations in life activity and necessitating their social and legal protection. Often such persons are chosen by criminals as victims due to their defenseless or helpless state, which does not allow them to resist or makes their property accessible to third parties. The analysis of criminal cases revealed some personality traits of the criminal who chooses disabled people as victims, and also identified three groups of crimes, the commission of which has the specificity of choosing a victim with physical or mental disabilities. These are crimes of violence, crimes against property and corruption. The personality characteristics of the criminal have common characteristics in the case of crimes committed against such a category of victims in everyday life, or who chose the victim immediately before committing the crime, realizing the impossibility of proper resistance or protection of their property. A thorough analysis of each category will allow us to develop appropriate individual preventive measures. Considering the importance of protecting people with disabilities, the peculiarities of their legal status and health status, we consider it important to develop a separate interdisciplinary area of criminology - victimology of the disabled.