Formation of Legislative Regulation of the Execution of Criminal Punishments in relation to Women in Russia in the XVI–XIX Centuries
Kobets P.N. Formation of legislative regulation of the execution of criminal punishments in relation to women in Russia in the XVI–XIX centuries. Penitentiary Science, 2025, vol. 19, no. 1 (69), pp. 57–64. doi 10.46741/2686-9764.2025.69.1.007
The interest of the modern academic environment and the scientific community in the analysis of issues related to the evolution of the legislative framework governing the execution of criminal penalties in relation to women does not lose its relevance. In this regard, the purpose of this study is to analyze the evolution of legislative processes of domestic legal thought in the XVI–XIX centuries in the field of execution of criminal penalties among women based on a set of diverse empirical data, including legal sources and materials published in research papers. Methods: this study was conducted using the methods of scientific knowledge, including historical, comparative analysis, logical, etc. The author analyzed a number of legislative acts of the period under study related to the functioning of the domestic penitentiary system. Results: the conducted study shows that for a long time the domestic penal policy providing for punitive measures for the commission of illegal acts had not differentiated liability of men and women. What is more, during the period under review, the types of execution of penalties applied by the state to female offenders were influenced by their social and marital status. Conclusion: the processes of legislative regulation of the execution of criminal penalties in relation to female persons were caused by the need to improve the policy aimed at effective achievement of the criminal punishment goals in relation to this category of convicts. At the same time, progressive legislative ideas in the area under consideration were introduced into practice extremely slowly in the conditions of tsarist Russia throughout the analyzed period. As a result of these legislative approaches, female persons were kept in rather hazardous conditions, complicated due to the extreme population density of prison institutions.
Keywords: Legislative framework; historical processes; convicted women; penitentiary system; legislative regulation; execution of criminal penalties; prison science
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