A Socialist System of Justice: Observations from a Visit to the U.S.S.R.

Abstract

This paper presents observations of the Soviet system of justice, including the courts, the procuracy (described as a combination of a prosecutor or district attorney and a police investigator), criminal trials, sentencing, and corrections. The paper is based upon a three-week visit by the author to the USSR as one of 24 American participants in a criminal justice study program. In all, just over three weeks were spent in the Soviet Union including lengthy visits in Leningrad, Moscow, and Tallin (then-capital of Soviet Estonia). The opportunity of first hand observation and direct interaction with Soviet policy and law makers and Soviet academicians has done much toward destroying myths about Soviet justice practices.