The Birth of Soviet Criminology: Mikhail Gernet’s Vision of the Good State and the Dangers of the People in 1917

Abstract

Abstract Mikhail Nikolaevich Gernet was a central figure in the study of criminology during the tsarist period, when he championed the sociological school of criminology. During the 1920s, he led the study of crime and penal reform. Through a study of Gernet’s important, largely overlooked, writings in 1917, this article argues that the revolution was a pivotal moment in his thinking and career. Gernet’s hopes in the February Revolution were crushed by what he saw as a dangerous wave of crime and samosud (mob violence) that did not respect the new state authority.