Soviet Archives - Collection of Government Documents on Workers

From the Collection of enactment and decrees of the government for 1921, Administration of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR

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1920, No. 13, Article 83

Decree of the Council of Peopleʹs Commissars.

On cases of minors accused of socially dangerous acts.

In the amendment and development of the decree on the establishment of a commission on minors accused of socially dangerous acts (1918, No. 16, art. 227), the Council of Peopleʹs Commissars decided:

1. Courts and imprisonment for minors and minors are abolished.

2. Minors are persons of both sexes who have not reached the age of 18.

3. Cases about minors of both sexes under 18 years old who are noticed in actions of socially dangerous, are subject to the jurisdiction of the commission on minors.

4. When considering cases of minors aged 14‐18, if the commission establishes the impossibility of applying medical and pedagogical measures to the minor, the case is referred by the commission to the Peopleʹs Court.

Note . The Peopleʹs Commissariat of Justice is charged with the following:

a) to place the above minors separately from adults,

b) start organizing the relevant institutions (reformers) together with the Peopleʹs Commissariat of Education.

5.                   When establishing the criminal participation of adults in the case, the commission shall inform the subject of the judicial or investigative body about the signs of the criminal participation of these persons discovered by it.

6.                   Commissions on minors are formed under the Peopleʹs Commissariat of Education and its provincial and district bodies. Educational and medical educational institutions are under the jurisdiction of the Peopleʹs Commissariats of Education and Health by affiliation.

These commissions are composed of obligatory representatives of the Peopleʹs Commissariats of Education and Health (psychiatrist) and the Peopleʹs Court.

Note . To instruct the Peopleʹs Commissariat of Justice to exercise stricter supervision over the personnel of the commission members on minors and how their duty is being fulfilled.

7.                   Education, training and treatment of morally defective minors accused of socially dangerous actions, being a medical and pedagogical task, is carried out by the Peopleʹs Commissariats of Education and Health in the relevant medical and educational institutions, where the commissions on minors send them. If necessary, such minors can be subjected to a particularly careful regime and isolation in special medical institutions of the Peopleʹs Commissariat of Health.

8.                   The Peopleʹs Commissariat of Education, together with the Peopleʹs Commissariats of Health and Justice, is obliged to develop detailed instructions for organizing the work of the commission and educational institutions.

Signed by:

Chairman of the Council of Peopleʹs Commissars V. Ulyanov (Lenin) .

Head of the Council of Peopleʹs Commissars V. Bonch‐Bruevich.

Secretary L. Fotieva .

March 4, 1920.

Published in No. 51 of Izvestia of the All‐Russian Central Executive

Committee of Soviets dated March 6, 1920.