The Profile of Persons Convicted of Illegal Hunting Based on Judicial Practice in the Siberian and Far Eastern Federal Districts

Studies addressing the profile of illegal hunters were published predominantly in the first decade of the 21st century and—apart from the works of V. S. Ishigeev, A. Ya. Bondar and I. V. Lavigina—have not been associated with the study of judicial practice in the Far Eastern and Siberian Federal Districts. The subject matter of this study comprises documents containing information on the identity of an illegal hunter: statistical reports of the Judicial Department under the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation for 2011–2024; regional reports of judicial departments of certain regions of the Far Eastern and Siberian Federal Districts; and court decisions of the said federal districts in criminal cases concerning illegal hunting. The purpose of the study is to identify dominant traits characterising persons brought to criminal liability under Article 258 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in the Far Eastern and Siberian Federal Districts. The study finds that the illegal hunter in these districts is typically a male citizen of the Russian Federation permanently residing at the location of the illegal hunt or in nearby areas, aged 30 to 49, liable for military service, with secondary general or secondary vocational education, employed or having steady income, married with children, without a criminal record and not previously subject to administrative liability, not registered with psychoneurological or narcological clinics, and generally positively characterised. Certain regional differences in quantitative indicators, as compared with nationwide averages, are attributable to landscape factors (climate, terrain, vegetation, snow cover depth, etc.), demographic factors (e.g., population density), and socio-economic factors (underdeveloped infrastructure, internal migration, employment structure, etc.) of the Far East and Siberia. The profile of the illegal hunter corresponds to the profile of a person not previously brought to criminal liability in the Russian Federation. In the author’s view, this may complicate preventive efforts, since the illegal hunter does not appear to be socially deviant. 

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