The Legal Regulation of the Penitentiary Justice of the USSR (1944 – 1956)

In this article, on the basis of documents stored in the funds of the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History and the United State Archive of the Chelyabinsk Region, the regulation of the penitentiary justice authorities is considered. The aim of the paper is to identify the characteristic features of the regulation of the activities of the penitentiary justice bodies. The number of those convicted by the penitentiary courts for the period of their existence (1946–1956) is revealed. The characteristic features of the regulation of the activities of the penitentiary justice bodies are highlighted. These include the following. Firstly, the delphic language resulting in the lack of clearly defined competence for the penitentiary courts; their functions expanded and narrowed. Secondly, the inconsistency of the regulatory framework manifested in the fact that by-laws passed by the Ministry of Justice contradicted the legislation and limited the rights of the accused and defendants. The practice of the Judicial Collegium for Penitentiary Courts of the USSR Supreme Court was not consistent. The author distinguishes two stages in the development of the competence of prison camp courts. The first one that lasted until the early 1950s was the period of expansion. The second stage was reduction of competence. At the same time, initially the reduction of competence was not common. But, after the death of I. Stalin, this process became widespread.