Homicide in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus 29 Alexandra V
Homicide in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus 29 Alexandra V. Lysova, Nikolay G. Shchitov, and William Alex Pridemore cal and economic stability in these nations over Introduction the last several years compared to the mid-1990s, homicide rates have not decreased as drastically This chapter discusses homicide in Russia, as they increased during that earlier period. Ukraine, and Belarus. Given its greater popula- Second, given the sweeping scale of socio- tion, geographic size, geopolitical presence, and economic and political change in the 1990s in more readily available data, we focus on Russia, Russia and Ukraine, and to a lesser extent though where possible we also provide informa- Belarus, these nations may serve as natural tion about Ukraine and Belarus. For a number of experiments for testing various sociological and reasons, these post-Soviet countries deserve spe- criminological theories, especially those related cial attention when considering homicide in to anomie, as potential explanations for the Europe. First, the social, economic, and political increase in homicide rates (Kim & Pridemore, turmoil experienced by many former Soviet 2005; Pridemore, Chamlin, & Cochran, 2007; countries following the collapse of the Soviet Pridemore & Kim, 2006). Recent research also Union was accompanied by a sharp rise in all- revealed several other factors that help to explain cause mortality. In particular, deaths from homi- the variation of homicide rates in these coun- cide increased sharply in many of these nations. tries, including specific historical conditions, In 2003, the Russian homicide rate of over hazardous alcohol consumption, social structural 21/100,000 residents annually (MVD RF, 2010) factors like poverty and family instability, and was the highest in Europe (World Health individual-level factors like education and mar- Organization, 2010a) and one of the highest in riage (Andrienko, 2001; Chervyakov, Shkolnikov, the world (Krug et al., 2002).
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