Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-7drxs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-23T01:43:15.479Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Criminalization and Decriminalization in Soviet Criminal Policy, 1917-1941

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Peter H. Solomon Jr.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In the early and mid-1920's Soviet courts were overwhelmed with new criminal business, prompting Bolshevik leaders to transfer most cases of petty crime away from the courts either to administrative proceedings or to lay bodies (comrades' courts and village social courts). This article examines the Bolshevik experiment in decriminalization and diversion—its causes, its politics, and its consequences both for the courts and for the alternatives to them. The crisis of congestion in early Soviet courts resulted neither from a growth in actual criminal behavior nor from prosecution of new crimes devised by the Bolsheviks. It owed its origin to the elimination after the Revolution of various extrajudicial mechanisms used by the Tsars for handling infractions, thereby producing a criminalization of traditional misdeeds. The subsequent adoption by Soviet leaders of a policy of decriminalization followed careful study, and despite the turbulent times bore the mark of rational decision making. And the policy was implemented; a large number of cases were shifted first to administrative processing by police officials and then to lay tribunals, especially to the village social courts, which proved more viable than the comrades' courts which were established in factories. But the waves of diversion did not relieve court congestion, as in each instance new sorts of cases replaced those moved away. The experience tended to confirm the thesis that the amount of crime prosecuted in a society is a function of the capacity of its criminal justice institutions.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 16 , Issue 1 , 1982 , pp. 9 - 43
Copyright
Copyright © 1982 The Law and Society Association.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

This paper is derived in part from research conducted while the author was a fellow of the Kennan Institute of Advanced Russian Studies in Washington, D.C., and it was prepared for presentation at the Second World Congress of Soviet and East European Studies, Garmisch, Germany, October, 1980.

References

References

Key to abbreviations of journal titles.Google Scholar
ESIu Ezhenedelnik sovetskoi iustitsii.Google Scholar
SGiP Sovetskoe gosudarstvo i pravo.Google Scholar
SIu Sovetskaia iustitsiia.Google Scholar
VS Vlast sovetov.Google Scholar
A.G. (1923) “O narusheniiakh karaemykh v administrativnom poriadke,” 10 VS 95.Google Scholar
ANTIPOV (1935) “Zapiski o perevyborakh selsudov,” 22 SIu 12.Google Scholar
A.Z. (1928) “Selskie sovety i borba s prestupnostiu,” 13 VS 18.Google Scholar
BAGROV, P. (1931) “Kak rabotaiut tovarishcheskie sudy v kolkhozakh na Urale,” 25 SIu 15.Google Scholar
BAGUEV (1931) “Tovarishcheskie sudy kak oni est i kakim oni dolzhny byt,” 6 SIu 19.Google Scholar
BARDULIN, N. (1930) “Militsiia i ugolrozyska nuzhdaetsiia v korennoi chistke,” 15 SIu 13.Google Scholar
BAZHANOVA (1928) “Oshibka ili novyi printsip?” 22 ESIu 655.Google Scholar
BERMAN, Harold (1963) Justice in the U.S.S.R.. New York: Vintage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BERMAN, Harold and James, SPINDLER (1963) “Soviet Comrades Courts,” 38 Washington Law Review 842.Google Scholar
BRANDENBURGSKII, Ia. (1925) “Neskolko myslei o kharaktere prestupnosti v RSFSR,” 23 ESIu 833.Google Scholar
BRANDENBURGSKII, Ia-(1927) “O novykh planakh reorganizatsii,” Pravda (September 30) 5.Google Scholar
BULATOV, S. (1933) “Khuliganstvo i mery borby s nim v rekonstruktivnom periode,” 4 SGiP 70.Google Scholar
CARR, E.H. (1954) The Interregnum. London: MacMillan.Google Scholar
CARR, E.H.-(1958) Socialism in One Country. London: MacMillan.Google Scholar
CONNOR, Walter (1972) “The Manufacture of Deviance: The Case of the Soviet Purge,” 37 American Sociological Review 403.Google Scholar
DEVIAKOVA, A. (1933) “Rabota proizvodstvenno-tovarishcheskikh sudov,” (Po danym statotdela VTsSPS na i maia 1933 g.) 3 (38) Voprosy profdvizhennia 18.Google Scholar
DMITREV, A. (1926) “Obiazatelnye postnovleniia i praktika administrativnykh vzyskanii mest,” 34 ESIu 1013.Google Scholar
D.R.—rg. (1930) “Proizvodstvenno-tovarishcheskie sudy (Soveshchanie predsedatelei tovarishcheskikh sudov),” 28 SIu 3.Google Scholar
ERMEEV, M. (1931) “Kolkhoznye tovarishchskie sudy,” 25 SIu 12.Google Scholar
ERIKSON, Kai (1966) Wayward Puritans. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
EZHENEDELNIK SOVETSKOI IUSTITSII (1924) “Svodnyi otchet o deiatelnosti gubernskikh i oblastnykh sudov RSFSR,” 3-4 ESIu 76.Google Scholar
FAINBLIT, S. (1923) “Nabliudenie za mestami zakliucheniia (Iz praktiki Moskovskoi gubernskoi prokuratury),” 40 ESIu 917.Google Scholar
FELSTINER, William and Ann Bartelemes, DREW (1979) European Alternatives to Criminal Trials and their Applicability in the United States. Washington: GPO.Google Scholar
FENSTOV, A. (1931) “Melkie fabricho-zavodskie krazhi i rabota tovarishcheskikh sudov na predpriatii,” 1 SIu 26.Google Scholar
GALPERIN, I.M. (1980) “Sotsialnye i pravovye osnovy depenalizatsii,” 3 SGiP 60.Google Scholar
GERTSENZON, A.A. (1928) Borba s prestupnostiu v. RSFSR. Moscow: Iur. izdat. NKIU RSFSR.Google Scholar
GERTSENZON, A.A. (1933) “Gubernskie revoliutsionnye tribunaly, narodnye sudy, i tovarishcheskie sudy v. 1918-1920 (Materialy k istorii sovetskoi ugolovnoi politiki),” 6 SGiP 57.Google Scholar
GERTSENZON, A.A.-(1966) Alkogolizm—–put k prestupleniiu. Moscow: lurid, lit..Google Scholar
GLAVNOE UPRAVELENIIA NEOKLADNYKH SBOROV I KAZENNOI PRODAZHI PITEI (1900) Kazennaia Prodazha Vina. St. Petersburg: Glavnoe upravelenie neokladnykh sborov.Google Scholar
GOLIAKOV, I. (ed.) (1953) Sbornik dokumentov po istorii ugolovnogo zakonodatelstva SSSRi RSFSR, 1917-1952 gg.. Moscow: Gosurizdat.Google Scholar
GURVICH, S.M. (1924) “Administrative vzyskaniia,” (Po danym za 1923 god) 5 VS 76.Google Scholar
HAZARD, John (1960) Settling Disputes in Soviet Society, New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HOULBROOKE, Ralph (1979) Church Courts and the People during the English Reformation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
IAKOVLEV, A.M. (1980) “Sotsialnye funktsii protssessa kriminalizatsii,” 2 SGiP 95.Google Scholar
IAKUBSON (1930) “Narusheniia presleduemye v administrativnom poriadke i vzyskaniia za nikh,” 5 Statisticheskoe obozrenie 101.Google Scholar
IKONNIKOV, S.N. (1971) Sozdanie i deiatelnost obedinennykh organov TsKK-RKI v 1923-1934. Moscow: Nauka.Google Scholar
IODKOVSKII, A. (1928) “K likvidatsii ditsiplinarnykh sudov”, 13 ESIu 395.Google Scholar
IODKOVSKII, A. (1968) “Razvitie suda i prokuraturyi” in Kosytsin, A.N. (ed.), Istoriia sovetskogo gosudartsva i pravo, II. Moscow: Nauka.Google Scholar
IURAZH, R. (1929) “Samogonokurenie v Ulianovskoi gubernii,” 1(15) Sotsialnaia gigiena 77.Google Scholar
JUVILER, Peter (1979) “Some Trends in Soviet Criminal Justice,” in D. Barry et al. (eds.), Soviet Law after Stalin. Alphen: Sijthoff and Nordhoff.Google Scholar
JUVILER, Peter-(1980) “Diversion from Criminal to Administrative Justice in Soviet Law and Practice.” Presented at the Second World Congress for Soviet and East European Studies, Garmisch (October 3).Google Scholar
KIULAOTS (1930) “Kak rabotaiut primkamery v Pskovskom okruge,” 10 SIu 16.Google Scholar
KONIAEV, I. (1927) “Chto luchshe: tysiach obiazatelnykh postnovlenii ili odin zakon?,” 31 VS 3.Google Scholar
KOZHEVNIKOV, M. (1925) “Administrativnye vzyskaniia,” 22 ESIu 819.Google Scholar
KOZHEVNIKOV, M.-(1957) Istoriia sovetskogo suda, 1917-1956. Moscow: Gosiurizdat.Google Scholar
KRAMER-AGEEV, A. (1929) “Primiritelno-konfliktnye komissii po zhilishnym delam,” 16 ESIu 353.Google Scholar
KUMYKIN, N. (1930) “Primiritelnye kamery i tovarishcheskie sudy,” 5-6 Sovetskoe gosudarstvo 161.Google Scholar
LAGOVIER, N. (1927) “Administrativnye vzyskaniia v borbe s samovolnymi porubkamia,” 30 VS 7.Google Scholar
LAGOVIER, N. (1931) “Naladit somestnuiu s profsoiuzami rabotu po organizatsii pomoshchi i rukovodstvu proizvodstvenno-tovarishcheskie sudy,” 32 SIu 16.Google Scholar
LEROY-BEAULIEU, Anatole (1894) The Empire of the Tsars and the Russians. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.Google Scholar
LEVENSTERN (1924) “Melkie prostupniki rabochikh na svoem proizvodstve i RKKi,” 29 ESIu 578.Google Scholar
MAKAROV, A. (1925) “Selskii skhod i shtraf,” 52 VS 20.Google Scholar
M.D. (1938) “Rabota proizvodstvenno-tovarishcheskikh sudov,” 2-3 SIu 56.Google Scholar
MERKULOV, V. (1929) “Nado rasshirit funktsii selskikh primkamer i tovarishcheskikh sudov i ozhivat ikh rabotu,” 45 ESIu 1059.Google Scholar
MINISTERSTVO IUSTITSII (1915) Vsepoddanneishii otchet ministra iustitsii za 1914. St. Petrograd: Izd. Min. Iustitsii.Google Scholar
MIRABO, G. (1933, 1934) Proizvodstvenno-tovarishcheskie sudy na predpriatii. Moscow: Profizdat.Google Scholar
MOKEEV, V. (1927) “Revoliutsionnaia zakonnost na sele, kak ona est,” 25 ESIu 158.Google Scholar
MORIN, A. (1939) “Dela o lesonarushenniakh,” 3 SIu 38.Google Scholar
MORSHNEV, Gr. (1932) “Izzhit grubye narusheniia revolutsionnogo poriadka v shtrafnoi politike,” 11 SIu 13.Google Scholar
N. (1935) “Deistvennoe vnimanie podgotovki i provedeniiu perevyborov selskikh obshchestvennykh sudov,” 3 SIu 12.Google Scholar
NEKHAMKIN, N. (1927) “Sereznaia oshibka,” 37 ESIu 1140.Google Scholar
NIURINA, F.E. (1933a) “Proizvodstvenno-tovarishcheskie sudy,” 5 Voprosy profdvizheniia 55.Google Scholar
NIURINA, F.E.-(1933b) Proizvodstvenno-tovarishcheskie sudy no novom etape. Moscow: Sov. zakonodatelstvo.Google Scholar
N.N. (1925) “Iz administrativnoi praktiki (Ob administrativnykh vzyskaniii po ugolovnym prestupleniiam),” 30 ESIu 1021.Google Scholar
OSIPOVICH, V. (1928a) “Primiritelnye kamery pri selsovetakh,” 15 ESIu 463.Google Scholar
OSIPOVICH, V.-(1928b) “Tovarishcheskie sudy na fabnchno-zavodskikh predpriiatiiakh i v gosudarstvennykh i obshchestvennykh predpriatiiakh,” 16 ESIu 486.Google Scholar
OSTROUMOV, S.S. (1960) Prestupnost i ee prichiny v dorevoliutsionnoi Rossii. Moscow: Izd. MGU.Google Scholar
PACKER, Herbert (1968) The Limits of the Criminal Sanction. Stanford: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
POMERANTS, V. (1929) “Sudy obshchestvennye za robotoi,” 39 ESIu 905.Google Scholar
POMERANTS, V.-(1930) “Selskie sudy ili bytovye kamery?,” 16 SIu 17.Google Scholar
POWELL, David (1981) “Alcohol Abuse in Russia and the Soviet Union,” Unpublished book manuscript.Google Scholar
POZNIAKOV (1929) “Deloproizvodstvo primkamer,” 49 ESIu 1161.Google Scholar
RADZINOWICZ, Leon (1966) Ideology and Crime. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
RAUSOV, G.S. (1932, 1934) Proizvodstvenno-tovarishcheskie sudy v MTS i sovkhozakh. Moscow: Sov. zakonodatelstvo.Google Scholar
RAVICH, M. (1936) “Abort v istorii ugolovnogo prava,” 34 SIu 9.Google Scholar
REINGOLD, I. (1931) “The New Economic Policy, 1921-1928,” in Sokolnikov, G.Y. (ed.), Soviet Policy in Public Finance, 1917-1928. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
RODIN, P. (1929) “Ob upotreblenii alkogolia v derevne,” Statisticheskoe obrozrenie 101.Google Scholar
ROZENBERG, A. (1935) “Bolshe vnimaniia S.O. Sam.,” 35 SIu 7.Google Scholar
SEDOV, S. (1929) “Primiritelnye kamery ili selskie sudy?” 49 ESIu 1145.Google Scholar
SEDOV, S. (1932) “Selskie obshchestvennye sudy ili proizvnodstvennotovarishcheskie sudy v kolkhozakh,” 12 SIu 18.Google Scholar
SHALIUPA, M. (1929) “Za organizatsiu selskikh sudov,” 47 VS 20.Google Scholar
SHIRVINDT, E. (1930) “Obostrenie klassovoi borby i ugolovnaia repressiia,” in Shirvindt, E. (ed.), Klassovaia borba i prestupnost. Moscow: Izd. Narkomunudel RSFSR.Google Scholar
SHLIAPOCHNIKOV, A.S. (1934) “Tovarishcheskie sudy,” in Krylenko, N.V. (ed.), Sovetskaia ugolovnaia repressiia. Moscow: Sov. zakonodatelstvo.Google Scholar
SHVERNIK, N.M. (1933) O proizvodstvenno-tovarishcheskikh sudakh. Moscow: Profizdat.Google Scholar
SKLIAR, L. (1923) “Prestupnost v. RSFSR v pervykh chetvyrakh 1921-1923 gg.;“ 5 VS 123.Google Scholar
SLAVCHEV (1934) “Polozhit predel narusheniiami revoliutsionnoi zakonnosti v oblasti shtrafnoi politiki v kolkhozakh,” 14 SIu 4.Google Scholar
SLUPSKII, S. (1929) “Alkogolizm v BSSR,” Statisticheskoe obozrenie 105.Google Scholar
SMIRNOV, A. (1927) “Samogonokurenie i novyi ugolovnyl kodeks,” 16 ESIu 480.Google Scholar
SOLOMON, Peter (1980) “Soviet Penal Policy, 1917-1934: A Reinterpretation, 73 Slavic Review 195.Google Scholar
SOLTS, A. (1923) “Nasha karatelnaia politika (obsledovanniie Moskovskikh tiurem),” Pravda (August 22) 1.Google Scholar
SOLTS, A. and S., FAINBLIT (1925) Revoliutsionnaia zakonnost i nasha karatelnaia politika. Moscow: Moskovskii rabochii.Google Scholar
SOVETSKAIA IUSTITSILA (1930) “Iz rechi tov. Iansona na soveshchanii predsedatelei Moskovskikh tovarishcheskikh sudov 17 sentiabria 1930 g.,” 28 SIu 1.Google Scholar
SOVETSKAIA IUSTITSILA (1931a) “Sotsialisticheskoe samovospitanie i perevospitanie mass I proizvodstvenno-tovarishcheskie sudy,” (V Institute sovetskogo stroitelstva i prava pri Komadkademii) 17 SIu 4.Google Scholar
SOVETSKAIA IUSTITSILA (1931b) “Vypolnenie organami iustitsii direktivov XVI sezda partii i ocherednye zadachi na 1931 g.,” 3 SIu 11.Google Scholar
SOVETSKAIA IUSTITSILA (1933) “Sudebnaia praktika na mestakh,” 8 SIu 13.Google Scholar
SOVETSKAIA IUSTITSILA (1934) “Raigazety—bolshe vnimaniia rabote proizvodstvennotovarishcheskikh sudov,” 21 SIu 19.Google Scholar
SOVETSKAIA IUSTITSILA (1939) “Poriadok napravlenniia aktov o melkikh lesonarusheniiakh v sud,”9 SIu 60.Google Scholar
STATISTICHESKOE OBOZRENIE (1929) “Alkogolizm i statistika, 11 Statisticheskoe obrozrenie 125.Google Scholar
STROEV, Mikh. (1929) “Dvizhenie sudimosti po SSSR po delam chastnogo obvineniia,” 39 ESIu 913.Google Scholar
SUKHOPLINEV, I. (1927) “Ratsionalizatsiia obiazatelnykh postanovlenn, 40 VS 13.Google Scholar
TARNOVSKII, E. (1921) “Dvizhenie prestupnosti v predelakh RSFSR po svdeniiam mestnykh sudov za 1919-1920 gg.,” 15 Proletarskaia revoliutsiia i pravo 1.Google Scholar
TARNOVSKII, E.-(1926) “Narodnye sudy v 1925 godu,” 30 ESIu 918.Google Scholar
THOMPSON, E.P. (1975) Whigs and Hunters: The Origins of the Black Act. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
TURUBINER, A. (1926) “Obiazatelnye postanovleniia i administrativnye vzyskaniia,” 19 ESIu 580.Google Scholar
VILENSKII, S. (1926) “Napravlenie del v distsiplinarnye sudy,” 5 ESIu 134.Google Scholar
VITBAUM, la. (1934) “Nagruzka i kachestvo raboty sudi,” 5 SIu 12.Google Scholar
VOLODARSKII, P. (1931) “Kak rabotali selskie obshchestvennye sudy za pervuiu polovinu 1931 goda,” 29 SIu 17.Google Scholar
VOLODARSKII, P. (1933) “Na pervom Vsesoiuznom soveshchanii proizvodstvennotovarishcheskikh sudov,” 5 SIu 11.Google Scholar
WEBB, Sidney and Beatrice, WEBB (1906) English Local Government Parish and the County. London: Longman's.Google Scholar
YANEY, George (1973) The Systematization of Russian Government. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
ZAITSEV (1935) “Usilit nadzor prokuratury za shtrafnoi politikoi,” 25 SIu 8.Google Scholar
ZENKOVICH, V. (1927a) “Dela chastnogo obvineniia (Po materialam NKRKI SSR),” 32 ESIu 980.Google Scholar
ZENKOVICH, V. (1927b) “Nizovaia set suda, sledstviia, i prokuratory (Po materialam NKRKI SSSR), part one,” 35 ESIu 1078.Google Scholar
ZHELEZNOV, B. (1927) “Tipyovye obiazatelnye postanovlenii,” 37 VS 16.Google Scholar
ZHUKOVSKII, F. (1931) “S.O.S.—no pomosh provedeniiu Khoziaistvenno-politicheskikh kampanii,” 32 SIu 1213.Google Scholar
ZOLOTAREVSKII, A. (1928) “Novyi zakon ob izdannii vikami rikami i selsovetami obiazatelnymi postanovleniiami,” 1 VS 406.Google Scholar
ZVENEV, V. (1930) “Bolshe vnimaniia obshchestvennym sudam,” (Direktivy tsentra i opyt ikh primeneniia v. Leningradskoi oblasti) 10 SIu 12.Google Scholar

Laws and Regulations Cited

“Instruktsiia po primeneniiu postanovleniia VTsIK i SNK RSFSR ot 6/IV-25 g. ‘O poriadke izdaniia volostnymi i raionnymi ispolnitelnymi komitetami obiazatelnykh postanovlenii i o nalozhenii imi administrivnykh vzyskanii,‘” (1925) Tsirkuliar NKVD #349 i NKIu #127 ot 23 iuniia 1925, ESIu No. 26, 923. “Ob utverzhdenii perechen postanovlenii VTsIK, SNK, SRKO i STO, izdannykh do vnedreniia v deistvie kodeksa zakonov ov trude RSFSR, izd. 1922 goda” (1923) Dekret SNK ot 12 iuniia 1923 g. SU RSFSR No. 34-35, 376. “O perevyborakh i dovyborakh obshchestvennykh sudov” (1937) Prikaz NKIu, No. 34, ot 13 iuniia 1937, SIu No. 14, 54.Google Scholar
“O proizvodstvenno-tovarishcheskikh sudakh na fabrikakh, zavodakh, v gosudarstvennykh i obshchestvennykh uchrezdeniiakh i predpriiatiiakh” (1931) Postanovlenie VTsIK i SNK RSFSR ot 20 fevraliia, 1931, Sobranie ukazonenii No. 14.Google Scholar
“O rabote tovarishcheskikh sudov na zavode ‘Krasnyi putilovets‘” (1932) Postanovlenie Kollegii NKIu ot 23/11-32 g. SIu No. 6-7, 55.Google Scholar
“O rassmotrenii sudami del o nalozhenii shtrafov za lesonarusheniia, ne presleduemye v ugolovnom proiadke” (1939) Prikaz KNIu SSSR i Prokurora SSSR No. 12/36 ot fevralia 1939 g. SIu No. 6, 80.Google Scholar
“Polozheniie o selskom sostoianni” (1911) in Saatchian, A.L. (comp.), Polnyi Svod Zakonov Rossiiskoi Imperii Vol. IX. St. Petersburgh: Izd. iurid. knizh. mag Zubkova.Google Scholar
“Postanovlenie Sekretariata VTsSPS i Narkomiusta o rabote proizvodstvennotovarishcheskikh sudov” (1932) SIu No. 16, 17.Google Scholar
“Rabota organov prokuratury po nadzoru za shtrafnoi politiki po khozaistvennym-politicheskim kampaniiam po obsledovannym raionam Severnogo Kraia i Ivanovo-promyshlennoi oblasti” (1932) Postanovlenie Kollegii NKIu ot 23 maia 1932 g. SIu No. 16, 24.Google Scholar
“Svod ustavov ob aktsiznykh sborakh (1901 with additions in 1906 and 1908)” (1911) in Saatchian, A.L. (comp.), Polnyi Svod Zakonov Rossiiskoi Imperii Vol. V. St. Petersburgh: Izd. iurid. Knizh. mag. Zubkova.Google Scholar
“Ugolovnyi Kodeks RSFSR (1922)” (1953) in Goliakov, I. (ed.), Sbomik Dokumentov po istorii ugolovnogo zakonodatelstva SSSR i RSFSR, 1917-1952 gg., Moscow: Gosiurizdat.Google Scholar
“Ulozhenie o nakazaniiakh ugolovnykh i ispravitelnykh (1885 version with additions in 1906, 1908 and 1909)” (1911) in Saatchian, A. L. (comp.), Polnyi Svod Zakonov Rossiiskoi Imperii Vol. XV. St. Petersburgh: Izd, iurid. Knizh. mag. Zubkova.Google Scholar
“Ustav o nakazaniiakh, nalagaemykh mirovymi sudiami (1885 version with additions in 1906, 1908 and 1909)” (1911) in Saatchian, A.L. (comp.), Polnyi Svod Zakonov Rossiiskoi Imperii Vol. XV. St. Petersburg: Izd. iurid. Knizh. mag. Zubkova.Google Scholar