Women convicted by verdict of the Albanian Courts in 2021

Open Data Albania is updating the 2021 data on the current state of convicts in the Institutions for the Execution of Penal Decisions. The data were collected from the Statistical Yearbooks of the Ministry of Justice, detailing the number of women and girls convicted based on the criminal offense or specific article breached. The criminality among women, according to the 2021’s Judicial Decisions constitutes 5.5 percent of the total criminality.

In 2020, there were 526 women convicted by a court decision, while in 2021 the number has increased to 698 cases of convicted women or girls. Of the 698 women convicted in 2021, 489 were convicted of crimes and 209 were convicted of misdemeanors. Hence, 70% of those convicted were for crimes and 30% for misdemeanors.

Source: Statistical Yearbooks of MJ 2021
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

The offense that penalised women the most in 2021, and mainly heads of household women, was Building without a Permit, specifically Article 199- Providing assistance for illegal construction, with 63 convicted or 13% of women convicted for crimes.

Table: Crimes committed by women during 2021, the number of convicts by crime
Source: Statistical Yearbooks of MJ 2021
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

Article 113 – Prostitution marks 30 women convicted. The practicing of prostitution continues to warrant a penal conviction. Although many countries do not consider the practicing of prostitution as a criminal offense, the Albanian Legislator continues to consider the woman in the position of sex worker as the author of a criminal act and not as the victim of a social or criminal phenomenon.

Source: Statistical Yearbooks of MJ 2021
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

Statistical Yearbooks also report figures for women misdemeanor convictions. In the list, breach of Article 137/1 – Theft of electricity or telephone impulse,s with 32 women convicted in 2021, preveils. Article 137/1 provides for the theft of electricity or telephone impulses, damage to the measuring equipment, as well as any other illegal and unauthorized interference in the metering system or in the electric or the telephone network, carried out for the purpose of illegal gain. The legislator has provided a prison sentence of up to 3 years.

Table:Misdemeanors committed by women for 2021, number of convicted by misdemeanor
Source: Statistical Yearbooks of MJ 2021
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

Source: Statistical Yearbooks of MJ 2021
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

The Ministry of Justice also classifies the convicted by Districts. Tirana leads the list with 252 women convicts out of 3,803 convicts in total, followed by Shkodra with 72 women convicts out of 841 convicts in total.

Source: Statistical Yearbooks of MJ 2021
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

The highest percentage of women convicts compared to the total number of convicts in that District is recorded in the Tropoja District with 13%. Whereas, the county with no women convicts in 2021 is Gjirokastra.

Download excel: Women convicted by verdict of the Albanian Courts in 2021
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania
Contributed by: Griselda Rruci
Translated by: Rezarta Cushaj