Baltic Journal of Economic Studies 395 Vol. 11 No. 4, 2025 This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 4.0 1 Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Ukraine E-mail: a.s.7.tarasenko@gmail.com ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0369-520X 2 Odesa State University of Internal Affairs, Ukraine (corresponding author) E-mail: oduvs2015@ukr.net ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6420-6169 3 Odesa State University of Internal Affairs, Ukraine E-mail: roksolanna@ukr.net ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8321-7912 DOI: https://doi.org/10.30525/2256-0742/2025-11-4-395-399 THE STATE AND DYNAMICS OF ECONOMIC CRIME UNDER MARTIAL LAW IN UKRAINE Oleksandr Tarasenko1, Maksym Korniienko2, Hanna Teteriatnyk3 Abstract. The article studies the status and dynamics of economic crime under martial law in Ukraine. It is determined that prevention of economic criminal offenses takes the form of general social and special criminological prevention, which are based on general and individual measures. It is noted that prevention of economic criminal offenses is realized through the use of information and analytical, organizational measures and measures affecting criminogenic factors. It is indicated that the basis of information and analytical measures to prevent economic criminal offenses are the results of criminological and sociological studies and other sources of information, the statistical data of which, when generalized, contribute not only to determining the crime rate, but also to studying the effectiveness of prevention measures. The author emphasizes that the application of organizational measures and measures affecting criminogenic factors depends on the type of economic criminal offenses and other key features, in particular, victimization characteristics of victims, the identity of the offender, the place and conditions of the criminal offense, etc. Crime prevention is a complex system of actions of state bodies and elements of civil society, which is based on the internal and external activities of the state and the policy of prevention and is aimed at preventing crime and uses special criminological measures to prevent and/or terminate criminal offenses. Prevention of economic criminal offenses takes the form of general social and special criminological prevention, which are based on general and individual measures. Prevention of economic criminal offenses is implemented through the use of information and analytical, organizational measures and measures that affect criminogenic factors. The basis of information and analytical measures to prevent theft are the results of criminological and sociological studies and other sources of information, the statistical data of which generalization contributes not only to determining the state of crime, but also to studying the issue of the effectiveness of the application of measures to prevent economic criminal offenses. Application of organizational measures and measures that influence criminogenic factors depending on the type of theft and other key features, in particular, victimological characteristics of victims of theft, the identity of the offender, the place and conditions of the theft, etc. Keywords: economic crime, criminal offenses in the sphere of economy, crime prevention, victims, martial law, the place and conditions, legal processes. JEL Classification: K14, K30 1. Introduction A proper study of any crime is impossible without finding new approaches to determining its quantitative and qualitative indicators, which actualizes the need for constant monitoring of statistical data, which, in turn, provide society with a realistic picture of the state, structure and dynamics of economic crime, including martial law in Ukraine. Criminology has always advocated the position that the state and trends of a particular type of crime directly depend on the state of general crime, which is closely interconnected with general, economic, political, social, legal, organizational, moral, psychological and other processes in the state. Indeed, before the proclamation of martial law in Ukraine, this trend was confirmed in practice. However, as this research has shown, neither Baltic Journal of Economic Studies 396 Vol. 11 No. 4, 2025 economic, social and legal processes in the country have such an extraordinary impact on the growth of criminal offenses in the economic sphere as the change in the military-political situation in the country. In 2022, the National Police of Ukraine detected 112,354 criminal offenses against property, including 4162 particularly serious crimes, 127,131 serious crimes, 16224 minor crimes, and 129524 criminal offenses. And 2650 criminal offenses in the field of economic activity. In 2023, the total number of criminal offenses against property detected by the National Police of Ukraine amounted to 177,399, which is 36.7% higher than in the previous year, including: especially serious crimes – 2964, serious crimes – 78,453, minor crimes – 13838, and criminal offenses – 16929. And 2613 criminal offenses in the field of economic activity. In 2024, there was a decrease in the number of economic crimes committed. Of these, 131,494 were criminal offenses against property, including 4044 especially serious crimes, 89741 serious crimes, 16059 minor crimes, and 21454 criminal offenses. And 2620 criminal offenses in the field of economic activity. The success of the National Police of Ukraine in preventing economic crime under martial law in Ukraine largely depends on the level of their operational and investigative support, the essence of which is the comprehensive and maximum use of forces and means of operational apparatuses to obtain sufficiently complete and accurate information that ensures optimal and timely decisions on preventing and suppressing illegal acts, documenting criminal acts, releasing hostages, etc. 2. Literature Review Given the extremely acute problem of updating, improving, changing, expanding the legislative framework for preventing economic crime by the operational units of the National Police of Ukraine, minimizing negative crime trends, neutralizing the causes and conditions of criminal offenses under martial law in Ukraine, as well as blocking the channels, sources, and opportunities for their production, an important area of activity to improve the functioning of the system is the theoretical development of the issues raised, and an integral contribution to ensuring Babanina V. V., Babenko A. M., Bilokonev V. M., Bogatyrev I. G., Bogutsky P. P., Bodnar I. V., Bondarev V. V., Bugaev V. O, M. Golovko, V. K. Hryshchuk, V. S. Davydenko, N. A. Dmytrenko, S. F. Denisov, Y. P. Dziuba, S. I. Dyachuk, M. M. Ivlev, D. V. Kaznacheieva, V. I. Kasyniuk, V. A. Klymenko, M. V. Kornienko, Koropatnik I. M., Kulkina Y. S., Kurilyuk Y. B., Mitrofanov I. I., Navrotsky V. O., Nikolayenko T. B., Ovcharenko A. S., Panov M. I., Polehenka O. R., Popovich V. P., Reeva A. O., Sarnavsky O. M. Sarnavsky, O. V. Stolyarsky, V. M. Stratonov, E. L. Streltsov, M. S. Turkot, M. I. Khavroniuk, S. O. Kharytonov, I. O. Khar, G. I. Changuli, V. V. Shablystyi, O. O. Shkuta, etc. 3. Materials and Methods The study is based on the work of Ukrainian and foreign scholars on methodological approaches to understanding the problems of preventing economic crime under martial law in Ukraine. The study used general scientific and special methods, in particular: hermeneutic – for cognition and interpretation of the texts of scientific articles, monographic publications, educational materials, which contributed to the disclosure of the content of the problems raised; sociological – to clarify the positions and opinions of scientists and practitioners on the causes and conditions of economic crime; dogmatic – to identify positive foreign experience in the field of economic crime prevention and statistical method – to process statistical indicators of economic crime (Shkuta, 2022). 4. Results and Discussion Crime prevention is a complex system of actions of state bodies and elements of civil society, which is based on internal and external activities of the state and prevention policy and is aimed at preventing crime, based on special criminological measures to prevent and/or suppress criminal offenses. According to V. Sokurenko, "one of the main directions of this counteraction is the prevention of crime, elimination of causes, conditions and other factors that give rise to it and contribute to its various manifestations. This creates real prerequisites for the gradual strengthening of public security and law and order in the state and reduction of crime" (Arkusha, 2019). There are general social (aimed at preventing crime in general) and special criminological crime prevention (aimed at preventing a specific type of criminal offense), which are characterized by long- term and constant counteraction of all social systems to criminal offenses using forecasting, programming, budget support for resource provision, etc. In addition, taking into account the specifics of theft, there are general (comprehensive theft prevention plans) and individual measures to prevent this type of criminal offense, which are conditionally divided into information and analytical, organizational measures and measures that affect criminogenic factors (Bodnar, 2024). The basis for information and analytical measures to prevent theft under martial law in Ukraine are the results of criminological and sociological research, Baltic Journal of Economic Studies 397 Vol. 11 No. 4, 2025 statistics and other sources of information, in particular: reports of crime (including in the media), criminal case files and data obtained during operational and investigative actions, in particular, the submission of the investigator and the internal affairs body containing a decision to identify and take measures to eliminate conditions that facilitate the commission of criminal offenses and imposing an obligation on officials to eliminate them. The generalization of relevant information contributes not only to determining the state of crime, but also to researching the effectiveness of theft prevention measures. For example, statistical indicators of such criminal offenses as theft can be found in official reports and on the platforms of law enforcement agencies of Ukraine. For example, the website of the Prosecutor General's Office has an interactive map of recorded criminal offenses with crime rates for certain categories of criminal offenses and indicators of regions/districts/communities in the total number and number of criminal offenses per 10 thousand people. Here is an example of such a map in relation to recorded thefts (excluding thefts from apartments and cars) for the period January-April 2024 per 10 thousand people. In this study, we will give examples of organizational measures and measures that affect criminogenic factors depending on the type of theft and other key features (Kobko, 2025). Reactive prevention of theft. Criminal punishment is an integral element of the system of prevention of criminal offenses, in particular, the application of criminal punishment has a certain impact on the prevention of theft, as it contributes to the isolation of the offender from society, his/her correction and has a preventive psychological impact on members of society as a whole. However, the use of exclusively criminal punishment as a measure to prevent theft is ineffective, since in the days of medieval Russia, theft was punishable by cutting out the nostrils or branding, repeated theft – by cutting off limbs, and the third time – by the death penalty, which generally had little effect on the level of theft in that period (Shkuta, 2022). Victimization prevention of economic criminal offenses. It is important for the prevention of criminal offenses to determine the victimization characteristics of potential victims of criminal offenses who, in certain life situations, may become victims of criminal acts. Such personal characteristics of potential victims should be taken into account when developing and improving the methodology of theft prevention, therefore, one of the measures to prevent economic criminal offenses is the so-called victimization prevention, which includes measures to reduce the level of individual or group victimization of victims of this type of criminal offense. In particular, according to O.V. Sirenko, "victimization prevention is a system of interrelated, organizationally provided state, public and individual measures aimed at identifying and eliminating or neutralizing the factors that form a personal or mass opportunity to become a victim of crime" (Shkuta, 2022). Victimization prevention measures can be taken taking into account the following victimization characteristics of the victim of theft uncriticality, recklessness, inability to correctly assess the situation, emotional instability, sensitivity and anxiety, excessive trust in strangers, immoral lifestyle, failure to take appropriate measures to protect property, informing potential criminals about their property status, inviting strangers to visit, hiring people with a criminal record and/or people who abuse alcohol, drugs and toxic substances, leaving property unattended, being away for a long time, handing over keys to a criminal, etc. (Mozghovyi, 2025). In order to prevent thefts, individuals should take the following measures: personal security; increased vigilance in protecting property; not showing valuables to strangers; equipping residential premises with effective means of home security, etc. (Shvets, 2024). On the part of law enforcement agencies and public organizations, such measures may include: – informing the population about the state of crime (including theft), ways and methods of committing crimes, victimization situations; – informing the media and social networks on how to behave in dangerous situations; – teaching self-defense techniques (including in educational institutions) in group classes; – conducting educational activities, including the introduction of relevant educational courses in high schools and universities; – agitation of the population to install technical individual means of property protection and alarm systems; – direct intervention in the victimization situation and observation of persons behaving recklessly in public places; – ensuring personal safety and protection of property in public places (hotels, shopping centers, tourist areas, etc.). The disadvantages of victimization prevention of economic criminal offenses are that, in addition to the study of personal characteristics and typology of victims of such criminal offenses, almost no work is done to identify persons with a high level of victimization and organize preventive work with them (Shkuta, 2020). Prevention of economic criminal offenses committed by children. The reasons for theft among children may be a lack of understanding that theft is being committed (3-5 years old), a desire to try something new because of having things attractive to the child Baltic Journal of Economic Studies 398 Vol. 11 No. 4, 2025 (6-10 years old), the influence of peer groups, bullying, lack of pocket money, lack of attention from parents (adolescence). Measures to prevent theft among children include meeting the child's economic and emotional needs, in particular, purchasing the necessary things for children, providing pocket money, paying attention and spending more time together, showing support, etc. Prevention of economic criminal offenses in the corporate sphere. As A. Romaniuk notes, "theft of company property by employees in the course of their work is one of the significantproblems of Ukrainian business" (Shkuta, 2022). Thefts in the corporate sphere are caused by a number of reasons, including an inadequate level of corporate culture, lack of risk monitoring and control system, employees' desire to increase their income, shortcomings in management and business processes, lack of clearly regulated by internal regulations procedure for the movement of inventory and methods of owner's control over it, organized crime activities within the corporation, illegal write-off of material and technical assets, receiving so-called "kickbacks" from companies-partners, etc. (Shkuta, 2020). Prevention of economic criminal offenses in the corporate sphere can be based on the following measures: zero tolerance for any thefts; internal anti- corruption policy; reinforcement of the positions of the identified facts of thefts (internal inspection reports, witness statements, video data of the surveillance system); a system for monitoring and recording risks; introduction of contractual clauses regarding possible reasons for dismissal in connection with economic criminal offenses; familiarization of the employee with the procedure for handling goods and material values when hiring him; personnel rotation; forensic audit; inclusion in internal regulatory documents of a provision on the use of a polygraph during employment, which allows screening out individuals potentially prone to theft; conducting audio and video surveillance within organizations; inspection of employees and their personal belongings by security officers; operational accounting of material values; accreditation of counterparties; personal selection of employees for key positions by the owner of the enterprise, etc. (Shkuta, 2023). In our opinion, the prevention of economic criminal offenses at agricultural enterprises is of particular importance in the corporate sphere, since in Ukraine the formation of this sector of the economy was based on the legacy of Soviet collective farms and the tradition of "collective farm means mine too", which in turn influenced the spread of theft at agricultural enterprises. The prevention of theft at agricultural enterprises can include, in addition to the prevention of theft (which should be permanent, not situational), the construction of internal communication based on a system of material and non-material motivation of employees and team cooperation in achieving results, which is more profitable and effective than theft (Leheza, 2025). 5. Conclusions Crime prevention is a complex system of actions of state bodies and elements of civil society, which is based on the internal and external activities of the state and the policy of prevention and is aimed at preventing crime and uses special criminological measures to prevent and/or terminate criminal offenses. Prevention of economic criminal offenses takes the form of general social and special criminological prevention, which are based on general and individual measures. Prevention of economic criminal offenses is implemented through the use of information and analytical, organizational measures and measures that affect criminogenic factors. The basis of information and analytical measures to prevent theft are the results of criminological and sociological studies and other sources of information, the statistical data of which generalization contributes not only to determining the state of crime, but also to studying the issue of the effectiveness of the application of measures to prevent economic criminal offenses. Application of organizational measures and measures that influence criminogenic factors depending on the type of theft and other key features, in particular, victimological characteristics of victims of theft, the identity of the offender, the place and conditions of the theft, etc. References: Arkusha, L., Korniienko, M., & Berendieieva, A. (2019). Criminal activity in Ukraine in the light of current conditions. Аmazonia Investiga. Vol. 8 Núm. 24: 386–391/ diciembre 2019. P. 386–391. Bodnar, S., Korniienko, M., Rusetskyi, A., Vasylenko, V., & Neviadovskyi, V. (2024). 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