Compulsory Treatment of Persons Who Have Committed a Socially Dangerous Act in a State of Mental Disorder or Who Have Fallen Ill After Such an Аct: Historical Aspect

Abstract

Introduction. The object of the study is the legal relationship on the establishment of state compulsory medical treatment for persons with mental disorders who have committed socially dangerous acts established in the monuments of Russian criminal law (1649–1960). Methods. In this study, the historical method was used accordingly. The comparative legal method was also used, which made it possible to draw the main conclusion – about the evolutionary (smooth, not abrupt) state regulation of these legal relations. The application of the theological method led to the conclusion that until the beginning of the XIXth century, these persons who had not committed serious socially dangerous acts were kept either by relatives or in monasteries, being essentially outcasts. Results. One of the main conclusions was the conclusion that it is necessary to return to the list of socially dangerous acts committed by persons in a state of insanity or by persons who became insane after committing such an act, as the basis for applying compulsory medical measures to such a person. Discussion and Conclusion. In this study, the author came to the following conclusions: 1) state compulsory measures against persons with mental disorders were first officially enshrined in the Cathedral Code of 1649: they represented control over the independent healing of a sick person for his subsequent responsibility in court; 2) state compulsory measures for persons with mental disorders in the form of premises: in the monastery were provided in 1715 by the Military Article, in the orders of public charity in 1775, in special homes of the insane in 1845 by the Code of Criminal and Correctional Punishments; 3) state compulsory measures against persons with mental disorders in the form of compulsory treatment of such persons were first provided for in 1922 by the Criminal Code of the RSFSR. At the same time the basis for the application of such measures narrowed: if before the RSFSR Criminal Code of 1922, such a basis (in addition to the crime committed by him) was the danger of such a person (both for himself and for society), then since 1922 such the basis (in addition to the crime committed) began to recognize the danger of such a person only to society. This state of affairs existed normatively until the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in 1996. The statement of this fact refuted the hypothesis of an evolutionary improvement in the attitude towards persons with mental disorders according to the monuments of Russian law. This research can be used in the study of the historical development of the types of state compulsory measures on the treatment of persons with mental disorders (who committed or fell ill after a socially dangerous act), and for determination of the grounds for the application of each of them.