Women Made Up One-Fifth of All Those Convicted in 2025. This Has Never Happened Before in Modern Russia

Women made up one-fifth of all those convicted in 2025. This has never happened before in modern Russia

In 2025, 87,305 women were convicted in Russia, the highest figure in the past seven years, according to data from the Judicial Department at the Supreme Court analyzed by Verstka.

Along with the number of women facing criminal prosecution, their share of the total number of convicted people also grew. According to judicial statistics, women accounted for 14.3% of all those convicted in 2021, 14.7% in 2022, 15.3% in 2023, and 16.7% in 2024. In 2025, the percentage of women in the total number of convicted people reached a record 19.9.

There has been no such ratio in modern Russia for at least the past 22 years. The earliest data cited by the Judicial Department is from 2003. At that time there were more convicted people overall, and the share of women among them was just over 14%.

Women have begun to be tried more often both on “everyday” charges and on “political” ones, according to court statistics and information provided by human rights defenders that Verstka reviewed. More and more women are being prosecuted for drug crimes, fraud, nonpayment of child support, and fictitious registration of foreigners.

Read on Verstka’s website about why the share of women among those convicted is rising and what they are being tried for (with VPN):

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