The effects of liberal reforms in Russian criminal law on conviction and sentencing of economic offenders

During the presidency of Dmitry Medvedev in 2008-2012 the Russian economy still remained highly regulated, so almost every economic activity could be recognized by the enforcement agencies as illegal. Under pressure of business some liberal reforms were launched in the criminal law and criminal procedure law related to economic crimes. The reforms were supposed to protect entrepreneurs from unwarranted prosecution and wrong conviction, and to make punishment less punitive. Using the data on 2 million defendants prosecuted for economic and property crimes in Russian criminal courts in 2009-2013, the paper examines how policy change affected the judicial decision making in criminal cases. Quasi-experimental design is used to test the impact of policy change on conviction and sentencing decisions. The results suggest that sentencing practices became more lenient rather due to the general changes in criminal law than the changes related specifically to economic offenders.