Crimes and Punishments Unexpected help to reveal the personal stories of unknown and unfamous St. Petersburgers

Corporal punishment in Russia, imposed by sentences of courts as independent, additional and, finally, replacing imprisonment, remained to a significant extent until April 17, 1863. Their abolition was promptly caused by the abolition of serfdom and the general transformations of the 60s, with with which the previous punitive system was in complete contradiction. Such a measure of punishment was defined as “evil in Christian, moral and social relations”; their uselessness, cruelty and incompatibility with any developed sense of honor were pointed out.

In the 20th century Physical punishment were used in educational institutions and were not regulated by law in any way (Although they were abolished as a form of education for schoolchildren in 1864, when the “Decree on the exemption from corporal punishment of students in secondary educational institutions” was issued).

4.3. Imprisonment.

Imprisonment (lat. career), as a type of punishment, was allowed only in relation to slaves - for unimportant crimes, for disobeying masters, for refusing to testify, etc. Prisons were mainly either temples, or underground premises used for other purposes than circuses, gladiator schools, and other public institutions. There was no regulation of terms of imprisonment and, apparently, everything depended on administrative practice in each case.

Imprisonment was not considered a punishment. “Prison should not be given in order to punish people, but in order to keep them in custody” (“Career ad hominess custodiendos, non ad puniendos dari debet”).

If the defendant was sentenced to deliver a certain thing and did not transfer it voluntarily within two months, then it was forcibly confiscated from him if the debtor did not have property to fulfill court decision, he was imprisoned.

However, the main purpose of prisons in Ancient Rome was to hold prisoners until a verdict was passed or in anticipation of the impending death penalty: according to ancient custom, after a guilty verdict was passed, the parricide was put on a wolf skin on his head, wooden shoes on his feet and taken to prison, where he waited for the leather to be made. bag.

Conditions in Roman prisons were in keeping with the spirit of the time. Guy Caligula, “when the price of cattle, which were used to fatten wild animals for spectacles, became more expensive, he ordered that criminals be thrown to them to be torn to pieces; and, going around the prisons for this, did not look at who was to blame for what, but directly ordered, standing at the door, to take away everyone, “from bald to bald.”

In Ancient Rome of legendary times, Servia Tullia, there was an underground prison Tullianum, in which people died from contagious diseases great amount Christians, state criminals, prisoners of war of rulers, who here waited to be paraded through the streets of the city during a triumph, and then killed by a noose and starvation.

At the moment, imprisonment for life in Russia and in a number of other countries is the most severe punishment.

4.4. Deprivation civil status.

“Once, Gaius Caligula, an exile, deprived of his rights, and returned from a long exile, asked what he was doing there; he flatteringly replied: “I tirelessly prayed to the gods so that Tiberius would die and you would become emperor, as it happened.” Then he thought that the exiles were begging for his death too, and he sent soldiers across the islands,

to kill them all."

For malfeasance and violations of the moral principles of society, the laws provided for the deprivation of a citizen of his status.

It could be:

maximum - in the form of complete and final deprivation of the rights of a Roman citizen (by expulsion from the community forever, by sale into slavery outside Roman territory) and could be partial;

partial - citizenship rights followed either after conviction for deprivation of rights in the Roman family (crimes against relatives, dishonorable acts), or after special deprivation rights of citizenship through condemnation to exile (deportatio).

“Exilium est patriae privatio, natalis solo mutatio, legum nativarum amissio” (“Exile or expulsion means deprivation of one’s homeland, change of place of residence and loss of the protection of the law of the place of birth”).

Deportation usually involved forced removal to an island; Occasionally, there were cases of deportation to remote Roman settlements in newly conquered territories. The regime of exile could also be different and provide for different consequences: the convicted person could be exiled from Rome altogether without designating a specific place of his residence - and then he could live where there would be no objections from local authorities; could be exiled to some strictly defined place - and then the local authorities made sure that he did not leave the place of settlement assigned to him. The sentence could provide for the possibility of return after a certain period; if this was not the case, then the exiled person certainly could not return from exile without additional legal decisions. The only reason why unauthorized return from exile was not punishable was the justified desire to see the sovereign or petition him (unless, of course, the sovereign had previously expressed a ban on such a petition).

At the same time, all property of the person sentenced to deprivation was confiscated and citizenship rights were deprived.

During the Soviet era, such a punishment as deprivation of civil status (literally, deprivation of citizenship) was often used. Deprivation of USSR citizenship could take place in exceptional case by decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, if a person “committed actions that discredit high rank citizen of the USSR and damaging the prestige or state security of the USSR” (Article 18 of the Law “On Citizenship of the USSR”). At the same time, depriving a person of citizenship of the USSR, as in Ancient Rome, did not entail a change in the citizenship of his spouse and children. In the judicial system of modern Russia there is no such punishment as deprivation of citizenship and civil rights(Only November 28, 1991 for the first time in the domestic

history, a rule was introduced stating that a citizen of the Russian Federation cannot be deprived

citizenship.

4.5. Forced labor

Both non-Roman and Roman citizens could be sentenced to this type of punishment, but for the latter there was a precondition in the form of deprivation of citizenship rights, and therefore they were, as it were, punished by slavish, unworthy occupations. There were two main types of forced labor:

sentencing to work in the mines (for crimes against the Roman people, for war crimes), which were considered the next most serious punishment after the death penalty,

sentencing to use gladiators in the school (instructor, fighter, “doll” for training);

The second type of forced labor was somewhat more favorable, since it provided the potential opportunity, with craft success, to receive freedom from slavery in a successfully conducted battle.

The application of this punishment was often pragmatic in nature - for example, in the 3rd century, having identified a gang of counterfeiters, half of them were executed, but the most skilled swindlers in their field were exiled to prison. forced labor, just not to the mines, but to mint- so where the skills were put to use.

In North Korea, coaches are sentenced to forced labor for an unsuccessful team performance in any sport.

In the USA, the practice of such punishment is also widely used - for example, for huge debts for loans to state banks, the debtor can be sentenced to such work with complete confiscation of wages. In some states, such a measure may be applied for the use (less often for possession) of light narcotic substances.

4.5. The death penalty

“Ultimum supplicium esse mortem solam interpretamur” (“We consider the death penalty alone as a last resort”).

Celsus - Roman Platonist philosopher

Death penalty - in lat. poena capitis.

This type of punishment was imposed either due to special public danger, special audacity of crimes, or an encroachment on the sacred foundations of Roman society. The usual method of capital punishment in classical Rome was beheading with an axe; for the military or in military conditions - with a sword. Special types of death penalty (for qualified crimes, usually with a special subject) were: crucifixion (in the pre-Christian era for free people who violated religious precepts and condemned by priestly justice; in the Christian era - for slaves), drowning in a bag thrown into the water (for killing their relatives), burning, giving wild animals during circus performances (equivalent to crucifixion and with the same religious meaning of rejecting condemnation), walling up in a wall (in relation to women - priestesses of the goddess Vesta, or later nuns for violations of religious regulations or public morality), throwing from a cliff. There were also so-called domestic forms of death penalty in use, expressed in sentencing to suicide (forcing to drink poison, opening veins in a warm bath, etc.).

In classical times, the imposition of a death penalty entailed its immediate application. During the monarchy, it became a tradition to defer the sentence: from 30 days to 1 year. The place where the death penalty was carried out also changed: at first it was mandatory to carry it out in the open air, later it became more common to use it behind closed doors, in prisons or other places of detention. In the era of paganism, the body of a criminal was necessarily given to relatives for burial. In the Middle Ages, especially when the death penalty was associated with religious condemnation of the condemned person, the body of the executed person, as a rule, was not buried and was desecrated.

The most widespread practice in Ancient Rome was crucifixion, being the main type of cruel, shameful and painful death penalty. "In Republican Rome in the first century BC, this was a standard and shameful form of execution," says Beard, a history specialist. ancient world. “If you were a citizen of Rome, you could not be executed in this way.”

This is how especially dangerous criminals (rebels, traitors, prisoners of war, robbers, runaway slaves) were executed. After the suppression of the Spartacus uprising, all the captured slaves, about 6 thousand people, were crucified on crosses along the Appian Way from Capuido Rome. Marcus Licinius Crasstacus did not give the order to remove the bodies. This example is the most famous in the history of Roman capital punishment.

Sometimes a small ledge was attached to the center of the cross, on which the crucified person could rest his feet. The Latin word crux, which is usually translated as "cross", actually originally had a broader meaning, meaning any pole on which condemned people were hanged, such as a T-shaped cross.

Often the crucifixion itself was preceded by a shameful procession, during which the person condemned to death had to carry the patibulum, a wooden beam (sometimes weighing up to 30-50 kg), which was placed on the shoulders and tied to the hands, and which then served as the horizontal crossbar of the cross.

Upon arrival at the place, the convict’s clothes were taken off, laid on the ground, his arms were stretched out wide and they were nailed to the ends of the crossbar with nails (less often wooden stakes), which were then pulled up with ropes to the top of a pillar previously dug into the ground (in another case, they were crucified on a cross, which was then raised vertically). The convict's arms and legs were nailed to the ends of crosses with nails or wooden stakes, or the limbs were fixed with ropes. If the nails were driven into the palms, then so that the executed person would not jump from the cross, sacrificing his palms, his wrists were tied with ropes to the crossbar.

In some cases, in order to prolong the agony of the executed, the patibulum (and only this) was removed from the body of the condemned person at night, and when morning came, they again placed it on a vertical pole. The latter, as a rule, was done until the victim died from painful shock.

Today, in theory, crucifixion is still one of the punishments in the Islamic Republic of Iran (Iranian Islamic Criminal Law, Article 195), although there are no known examples of its use. According to the law, if the executed person endured three days of crucifixion, he is allowed to live. The execution is described as follows: “The condemned person is suspended from beams in the shape of a cross, with his back to the cross, facing Mecca, his feet vertical and far from the ground.”

In some interpretations of the Koran in the fifth sura there are the words: Verily, the reward of those who fight with Allah and His Messenger and try to cause wickedness on earth is that they will be killed, or crucified, or their hands and feet will be cut off crosswise, or they will be driven out of the land. This is a shame for them in their next life, and in the last for them it is a great punishment...” It is this interpretation that allows terrorist groups to use the crucifixion that came to Rome to intimidate Christians in the modern era.

The death penalty

True, the law stipulated such a murder with the mandatory presence of witnesses, for which the person who captured the thief had to call the people together with a shout. If the theft was committed during the day, then the law prohibited killing the criminal at the scene of the crime; in such cases he was subjected to corporal punishment,

Under Constantine, a captured slave lost his leg, and at best he was exiled to the mine.

Mommsen T. Roman history Vol. 1 Page.

566 The crisis of the republic. The Great Slave Revolt under the leadership of Spartacus //. Encyclopedia: in 10 volumes / Ed. A. M. Belyavsky, L. Lazarevich, A. L. Mongait. - M.: State Publishing House of Political Literature, 1956. - T. 2. - 900 p.

Cross, instrument of execution // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907.

Article "Crucifixion: how a Roman execution was revived in modern Syria", BBC, April 2014

Wild animals played a big role for the ancient Romans, so they often used them to execute criminals. As a rule, the arena is a favorite place for murder, because they accommodated a huge number of spectators. And it was convenient to keep bears, leopards, alligators, elephants and bulls there, which were then used for execution.

Quite often, to deal with a criminal, he was wrapped in a tight net so that his movements were constrained. The person was then suspended in the air or simply left lying on the ground. And then an enraged bull appeared in the arena, which usually immediately attacked the wounded criminal. After death, he was unwound and his throat was additionally cut with a knife. Sometimes women were also tied to the horns of a bull so that the animal would gore them to death.

Often criminals were killed with a sword. In the early stages of Roman history, beheading was popular, but later this type of execution was considered insufficiently spectacular. It was replaced by sword fighting with experienced gladiators. Sometimes criminals were given weapons, but more often than not they were sent into the arena bare-handed. Therefore, they were forced to run along it until the gladiator pierced them with a sword. As a rule, foreigners and rebels were sentenced to such execution.

Crucifixion is the most famous method of ancient Roman execution throughout the world. Criminals were nailed to wooden crosses and were usually exhibited in the arena. Their deaths were very painful. First, their legs were broken, and then nails were driven straight into their hands. The criminals usually died within a few days from suffocation, blood loss and dehydration. It is noteworthy that archaeologists were able to discover the remains of only two people executed by crucifixion. Both of them were men.

Elephants often took part in performances in amphitheaters or arenas throughout the Roman Empire. Often they were simply put on display for the crowd, but sometimes they were trained and taught to do tricks. Often the emperor and his relatives killed elephants in front of people, participating in the great hunt. Because of their size, the animals were used to kill people. For example, in 167 BC. e. General Aemilius Paulus ordered elephants to trample soldiers who tried to desert his army. If the criminal managed to escape, he was beheaded.

This public execution also took place in the arena. Slaves and criminals were dressed in brightly colored clothing soaked in a flammable substance. They were then placed in the center of the arena and set on fire. While their clothes were on fire, the victims had to dance to entertain the spectators. Emperor Nero perfected this type of execution. He forced criminals to wear papyrus clothing that was impregnated with wax and resin. Because of them, victims died a long and painful death, since the material did not burn, but slowly melted.

Sometimes criminals were given a choice, but the alternative was not pleasant. For example, convicts were asked to put their hands into the fire. If they refused, they were burned alive. Another sophisticated way to punish a person is to force him to castrate himself. As a rule, victims agreed to similar procedure. After this they became slaves forever.

"Funny fights"

Executions of prisoners of war, criminals and slaves were usually carried out in the morning, before the gladiatorial fights, which were extremely popular with the public. Usually they killed only small group of people. Most often they were executed alone or in pairs. But in in rare cases improvised battles were staged in the arena, in which a large group of people, usually prisoners of war or deserters, were supposed to die. Sometimes the emperor himself supervised the organization of real reconstruction of valiant military battles. Hundreds and even thousands of victims took part in such “funny battles.”

Myths were extremely popular in the empire Ancient Greece. But reading them was quite boring, so they were often played out right on the stage of arenas. The actors, of course, were criminals sentenced to death. What was happening on stage, with all its cruelty, exactly reproduced the plot of the most popular myths. Thus, women were usually raped before death and only then died.

We have already talked above about how criminals were killed with the help of angry bulls and elephants. But these are not all wild animals that were used to kill those sentenced to death. There were several in Rome alternative ways executions using animals.

One of the surviving stories tells of how a criminal was tied to a cart and left in front of a hungry leopard. The animal grabbed his head with both paws and began to bite and scratch until the unfortunate man simply bled to death. Other victims of wild animals were also tied to poles, which were installed in the middle of the arena.

Sometimes the condemned were also given wooden swords so that they could fight a leopard or any other animal. Of course, they did not achieve success, so their death was also long and painful. Often, criminals were simply released into the arena at the same time as a hungry predator, since they simply had to run away from them to escape. But even if they managed to survive the attack of the animal, they were still executed. Usually their throats were simply cut.

If you think that after accepting Christianity brutal executions stopped in Rome, then you are mistaken. Prisoners of war and criminals were still killed in the most sophisticated ways. For example, their eyes and tongues were ripped out alive, and only then beheaded. Burning and quartering were popular. But now executions were not carried out in arenas, which turned into markets, workshops and even living quarters. Some of them were already converted into Christian churches.

The Aztecs stabbed naughty children with cactus needles, in China they used “sea pike bites” for treason, and in Ancient Rome a brother could punish his sister by having sex with her. How human society punished its careless members?

Application capital punishment punishment among the Aztecs was not uncommon. Not only serious crimes such as murder and rape were punishable by death, but also witchcraft, slander and disturbing public order.

These harsh mountain dwellers became famous for their severity towards their own offspring. Diversity social roles The Aztecs did not indulge: boys were taught from a young age to be good warriors and hunters, girls - to be good wives and mothers. Nothing else was given - except to those especially chosen, such as the children of noble persons, who could choose the profession of a priest, dignitary or military leader.
In the first years of life, however, children were treated quite leniently, limiting themselves only to moral teachings. And only when the offspring turned six years old did a clearly thought-out system of punishment come into its own. Everything was used: rods, whips, but most of all red pepper. The Mexica (as the Aztecs called themselves) were so harsh that they forced their “gene pool” to breathe over a fire into which they threw pepper.
Sometimes pepper was applied to the eyes. For lying, they either simply beat me or pierced my lip with a cactus needle, which was also bitter. It was not allowed to take it out. Violations of some rules and other serious offenses were punished not only with pain, but also with humiliation: the child was left to spend the night on the street in the mud or in a puddle. Heads were shaved for skipping classes. By the way, children from all classes attended school, but for girls and boys, as well as for children of commoners and nobility, the schools were different: youth houses (telpuchkalli), where they were admitted from the age of 15, and schools of nobles (calmecak).

Ancient Rome


Initially, in the Eternal City there was probably only one type of punishment - the death penalty. It could also be considered as a sacrifice to those gods who were “offended” by the criminal. The German historian Theodor Mommsen wrote: “He (the criminal - Note from My Planet) was chained to a post, stripped and flogged; then they laid him on the ground and beheaded him with an axe. This procedure clearly corresponds to the killing of a sacrificial animal and is due to the sacred nature of primitive executions.”

And further, despite the relative humanism of Roman society, they did not stand on ceremony with criminals. The range of punishments has only grown. For theft of grain they were beheaded, for murder free citizen, a relative or a woman was drowned in a sack - along with several animals: snakes, a rooster, a monkey or a dog, for treason to the state, or in the case of slaves - for theft, thrown from a cliff, for an outstanding debt, the body was cut into pieces, slaves - for almost any offenders (not always, but only at the whim of the owner) were thrown to be eaten by lampreys or moray eels, and for arson they were burned, turning the unfortunates into the famous “living torches,” which were probably a frequent occurrence during the reign of Emperor Nero.

Moreover, any type of execution, even the most cruel, was invariably preceded by a painful flogging. Sometimes, however, it was possible to do without fatal outcome. Brother, for example, had legal right punish your sister for disobedience by using sexual violence.

China is ancient and not very


In terms of the most perverted punishments, China is undoubtedly the leader. In the 1st century BC. e. for criminals who committed the same crime, completely different ways punishments that depended on " creativity" judges. The most common were sawing off feet (at first only one, but if the criminal was caught a second time, then a second time), knocking out or drilling out the kneecaps, cutting off the nose or ears, and branding. Among other things, they “prescribed” the tearing of the body with two or four chariots, breaking out the ribs, boiling in boiling water, crucifixion (the person was simply put on his knees, tying his hands to a cross made of sticks, and left to “roast” in the sun), castration, after which the person, as usually died from blood poisoning. No less popular was burying alive in the ground - this method was especially often practiced in relation to prisoners.

During the reign of the Tang dynasty - in the 7th century AD. e. - legislation came into force and existed almost unchanged until the beginning of the last century. Then they approved the execution option “carrying out five types of punishments,” when a person was first branded, then all limbs were cut off, then beaten with sticks, and then his head was cut off to display it in the market square. For especially serious offenses, not only the criminal himself was punished, but the entire family was slaughtered - from father and mother to wives, brothers and sisters with their spouses and children. In general, monstrous.

Chinese executions have always been long and torturous. Until 1905, “death by a thousand cuts” or “sea pike bites” were used for treason and parricide. The victim was pumped with opium (to reduce the pain shock), stripped naked, taken to the square and tied to a pole. And then, armed with saws and hacksaws, they cut small pieces of skin from the unfortunate man. As a rule, a person died without waiting for the execution to end.
But the Chinese did not have prisons - it was too expensive.

Despite the sadism of Ivan the Terrible, who actively practiced torture on the rack, quartering, mass drowning of people, impalement and burning with fire, Peter I was a famous entertainer in terms of punishments. True, his system, prescribed in Military regulations, did not always provide for the death of the culprit.
One of the most common types of “tightening” was walking on stakes, and it was also the most painful. It was assigned for breaking the law, theft or non-payment of debt. The man took off his shoes and walked barefoot on sharp pieces of wood. No less popular was iron branding - a letter imprinted on the cheek, arm, shoulders or calves meant the first letter of the crime committed by a person. They practiced cutting off ears, cutting off hands, fingers, tearing out tongues or nostrils - such measures were provided for repeated or especially serious crimes, as well as offenses against noble people.
Flogging was used very often, especially against minors or adults for minor crimes. They beat me with a whip, batogs (sticks), and rods. They practiced driving a convict through a line of soldiers armed with spitzrutens (long flexible rods). And only by the beginning of the 20th century, corporal punishment in all public institutions - from prisons and the army to schools - was gradually abolished.

In ancient Rome they used very wide range executions for lawbreakers. Moreover, the type of execution and the severity of the sentence were strongly influenced by a person’s belonging to a certain class.

Executions for aristocrats

As a death penalty in ancient Rome, for a noble person, they resorted to strangulation with a rope. Moreover, this procedure was often carried out secretly in a dungeon with a limited public. Participants in the famous conspiracy of Catiline, sentenced to death, were punished in this way. The famous philosopher held the position of consul at that time, and received special honor for uncovering the conspiracy. Later, the Roman Empire stopped using rope strangulation. Sometimes noble citizens of Rome were given the opportunity to choose the type of execution themselves or kill themselves.

Types of executions in Ancient Rome

In ancient Rome, drowning was used as an execution. This was the punishment chosen for the murderer own parents or relatives. Criminals were drowned in a leather bag; animals (dog, rooster, monkey or snake) were usually sewn into it. These representatives of the animal world were considered by the Romans to not honor their parents.
The most shameful and painful punishment among the ancient Romans was crucifixion. It was used for slaves, prisoners, rebels, traitors and murderers. The cross was dug into the ground, and the criminal was fixed on it with ropes and nails. Such a death caused a lot of suffering: people died from dehydration and blood loss.
In Rome, beheading was widely used. As a rule, such an execution was public, it was carried out in front of the city gates. The reason for taking the life of the criminal was announced to the assembled people. His head was then covered with cloth and cut off with an axe.