Development of the Institution of the Death Penalty in Pre-Revolutionary Russian Legislation

This article draws attention to such a legal category as the death penalty in Russia at different stages of its historical development up to the beginning of the 20th century. The author, analyzing and comparing the events in Russia with foreign experiences and well-known facts, determines the specifics of the development of the death penalty, projecting it to different historical stages. Special attention is paid to the genesis of the institution of the death penalty as a legal method of coercion, being the tool of the State. The author identifies a consistent transformation taking place with the institution of the death penalty: from changing its social essence to correcting the goals pursued with its help. The author justifies differnt roles of this type of punishment at different stages of historical development, referring to the general political conjuncture and the goals and challenges that existed in the state. Based on the chronology, the author separately discusses the scope of application of the death penalty to minors where we can see an element of humanization of the Russian legal system. As a separate and unique phenomenon, the author examines the attempt of the Russian state to completely abandon the application and use of the death penalty as an institution of punishment. The uniqueness is justified by the fact that in seemingly more progressive Europe of that time, such an experience was not widespread. However, it is still worth paying attention to the fact that throughout the entire historical period under consideration, the death penalty in Russia had not been finally abolished.

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