Normative regulation of the establishment of punitive psychiatry in the USSR.

Abstract

The Soviet authorities adopted several documents that made it possible to use medical institutions for the forced detention of "inconvenient" people: the instruction "On imprisonment as a punishment and the procedure for its serving" (1918); the instruction of the People's Commissariat of Justice "On the examination of the mentally ill" (8. 06.1918), "Regulations on Psychiatric Examination" (8.05.1919); October 24, 1921, the resolution "On Forensic Medical Experts" (24.10.1921). The aim of the study. The legislation contained some provisions that contradicted each other. Thus, in the Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSR (1922), Article 161 provided for liability for placing a person who is known to be healthy in a hospital for the mentally ill for mercenary or other personal reasons. This crime against personal freedom was punishable by imprisonment for a term of at least 5 years. The Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSR of 1927 also contained a similar provision - for “placing a knowingly healthy person in a hospital for the mentally ill for mercenary or other personal reasons” (Article 156), but the sentence was 3 years. At the same time, in 1922, the CPC included articles on compulsory treatment “as a measure of social protection” that could be applied in accordance with a court decision. Forced hospitalization of a person contradicted Articles 58-60 of the Criminal Code, as this decision could be made by a court.