N. M. Yadrintsev on the main goal of the penitentiary policy of the domestic state: the experience of historical and political research

10.54398/1818510Х_2023_3_146

Annotation

The purpose of this publication is an attempt to reconstruct the socio-political thought of the representative of regionalism N. M. Yadrintsev in the field of formulation and achievement of the basic goal of the state penitentiary (criminal-correctional) policy. The study is mainly based on the tools of the political-textological method. On the basis of a hermeneutical analysis, it is shown that the social and political views of the Siberian publicist contain a humanistic ideal, according to which it is not advisable to apply punishments that cause extremely cruel suffering to correct a prisoner. Only the balance of legal influence and the ability of the offender to correct himself can socialize the offender, return him to society as a full-fledged member of society. The author found that humanism and morality as the basic concepts in the correction of criminals were formed in the worldview of the Siberian regionalist under the influence of Western political philosophy. Authoritative in the ideological sense for the Siberian intellectual were the names of Sh.L. Montesquieu, C. Beccaria, I. Bentham, G. Spencer, and many French enlighteners and encyclopedists. In the ideological and political heritage of an adherent of democratic regionalism, the concept of re-education of prisoners was formulated by means of public patronizing influence. The article also notes that the Siberian educator associated the goals of the state policy in the field of punishment execution not so much with punitive and intimidating principles, but with moral and corrective foundations. The main emphasis of the thinker-publicist was on the consistent mitigation of the measure of criminal punishment. Such an approach would contribute to the humanization of society.

Keywords

• political thought
• regionalism
• prison studies
• penitentiary policy
• social policy
• N. M. Yadrintsev
• correction of criminals
• humanism
• morality
• community
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References

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