Forced Labour Assignment for a Period of Less than 2 Months: Problems of Law Enforcement Practice

The article deals with the problematic aspects of the imposition of criminal punishment in the form of forced labour for a period below the lower limit stipulated by the General part of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The author found that the short period of compulsory works can create certain difficulties for the staff of the correctional centre in solving the issues of employment of the convict, carrying out educational work with him and preparing for his release from serving the sentence. In particular, it is expressed in the lack of sufficient time to find a suitable job for the convict, organize activities aimed at the correction of the convicted person and his successful adaptation in society after release from the penitentiary system. Additional difficulties in the organization of compulsory works lasting less than 2 months are associated with the procedure for calculating the term of serving them, which do not allow the content of the analysed punishment to be implemented in full. As a result, the purpose of forced labour as a punishment related to correctional labour influence on the convict is distorted. This indicates the need to introduce amendments to the criminal legislation concerning the abolition of the possibility of imposing compulsory works for a period of less than 2 months and the revision of the minimum duration of this criminal punishment.