108
and the remaining 32.64% in villages. 48.52% offenders are married, 30.92% are single, 2.93% divorced, an
insignificant 0.78% are widowed, and for 17.42% there are no available data.
Majority offenders were sentenced to imprisonment but were subsequently released on conditional
probation period, provided that the offender does not commit criminal acts for a specified period. The
remaining 41.56% were sentenced to imprisonment; 22.25% of these were sentenced to 6 months in prison;
8.84% got one to two years; 8.57% were imprisoned from 6 months to 1 year; 1.60% were in prison from
two to four years, and 0.26% were imprisoned from 3-5 years.80.16% offenders were present at the court
proceedings, while the remaining 19.84% were tried in absentia; during the proceedings, 75.33% offenders
were of good
behavior and expressed regret, for 19.03% there are no
available data, and the remaining 5.63%
did not express regret for the committed offence.
In 58.56% of all cases the offence “forgery of identity document when the falsified item is a protected
identity document” was committed in order to exercise a right, and 41.43% were committed in order to
generate substantial material gain. 94.78% of the cases were committed during daylight, 4.46% at night, and
for 0.74% there are no available data. Most offences were committed in the city (63.02%), and the remaining
36.97% in the village.
Most offences “forgery of identity document when the falsified item is a protected identity document”,
or 91.31%, are individual criminal offences without any connection to another criminal act. The link to the
criminal offence “theft”, prescribed and punishable by Article 235 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of
Macedonia, has the highest representation of 6.94%, followed by the connection to the criminal offence
“bribery”, prescribed and punishable by Article 358 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Macedonia. In
0.49% of the cases were linked to the criminal offence “aggravated theft”, Article 236 of the same Code, and
one connection, or 0.24%, to the criminal offence “fraud”, Article 247 of the Criminal Code of the Republic
of Macedonia.
According to the method of the offence “forgery of identity document when the falsified item is a
protected identity document”, using false or altered identity card has the highest representation of 51.61%; in
38.21% of the cases the offender forged and used a false identity card; in 9.18% the offender altered and
used a valid identity card, and in 0.99% the offender assisted with premeditation in one of the
aforementioned criminal acts. In 98.51% of these criminal proceedings forensic reports of the forged identity
document were sought and provided, whereas in 1.49% there was no report. The forgery of these 1.49 was
established by the control mechanisms of international police cooperation, i.e. the Interpol, while in one case
the forgery was determined with comparison of the forged and the valid passport in possession of the
offender. All forensic reports concern questioned documents.
Most offences (52.10%) were discovered during routine controls at checkpoints when the forged
documents were in use; 39.95% were discovered during police operations; 5.70% were discovered when the
forged document was presented to state
authorities or another subject; 1.98% were reported to the police, and
only 0.24% or one case was discovered by self-reporting.
3.
CONCLUSION
Determining the characteristics of the standard criminal offender for a specific offence is, first of all,
crucial to criminal policy, i.e. for building strategy and tactics for discovery, evidencing, and prevention of
crime. It is of great interest to members of persecution authorities, especially to police officers who are
directly involved in the discovery of these crimes, to get acquainted with the characteristics of the standard
criminal offender. Still, it should be pointed out that the latest trends regarding the fabrication of such
documents, mainly passports, personal identity cards, and driver licenses have additional protection i.e.
biometrical data of the holder, which makes forgery much more difficult. With this in mind, an interesting
point for further research would be to compare forgery of new biometrical documents to those without
biometrical protection, subject of the aforesaid research. This could be a challenge for the author of this
paper or other researchers.