Mkrtychyan, S.A. System of punishments in the Criminal Code of the RSFSR of 1922, 1926 and 1960

Abstract: The article is devoted to the problem of formation of the system of punishments in the first Soviet Criminal Codes (CC) The CC of RSFR of 1922 provided for a “ladder” of punishments on one hand, and the list of social protection measures on the other hand. However, the social protection measures were applied to the persons connected with the criminal environment, as well as to those who have committed crimes. In the CC of RSFR of 1926 the term punishment was abolished and the term “measures of social protection” was used instead. The said documents did not provide for the system of punishment, since the social protection measures were based upon the theory of dangerous condition of a person, and they applied to those who have committed crimes, as well as to those who were dangerous due to their connections with the criminal environment or due to their former activities. The CC of RSFR of 1960 introduced the following changes: a) it returned from the social protection measures to the definition of punishment; b) it did not include a number of political measures of punishment; c) it provided for the more detailed regulation of specific types of punishment, narrowing the scope of judicial discretion when assigning a punishment; d) it used other order for placing punishments – from the less severe to the more severe.

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