NCJ Number
92197
Journal
Soviet Studies Volume: 35 Issue: 2 Dated: (April 1983) Pages: 154-174
Date Published
1983
Length
21 pages
Annotation
The continuing existence of the death penalty in the Soviet Union and the frequency of its application in cases of first-degree murder are evidence of the influence of public opinion on Soviet legal practice.
Abstract
Although the Soviet press reports only about 30 executions each year, a recent Soviet emigre lawyer has estimated the actual total at 2,500 to 3,000 annually, based on his own experience as a lawyer and on evidence put forward by the dissident Aleksander Ginzburg. The death penalty is possible for political crimes, economic crimes, and crimes against the person. Although Marxism-Leninism has a negative attitude toward the death penalty, both before and after the 1917 revolution Lenin defended the death penalty as an efficient weapon in the class struggle. Its use was greatly extended during the Stalinist era, but was greatly reduced in the late 1940's. During the Khruschev period, authors who wrote on the subject did not urge restrictions on the application of the death penalty. A 1976 book by Pavel Osipov contains the only elaborate plea for the abolition of the death penalty published in recent years in the Soviet Union. While exact figures on the numbers of violent crime rates are not published, available data indicate that 8-9 percent of all crimes are serious crimes. The prevailing opinion of the political leadership that criminality is a phenomenon foreign to socialism is likely to reinforce public opinion and to promote the maintenance of the death penalty for certain violent crimes, particularly first-degree murder. Data tables and a list of 160 reference notes are provided.