Investigation Authorities Fighting Crime In Pre-Revolutionary Russia In The 19th Century

Abstract

The presented material is exclusively based on archival documents and other little-known sources introduced into the scientific community for the first time. It reveals features of the work of the investigative apparatus, which was a part of the political and city police of the Russian Empire solving the most serious criminal acts, as well as anti-state crimes. Investigators were involved in combating the above types of crimes, mainly in two departments: the city police and the political police. Besides, to investigate the most resonant cases, special officials and commissions were appointed, created personally by the governors and even the emperor. The authors reveal the main directions, forms, and methods of investigative work, as well as show the ways of interaction between law enforcement officers from different departments, focus on the emerging interdepartmental contradictions and ways to overcome them. The study provides examples of solving the most complex and resonant cases. The authors also analyze the main regulations governing the work of investigators, their strengths, and weaknesses. In the course of our work, we relied on a system-functional approach to the study of the events. The authors took into account by modern general theoretical ideas about the laws of development of the state and statehood. An important role is assigned to uncovering the social roots of the crimes committed, the bulk of which was generated by corruption and the omnipotence of the bureaucratic apparatus, the arbitrariness of the landowners in relation to their serfs.