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p Criminal punishment of persons who have committed crimes is one of the forms of state compulsion in the campaign against crime. Any criminal punishment is always associated with the restriction of the rights and interests of convicted persons. Those who are convicted to deprivation of liberty are restricted in freedom of movement, communication with others, etc., and those who are fined or convicted to corrective labour suffer from certain material privations. This aspect of punishment must be regarded as a retribution for the offence committed.

p However, punishment in Soviet criminal law cannot be retribution alone, it serves its purpose only where it also contributes to the reformation of the offender, re-educating him to respect laws, to have a conscientious attitude to labour and to the rules of the socialist community.

p Proceeding from this provision, Art. 20 of the Fundamentals of Criminal Legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics states: “Punishment is not merely retribution for the offence. It also aims at the rehabilitation and re-education of the offender in the spirit of an honest attitude to labour, strict adherence to the law and respect for the rules of socialist community life. It also aims at the prevention of new offences both on the part of those convicted and on the part of others. Punishment does not aim at inflicting physical suffering or lowering human dignity.” This definition applies to all types of penalties, provided for by Soviet criminal legislation. Corrective labour institutions and other 151 bodies which execute sentences as well as the courts which mete out punishment are guided by this principle.

p It is equally important to stress that punishment is more than retribution for the crime committed, but it is of immense importance for the prevention of crimes, above all of similar crimes, which it serves to prevent both on the part of the convicted persons and of other unstable members of society. It is pertinent to refer in this context to the apt tenet of Lenin’s, who said that “the preventive significance of punishment is not in its severity, but in its inevitableness".  [151•1 

p The more exact and just the punishment for the acts committed the greater will be the educational value of a court sentence. A penalty must be imposed first of all according to the gravity of the crime committed, the personality of the offender, the nature of his guilt and other circumstances relevant to the case in hand, in other words, an individually considered sanction is meted out to every person brought before the court.

p Punishment is meted out only to persons who have committed socially dangerous acts either wilfully or through negligence and acts which are strictly defined and recognised by the law as a crime. Criminal punishment is imposed only by sentence of a court of law.

p The Fundamentals of Criminal Legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics (Art. 21) make provision for the following basic penalties: deprivation of liberty, exile, restricted residence, corrective labour without imprisonment, disqualification from a specified office or activity, fines and public censure. In addition to these basic penalties, the following supplementary penalties may be imposed: confiscation of property, deprivation of military or other special rank. Posting to a disciplinary battalion may also be applied in the case of military personnel.

p The Fundamentals of Criminal Legislation allow the Union Republics to supplement this list of penalties. In this connection the Criminal Code of the RSFSR provides for the dismissal from a post and the imposition of restitution as coercive sanctions, while the Criminal Codes of the Ukrainian, Uzbek and Kazakh republics provide for the deprivation of parental rights.

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p By the basic penalties one must have in mind those which are imposed only as the main and independent sanctions; they cannot be added to other types of punishment for the same crime. The supplementary penalties, such as confiscation of property, deprivation of military or other special rank, may be imposed only in addition to the basic penalty for the same offence.

p Some penalties, for instance, exile, restricted residence, fines, imposition of restitution, dismissal, disqualification from a specified office or activity may be applied both as the main and supplementary sanctions.

p Capital punishment—a sentence of death by shooting—is permitted only as an exceptional measure until such time as it will be completely abolished by law. It is applicable only in cases laid down by law—in cases of especially grave crimes. The list of such cases is very small and strictly defined by law. The death sentence may not be passed on persons under the age of 18 years at the time the crime is committed or on women who are pregnant at the time the crime is committed or at the time a sentence is passed. Neither may a sentence of death be passed on women who are pregnant at the time the sentence is brought into execution.

p Deprivation of liberty may be imposed for a period not exceeding ten years and for a period not exceeding fifteen years for exceptionally grave crimes and for especially dangerous habitual criminals. The list of the latter crimes is very small and is strictly defined by law. The period of deprivation of liberty to which a person may be sentenced if he has not reached the age of 18 years at the time the crime is committed must not exceed ten years.

p Under Soviet criminal law deprivation of liberty is one of the most grave penalties. Therefore, the period of imprisonment is determined in each particular instance strictly within the limits indicated in each article of a criminal code and for each corpus delicti.

p One should bear in mind that remand in custody is included by the court in the term of punishment if the person concerned is sentenced to imprisonment. Where the person concerned is sentenced to corrective labour, one day on remand is counted as three days of corrective labour.

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p As a rule, most articles in the Criminal Codes of the Union Republics indicate for each corpus delicti only the maximum of deprivation of liberty, but some articles also provide for the minimum term of imprisonment. The court may not exceed the sanction stipulated by each article, but taking into account the exceptional circumstances in the case concerned and the personality of the guilty it may impose a penalty below the minimum provided for by the law for the crime committed or apply another, milder punishment. The court may reduce the penalty but it must give a reason for its decision to this effect.

p While sentencing a person to a term of imprisonment the court at the same time indicates in what colony the convict must serve his sentence. There are several types of reformatories with different regimes. Therefore, it is exceedingly important for the court to impose a just term of imprisonment and also to choose the type of colony which would in the best way contribute to his rehabilitation.

p Under the law of 1970, the court, which sentences a convicted person up to 3 years of imprisonment, may settle in each instance the question of whether the person should be sent to a place of confinement or whether for purposes of his rehabilitation his sentense should be suspended, this person assuming the obligation to work in a factory determined by the respective organ of the Ministry of the Interior.

p Exile is the removal of a convicted person from his place of residence and his obligatory settlement in a specified area. Restricted residence is the removal of a convicted person from his place of residence with a prohibition against living in certain places. These penalties may be imposed for periods up to five years. Under the law exile and restricted residence may not be applied to persons who have not reached the age of 18 at the time the crime is committed, to pregnant women and women with dependent children under the age of eight years and disabled persons.

p Corrective labour without imprisonment is one of the most widely applied penalties imposed by a court of law in those cases where convicted persons may be reformed and re-educated without deprivation of liberty. This penalty is applicable for terms from one month to one year and the sentence is served either at the convicted person’s place of work or at some other place in the vicinity of his residence, 154 according to the instruction of the appropriate body. The convict is transferred to another place if he has no permanent employment or if the court deems it necessary to increase the punitive impact of corrective labour. Deductions from the earnings of a person sentenced to corrective labour are made for the benefit of the state to an amount from five to 20 per cent of his earnings.

p As far as disabled persons are concerned, the court may substitute a fine or public censure for corrective labour. Provided they show a conscientious attitude to work and exemplary conduct the court may, at the request of mass organisations, include the period of corrective labour in their general record of service after they have served the term of corrective labour in full. Where the convicted person evades serving his term of corrective labour at his permanent place of work, the court may replace it by corrective labour elsewhere, but this time in accordance with the instruction issued by the organisation responsible for the enforcement of this penalty. Where the convicted person evades performing his corrective labour in this place, too, the court may replace this penalty by deprivation of liberty, every three days of non-served corrective labour being counted as one day of imprisonment.

p Disqualification from a specified office or activity may be for a term of from one to five years. This penalty may be inflicted when the crime committed is connected with the convicted person’s occupation or office held. In practice the courts use this penalty where, for instance, a person has been guilty of systematic breaches of trading rules or of deception of buyers. In this case the court may interdict that he continue to work in trading establishments. If a doctor is guilty of performing abortions under insanitary conditions he may be prohibited from engaging in his medical occupation.

p Fine is a monetary penalty inflicted by the court. The amount of a fine is determined by the gravity of the crime committed taking into account the economic position of the guilty person. Therefore, the fine must not be beyond the capacity of a convicted person to pay and in any case its payment must not entail serious material or other consequences.

p Dismissal from office may be imposed by the court in 155 those cases where a person has committed a crime by virtue of the office he held, and the court considers it either impossible or ill-advised to allow him to continue to occupy that office. Dismissal from office should be differentiated from another penalty—deprivation of the right to occupy a certain post. Dismissal from office does not deprive the convicted person of the right to be employed at some other institution or enterprise at the same job, whereas disqualification from office does not allow this.

p Restitution may be imposed in a case where the court acknowledges that the guilty person himself is able to remove the consequences of his wrongful actions. This may take the form of compensation for material damage inflicted or public apology to the victim, etc. Where the convicted person fails to discharge his duty of restitution within the period fixed by the court, the latter may substitute corrective labour, a fine or public censure for the previous penalty.

p Public censure is censure of the guilty person by the court, which, where deemed necessary, is brought to the notice of the general public through -the press or by other means. This penalty, as distinct from similar measures of influence brought to bear upon people by mass organisations, represents special punishment which is meted out in the name of a state organisation, e.g., the court of law, and which means conviction for the person concerned. It should be emphasised that public censure must be pronounced by the court in public, through its judgement, in the courtroom. Where necessary, this judgement is brought to the notice of the public through the press, by radio and other means.

p Confiscation of property is defined as the compulsory deprivation of part or of all the property constituting the personal belongings of the convicted person, without compensation, and its conversion into state property. The court must indicate what part of the property should be confiscated or what confiscated articles should be transferred to the state. But the bailiff may not confiscate essentials which belong to the convicted person and members of his family. The list of articles and things not subject to confiscation is strictly established by law.

p Deprivation of military or other special rank, titles of 156 honour and also orders and medals is applied by the court where it sentences persons for grave crimes, in relation to which the law contains an express indictment. If the court deems it necessary it may apply to the body which awarded the convicted person his order or medal or granted him his honorary title to deprive this person of the order or medal or the title of honour.

p As stated, the court imposes penalties within the limits laid down by the article of the law determining responsibility for the crime committed. In passing sentence the court takes into consideration the nature of the crime committed and the degree to which it is a danger to society, the character of the guilty person and attendant extenuating or aggravating circumstances.

p Circumstances which are recognised in law as mitigating criminal responsibility are as follows: committing a crime as the result of grave personal or family circumstances; committing a crime under the influence of threats or compulsion or by force of material or other dependence; committing a crime under the influence of strong mental excitement caused by unlawful acts on the part of the victim; crimes committed by a minor or by a woman who is pregnant; committing a crime during defensive action, although the action exceeds that which is essential to self-defence; the sincere repentance or voluntary surrender to the authorities; the illness of a convicted person, his old age, the existence of under-age children who are dependent on him, etc.

p Circumstances which are recognised in law as aggravating a crime are as follows: a crime committed by a person who has a criminal record; a crime committed by an organised group; a crime committed for personal gain or other base motives; committing a crime with grave consequences; involving excessive cruelty; employing generally dangerous means; taking advantage of natural calamity; slandering patently non-guilty persons, etc.

p Suspended sentence. If the court, in passing a sentence of deprivation of liberty or corrective labour, after due consideration of the circumstances of the case and the character of the defendant, comes to the conclusion that it would be inexpedient for the offender to serve the sentence, it may stay the execution of the sentence on the condition 157 that the convicted person does not commit a similar or some other crime of equal gravity during the period of probation.

p The term of the probationary period which the court may impose is set from one to five years. In consideration of the circumstances of the case, the character of the accused and also the requests of mass organisations at his place of work the court may confide the re-education and reformation of the conditionally sentenced person to those organisations. If a conditionally sentenced person commits a fresh crime during the probationary period the court may add the whole or part of the unserved former sentence to that passed on a new conviction.

p Placing an offender in the care of mass organisations for purposes of reform. A person who has committed a crime may be released from criminal responsibility by the decision of a court of law, the entire material in the case being submitted for consideration by a comrades’ court. The court usually takes such a decision provided a person is a first offender and if his personality warrants the conclusion that he may be reformed without inflicting a penalty and through measures of public influence.

p If the nature of the offence and the character of the offender do not constitute great social danger, and if the act did not entail serious consequences, and if the offender shows sincere repentance, he may be freed from criminal responsibility and punishment and placed in the care of the mass organisation who lodge the petition to the court for purposes of rehabilitation on his release. The law does not permit the release on surety of persons who have been already tried for a premeditated crime, or who do not plead guilty, or who for any reason insist on a court hearing.

p A mass organisation may withdraw its surety if the person concerned does not, during the course of a year, justify its confidence and fails to observe the rules of socialist community life. A resolution regarding the withdrawal of surety is addressed to the court in order that the question of the offender’s criminal responsibility for the offence in connection with which he was released on surety may be considered.

p Compulsory measures of a medical and educational nature. Persons who have committed a crime, but are unable to account for their actions or to govern them as a result of 158 mental deficiency or some other abnormal state, may be subjected, by the court’s decision, to compulsory medical treatment. Alcoholics or drug addicts who have committed a crime are liable both to punishment and compulsory medical treatment. The treatment is terminated by the court when a motion is submitted by the medical institution where the person undergoes treatment.

If the court finds it appropriate not to apply a penalty to a person under the age of 18 years who has committed a crime it may impose the following compulsory educational measures: serve a warning on him, issue a reprimand, order him to make a public apology to the injured party, place a minor under the strict surveillance of his parents or of his workers’ collective, place a minor in a medical and educational establishment specially catering for children and young people, and so on. All these educational measures do not themselves constitute criminal punishment and are imposed in place of a penalty. Their application does not create a criminal record, nor does it entail other legal consequences.