On the Development of Criminal Punishment Institution in Russia from the Reign of Peter the Great to Criminal Codes of the Stalin Era
Korsakov K.V. On the development of criminal punishment institution in Russia from the reign of Peter the Great to criminal codes of the Stalin era. Penitentiary Science, 2025, vol. 19, no. 1 (69), pp. 21–31. doi 10.46741/2686-9764.2025.69.1.003
The article considers problematic aspects of the evolution of the institution of criminal punishment in Russia from the time of Peter the Great to the first criminal codifications of the Soviet era, as well as cultural, socio-political and economic factors that influenced this process. Purpose: to analyze the historical path and identify patterns of criminal punishment development in Russia from the reign of Emperor Peter I, in which the intimidation paradigm prevailed, to the stage of operation of the first criminal codes of the Soviet state, focused on positivist ideas of protecting society and correction. Methods: structural analysis and synthesis, documentary, historical-legal and comparative-legal methods of cognition. Results: the author substantiates the point of view that the repressiveness of criminal punishments of the Petrine era is associated with the desire of the political authorities to ensure the implementation of fundamental, large-scale and unprecedented social transformations for that time. It is argued that the enlightened absolutism ideology of the Catherine era had no humanizing effect on penitentiary practice, which remained unchanged and conservative. The long-term codification and systematization of legislation under the leadership of M.A. Balug’yanskii and M.M. Speranskii is assessed and successful reforming of criminal legislation during the reign of Alexander II is described. A high legal significance of the 1903 Criminal Code is associated with the involvement of prominent legal scholars N.A. Neklyudov, N.D. Sergeevskii, N.S. Tagantsev, and I.Ya. Foinitskii in its drafting. Ideological and scientific-theoretical foundations of the first criminal codifications of the Soviet period are revealed in detail, reasons for the appearance of the institution of social protection measures are analyzed, and scientific judgments about the excessive repressiveness of penitentiary practice of that time are commented on. Conclusions: it is summarized that criminal punishment at each phase of its development in our country clearly reflects not only a socio-economic way of life, but also a current cultural and spiritual and moral level of Russian society; therefore, criminal punishment is a phenomenon reflecting socio-cultural processes at a certain stage of social development.
Keywords: Criminal punishment; history of Russian criminal law; criminal legislation; penology; evolution of punishment; penitentiary system; doctrine of criminal punishment
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