Development of the Institution of life imprisonment in the Republic of Belarus: criminological and penal aspects
The article is devoted to the issues related to the execution and serving of a life sentence, using the example of the Republic of Belarus. The criminological characteristics of convicts’ personality are given, and separate proposals are made to optimize the correctional process. The authors note that the practice of punishment execution in the Republic of Belarus is generally similar to many foreign countries. Taking into account the questionnaire compiled by the authors, the characteristics of socio-demographic, moral-psychological, criminal-legal and social-role properties of convicts sentenced to life imprisonment were determined. Thus, the age of convicted persons is from 26 to 58 years. The largest number of people is of working age. Convicts, as a rule, have a low educational level. Most of the respondents are unmarried or divorced. Most convicts do not have children. The majority of them maintain socially useful relationships with relatives. The convicts have a positive attitude to matters of faith. A quarter of them did not work anywhere before the sentencing. Most of the convicts do not have chronic diseases. At the same time, 7.4% of respondents identified themselves as having mental behavioral disorders. For a significant part of the respondents, the served sentence is the first criminal record. The psychological attitude of prisoners to the committed crimes shows that in most cases they repent of what they did and blame only themselves for what happened. A large number of convicts draw attention to themselves, because they put the lack of perspective in the foreground. Taking into account the criminological characteristics, it is concluded that a person sentenced to life imprisonment is an atypical person, in respect of whom it is advisable to apply, along with established forms and methods of correctional influence, a special technique focused on overcoming a specific psychological mood and aimed at achieving the goals of criminal responsibility.