The Institution of the Death Penalty in the History of Russian Law

Abstract

The article discusses the genesis and evolution of the institution of the death penalty in Russia. The topic is relevant due to the fact that at present there is no unambiguous understanding not only by society, but also by professional lawyers of the expediency of using the death penalty as an exceptional and capital punishment for a criminal offense. The current state of the criminal law institutions of the Russian Federation is the result of the evolution of ideas, many of which originated earlier and found expression in individual legislative acts and law enforcement practice. The authors substantiate the conclusion about the consistent process of humanization of the domestic system of criminal penalties, which under certain circumstances should lead to a complete rejection of the death penalty. This fact shows that discussions about the expediency of the death penalty as a special type of criminal punishment have been going on for centuries. The death penalty, designed to perform socially significant functions, is unable to achieve the goal of correcting the convicted person, since it does not imply the possibility of a person to atone for his guilt and realize not only the harmfulness of his actions, but also the fact that the convicted person should no longer violate the law. The ongoing disputes in the legal community concerning the issues of the conflict of the legislator in the field of criminal punishment require a retrospective analysis of the problem under consideration.