On crime and punishment

During the period of ten years Dostojevski analyzed the destinies and characters of vagabonds and robbers in Siberia and '… generally speaking everything which belonged to the monotonous and sad life.' His psychological eye being always awake penetrated into the most delicate parts of human soul. Describing about forty various pathological types in his books, Dostojevski became the writer of the underground. The novel 'Crime and punishment' represents some kind of a case-study and discussion on the sense and absurdity of crime and punishment which are the central notions of criminal law. Reflections about crime and the ways and purpose of its performers being punished are as old as a mankind. Certain criminal acts such as a murder have existed in all societies and periods of time. The difference is in the reaction to them - from revenge to resocialization, from death penalty to its abolition. Also, there have been the differences in comprehensions about the causes leading to criminal acts, and about the fact whether the factors having an influence over an individual are purely internal by nature, or whether they are a result of a cooperation with external circumstances to which one should give priority. Building a society without crime is a challenge to which no one has succeeded to reply.