On social significance of custodial sentence

The present study considers the social problems that arise in connection with the negative reaction of Russian society to the measures that the state takes to mitigate criminal punishment. It is aimed at identifying the reasons for negative attitude of citizens to such initiatives of the government in the field of the penitentiary system. The study examines the social factors that contribute to the spread in modern Russian society of tendencies of non-acceptance by its members of state decisions to mitigate criminal punishment. The influence of these factors determines the steady increase in recidivism. First of all, this is facilitated by the ineffectiveness of measures in the form of deprivation of liberty with the tendency of society to toughen criminal penalties. It is concluded that it is necessary to gradually but steadily reduce the practice of using deprivation of liberty as a measure of state influence applied to a person found guilty of committing a crime. There are made proposals related to the creation of a mechanism to change society's attitude to ongoing measures of the state towards the mitigation of criminal punishment in a positive direction.