The state of crime and the activities of the judicial authorities of the Kaluga province in combating it at the beginning of the 20th century

the great liberal reforms of the era of Emperor Alexander II undoubtedly contributed to significant shifts in the socio-political sphere of society, affected the economic situation in the Russian Empire as a whole and in its regions, in particular, which in turn influenced criminal processes. The peasant reform contributed to the liberation of a significant number of former serfs, secured personal civil non-property and property rights for peasants, but at the same time led to some restrictions on state and public control over the most numerous estate in the country. In addition, the rather rapid industrial growth, which took place in parallel with the process of the collapse of the peasant community, pushed former serfs to move from the peasant environment to the cities. These trends largely determined criminogenic processes in the early 20th century both in the territory of Kaluga Province and in Russia as a whole. In the presented article, the purpose of the study is to analyze the activities of their judicial structures in Kaluga province on the basis of statistical materials. The objectives of the study include determining the nature of crime, studying the types of crimes committed, the number of convicts, and evaluating the effectiveness of provincial judicial structures during the period under study. The authors conclude that there is a tendency in the activities of the judicial authorities of Kaluga province to increase the volume of criminal cases under consideration, based on statistics of the total number of crimes committed and the participation of representatives of certain classes in them, primarily the peasantry.

Kaluga Province, early 20th century, Kaluga District Court, city courts, crime control