Content of the definition of a “victim”, its derivatives and adjacent categories in the legal acts of the Soviet state in pre-victimology period (1917–1950): historical-legal victimological research

• Main Author: Pavel A. Kabanov
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tatar Educational Center "TAGLIMAT" Ltd. 2017-09-01
• Series: Aktualʹnye Problemy Èkonomiki i Prava
• Subjects: Criminal law
• Online Access: http://apel.ieml.ru/storage/archive_articles/9498.pdf

Objective to determine the content of the legal category of ldquovictimrdquo the victimological terms derived from it and related categories used in the Soviet legislation and subnormative legal acts of the first half of the 20th century. nbsp Methods dialectical approach to cognition of social phenomena allowing to analyze them in historical development and functioning in the context of the totality of objective and subjective factors that determined the choice of the following research methods analysis synthesis comparison systematic formallegal comparativelegal methods. Results the content of the legal category of ldquovictimrdquo has been researchhed as wellas the related and derived legal definitions of the Soviet legislation which can significantly broaden the boundaries of the modern subject of the Russian victimology. Based on the analysis of the Soviet legislation the author proposed scientific classification of victims into separate types. The territorial boundaries of the study completely cover the USSR territory. The temporal boundaries of the study are defined as the period from 1917 to 1950. In some cases for completeness of research the author refers to the normative legal acts of other time periods and other countries. The empirical base of the study consisted of 168 existing and invalid regulatory legal acts of the RSFSR and the USSR and politicallegal documents of senior officials of the RSFSR and the USSR. Scientific novelty for the first time in the Russian victimological science the content of the basic category of ldquovictimrdquo was studied which was used in normative legal acts of the Soviet state in the first half of the 20th century i.e. before the formation of the domestic Soviet victimology. The author for the first time in domestic victimology offered to recognize as a victim not only physical and legal persons social groups and public formations but also a social institution ndash a family. Practical significance the main provisions and conclusions of the article can be used in scientific educational legislative and enforcement activities.