NCJ Number
89270
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 47 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1983) Pages: 54-58
Date Published
1983
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Soviet legislation regulates the conditions of the types of sentences that may be imposed on adult offenders: imprisonment, capital punishment, exile, banishment, and corrective work without imprisonment, and a range of sanctions are specified for juvenile delinquents.
Abstract
Soviet prisons are especially high security institutions intended for recidivists and those who have committed serious crimes. The other type of institution is the corrective labor colony. Whereas prisons are designed for punishment, the colonies are intended to serve as treatment centers. Prison inmates live in cells while those assigned to labor colonies live in communal barracks. Restrictions in the labor colonies vary according to the categories of general, intensified, strict, and special. Persons may be shifted from more restrictive to less restrictive colonies as a reward for good behavior. Parole is granted to those who have performed well in a colony. The special colonies are the least restrictive, providing in some cases for housing families in the colony, the earning of normal wages, leaving the colony for authorized periods, having unlimited conjugal visits, and possession of money and valuables. Corrective work without imprisonment involves the suspension of a harsh sentence on the condition that the offender be employed in corrective work. Exile consists of being sent to specific areas where the offender is guarded by some type of local authority, and banishment is the expulsion of an offender from a particular locality for the duration of the sentence. The death penalty may be applied for treason, espionage, sabotage, aggravated homicide, terrorism, banditry, counterfeiting, currency speculation, theft of state property, rape, flying abroad and refusing to return, desertion, and various war crimes. Sanctions for juvenile delinquency include deprivation of freedom, corrective works without imprisonment, fines, compensation for damages, and public censure. The major distinction between Soviet and American corrections is the Soviet emphasis on work. Sixteen footnotes are provided.