Compulsory labor as a type of criminal punishment: Article 49 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Compulsory labor as a type of criminal punishment is considered an independent form of influence on the guilty person for the committed criminal act.
This punishment has characteristics that are distinctive from other types: duration of execution and penalties for violation of requirements. According to Art. 49 of the Criminal Code, a person to whom a court sentence has been applied remains free and at a certain time must engage in this type of work for free. The form in which the work will be assigned and carried out is established by the administration of the municipality together with representatives of the criminal executive body. Multi-channel free hotline Legal advice on criminal law. Every day from 9.00 to 21.00

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Punishment without deprivation of communication with people

Compulsory labor is one of the types of criminal penalties that is not associated with the isolation of a person from society. The distinctive feature of this punishment is the absence of round-the-clock correctional coercion in the commentary to Article 49.

The following are considered positive aspects of applying measures without depriving people of the opportunity to communicate with people:

Low level of repressiveness, allowing you to communicate without restrictions in society with other people.
Relationships with relatives remain inextricable.
Lack of measures to adapt the convicted person after execution of the sentence, since the social situation did not change.
There is no connection with the criminal world and, as a result, personality degradation does not occur.
The effectiveness of public control in the process of execution of work.

The legislation provides for several criminal articles under which those convicted, when brought to justice, remain in civil society.

Compulsory labor is used as punishment for minor crimes:

in relation to someone else's property;
against the activities of enterprises and organizations;
other similar acts.

The places where compulsory labor is performed are designated by the executive authorities of the constituent entities. Divisions of the penal system agree on the objects and form of such work.

The performance of work does not require any professional qualifications from the convicted person. Examples of work performed include:

Cleaning streets, parks, squares, squares, public transport stops.
Planting green spaces.
Support work in shelters and nursing homes.

Types of work are assigned based on the personal characteristics and skills of each person serving a sentence.

Other factors in assigning a certain type of punishment are the possibility of monitoring its execution and the requests of the convicted person.

Commentary to Art. 49 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

When considering this issue and further questions about punishment, during the serving of which the content of the punishment includes the obligation of convicts to work, it should immediately be noted that this labor is not forced or compulsory labor prohibited by the International Labor Organization Convention No. 29 on forced or compulsory labor (Geneva, June 10, 1930), where in Art. 2 from the concepts of “forced” or “compulsory labor” excludes, in particular, any work or service required of any person as a result of a sentence passed by a judicial authority, provided that this work or service will be carried out under the supervision and control of state authorities and that the said person will not be assigned or placed at the disposal of private individuals, companies or societies.

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Gazette of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. 1956. N 13. Art. 279.

This introduction is necessary due to the fact that the content of punishment in the form of compulsory labor, defined in Part 1 of Art. 49 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, consists of the convicted person performing free socially useful work during his free time from his main work or study, the type of which is determined by local government bodies in agreement with the penitentiary inspectorates. This type of punishment is applied only as the main type of punishment (Part 1 of Article 45 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

When imposing a punishment in the form of compulsory labor, the courts must determine the convict’s ability to work and indicate in the operative part of the sentence only its amount, calculated in accordance with Art. Art. 49, 71 and 88 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

In Part 2 of Art. 49 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, sentences are set in the range from sixty to two hundred and forty hours and are served no more than four hours a day. The period of compulsory labor is calculated in hours during which the convicted person served compulsory labor.

The time of compulsory work, as noted, cannot exceed four hours on weekends and on days when the convicted person is not engaged in his main job, service or study; on weekdays - two hours after the end of work, service or study, and with the consent of the convicted person - four hours. The time of compulsory work during a week, as a rule, cannot be less than twelve hours. If there are good reasons, the penal inspection has the right to allow the convicted person to work fewer hours during the week.

Those sentenced to compulsory labor are obliged to: comply with the internal regulations of the organizations in which they are serving compulsory labor, and treat their work conscientiously; work at the facilities designated for them and complete the period of compulsory work established by the court; notify the criminal-executive inspection about the change of place of residence, and also appear when called.

The law also provides for liability for malicious evasion of a convicted person from serving compulsory labor (Part 3 of Article 49 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

A convicted person is considered to have maliciously evaded serving compulsory labor:

a) fails to perform compulsory work more than twice within a month without good reason;

b) violated labor discipline more than twice within a month;

c) disappeared in order to evade serving a sentence.

In case of malicious evasion from serving compulsory labor, they are replaced by restriction of freedom, arrest or imprisonment. In this case, the time during which the convicted person served compulsory labor is taken into account when determining the term of restriction of freedom, arrest or imprisonment at the rate of one day of restriction of freedom or arrest for eight hours of compulsory labor.

According to Part 3 of Art. 88 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, compulsory labor assigned to convicted minors has slightly different limits: they are assigned for a period of from forty to one hundred and sixty hours and consist of performing work feasible for minors. They are also performed in free time from study or main work. Their duration for convicted persons under the age of fifteen cannot exceed two hours a day, and for persons aged between fifteen and sixteen years it cannot exceed three hours a day.

It should be emphasized that replacing compulsory labor with restriction of freedom or arrest is unacceptable in relation to minors sentenced to compulsory labor. In accordance with Part 1 of Art. 88 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, restriction of freedom does not apply to minors, and arrest, on the basis of Part 5 of Art. 88 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, is possible only for convicted persons who have reached the age of sixteen at the time of sentencing (for a period of one to four months).

Compulsory work has other restrictions in its application. Based on Part 4 of Art. 49 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, compulsory work is not assigned to persons recognized as disabled people of the first group, pregnant women, women with children under three years of age, military personnel undergoing military service under a contract in military positions of privates and sergeants, if at the time of the court’s verdict they are not have served the statutory period of conscription service.

According to Part 1 of Art. 25 of the Penal Code of the Russian Federation, the execution of criminal punishment in the form of compulsory labor is entrusted to the penal inspections at the place of residence of convicts at sites determined by the local government in agreement with the penal inspections.

Penitentiary inspections keep records of convicts; explain to them the procedure and conditions for serving the sentence; coordinate with local government bodies the list of facilities where convicts serve compulsory labor; control the behavior of convicts; keep a summary record of the time worked by convicts.

As already noted, in Art. 49 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation states that local governments determine the type of free public works. Thus, within the meaning of this article, local government bodies also determine the organizations where those sentenced to compulsory labor will work. The types and locations of compulsory work must be established by an act of the local administration. A similar action can also be carried out on a contractual basis by local government bodies with organizations where it is intended to use the labor of those sentenced to compulsory labor, in agreement with the penitentiary inspectorates.

The responsibilities of the administration of organizations in which convicts will serve compulsory labor are formulated and enshrined in Art. 28 Penal Code of the Russian Federation. The administration of organizations is entrusted with: control over the performance by convicts of the work specified for them; notification of the penal inspection about the number of hours worked or about the evasion of convicts from serving their sentence.

Based on Part 2 of Art. 28 of the Penal Code of the Russian Federation, the administration of organizations in which convicts are serving compulsory labor transfers monthly financial resources to the appropriate budget for the work performed by convicts.

Execution order

Control over the execution of compulsory labor by law is assigned to the divisions of the criminal executive authorities at the place of registration of the person serving the sentence. The enterprises where those convicted by court decision must work are determined by the administrations of the territorial division.

The list of these organizations, compiled in the form of a table or list, is agreed upon by the body monitoring execution. The law establishes that work begins within fifteen days from the moment the materials are received by the inspectorate.

The divisions of executive bodies perform the following functions:

take into account persons assigned to compulsory work;
explain the rules for performing work;
control the execution of punishment and labor discipline of convicts;
take into account the receipt of funds for the work performed.

The enterprises where the work is performed transfer the funds earned by the convicts every month. Labor is valued according to the tariffs established at the enterprise. The funds earned by the convicted person are of a targeted nature and are transferred to the budget of the relevant organization.

If an accident occurs to a convicted person while performing work, then the administration of the enterprise is guided by Labor legislation. The damage received is compensated to the person serving the sentence in full.

Who is assigned mandatory work?

Compulsory work is directly related to the use of physical labor, therefore, the penal legislation defines a list of citizens who cannot be involved in such activities.

Disabled people of group 1.
Pregnant women and women raising children under 3 years of age.
Conscripts and contract soldiers (subject to special conditions).

Deviation from execution

If a convicted citizen maliciously evades execution of punishment, compulsory labor may be replaced by forced labor or imprisonment.

The period of time during which the convicted person performed socially dangerous activities is counted when determining the term of imprisonment.

Mandatory work

Article 49 of the Criminal Code regulates the basic rules for the application of compulsory labor as punishment for committing criminal offenses.
In particular, this article contains information about what constitutes such a punishment, the minimum and maximum period of activity. The third part of the article contains information about what awaits a person who maliciously evades execution of punishment. The following contains information about which citizens cannot be involved in such activities due to the severity of its implementation.

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Article 49. Compulsory work of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

The connection of Article 49 with other norms

The article of the code contains the main nuances of the application of such a penalty as compulsory labor. In turn, such a measure of responsibility is the central punishment in a number of articles of the Criminal Code.

Accordingly, when assigning responsibility for the guilty person, for example, for crimes committed under Articles 169, 118 of the Code, the judge must be guided by the requirements of Article 49 of the same normative act.

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Article 169. Obstruction of legal business or other activities of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Article 118. Causing grievous bodily harm by negligence of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

List of duties of convicted persons under Article 49

If you turn to legal literature and download from the Internet a new diploma project with a topic relating to the duties of those convicted under Article 49, you should pay attention to the briefly outlined list of violations allowed during the performance of compulsory labor:

Ignoring calls from the inspectorate for accounting and other issues related to the organization of execution of punishment.
Absenteeism from compulsory labor in the absence of objective reasons.
Failure to comply with the organization's labor regulations.
Committing a disciplinary violation.
Intentional failure to provide the inspector with information about the new residential address.

Having committed these violations, the convicted person receives a warning from the inspectorate to replace this punishment with another one provided for in Article 49. A warning takes the form of an order.

The procedure provides for the production of a copy of the said order. It is attached to the case materials of the person assigned to compulsory work. The content of the document providing for a warning indicates the likely replacement of this punishment with others, the essence of which boils down to restriction or imprisonment.

Citizens performing such work must:

do not violate the internal routine;
Responsibly carry out the assigned production task;
comply with the period determined by the court decision;
promptly report any changes to your settings.

These requirements are confirmed by the fact that compulsory labor imposed by the court is not exactly a light punishment, but has a significant impact on the convicted person.

Judicial practice under Article 49 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated May 16, 2017 N 15
When establishing administrative supervision, administrative offenses specified in paragraph 2 of part 3 of Article 3 of the Law, which served as the basis for the cancellation of parole with the execution of the remaining unserved part of the sentence in the form of imprisonment or replacement of a punishment not related to imprisonment with another type of punishment (clause 2 of part 3 of article 3 of the Law on Administrative Supervision, part 3 of article, part 4 of article, part 6 of article 53.1, article, part 7 of article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, part 2 of article 29, part 5 of article 46, part 5 of article 58, part 5 of article 60.2, article 60.17 of the Criminal Executive Code of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as the Penal Code of the Russian Federation).

Appeal ruling of the Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated December 6, 2018 N 1-APU18-9

The statute of limitations for bringing to criminal liability for the commission of the above acts is calculated from the date of commission of the new act on June 13, 2005 and is 15 years under the legislation of Ukraine, 10 years from the date of commission of a serious crime in accordance with paragraph “c” of Part 1 of Art. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. At the same time, both according to the legislation of Ukraine (Article of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), and in accordance with Part 3 of Art. 78 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, the limitation period is suspended if the person who committed the crime evades the investigation or trial. In this case, the running of the limitation period is resumed from the moment of detention of the specified person or his surrender.

Determination of the Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated June 13, 2019 N 47-UD19-9

Obstacles to the appointment of S.V. Ivachev there is no specified type of punishment, since, as follows from Part 4 of Art. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation does not assign compulsory labor to persons recognized as disabled people of the first group, pregnant women, women with children under three years of age, military personnel undergoing military service by conscription, as well as military personnel undergoing military service under a contract in military positions of privates and sergeants. if at the time of the court’s sentencing they had not served the statutory period of conscription service.

Appeal ruling of the Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated March 22, 2018 N 127-APU18-2

In accordance with Art. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, art. The Criminal Code of Ukraine, having established that Bakiyev committed the crime in August - September 2002; that they have committed a crime for which, according to the law, a sentence of life imprisonment cannot be imposed; that more than fifteen years have passed since the commission of this crime, the court came to the correct and reasonable conclusion that, in connection with the above, Bakiyev should be released from the punishment imposed on him.

Appeal ruling of the Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated February 21, 2019 N 41-APU19-3

The court considered Martynova’s petition for admission to the case as a defense attorney, along with a lawyer, of her daughter M. in the light of the provisions of Part 1 of Art. of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, according to which a defense attorney is, first of all, a person providing legal assistance in a criminal case; carefully clarified the question of whether M. had the skills necessary to carry out the defense, as well as the tasks assigned to her, which consisted in the possibility of her providing assistance of a technical nature, which did not require her to have actual legal knowledge and, accordingly, to acquire the status of a defender. The court’s refusal to satisfy this petition is convincingly motivated and there are no grounds to disagree with its correctness, especially since at the stage of the preliminary investigation M. was interrogated as a witness in order to clarify the source of the monetary contribution and property in her name, which excluded her participation as defender on the grounds of clause 2, part 1, art. 72 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, had her own interest in the outcome of the case, as evidenced by her appeal against the verdict in the relevant part.

Determination of the Judicial Collegium for Administrative Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated July 26, 2017 N 72-KG17-2

In accordance with Part 1 of Article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, compulsory work consists of the convicted person performing free socially useful work during his free time from his main work or study. The type of compulsory work and the facilities at which they are served are determined by local government bodies in agreement with the penal inspections.

Cassation ruling of the Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated August 18, 2020 N 4-UD20-19

When recognizing a dangerous recidivism, legal significance is given only to convictions in which the convicted person was sentenced to actual imprisonment for a previous and newly committed crime. Those who have previously served a sentence of imprisonment, in particular, include a person who has been sentenced to punishment in the form of a fine, compulsory labor, correctional labor, restriction of freedom or forced labor, who, on the grounds provided for in Part 5 of Art. , part 3 art. , part 4 art. , part 5 art. , part 6 art. 53.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, these types of punishment were replaced by imprisonment, which the person served in a correctional institution.

Cassation ruling of the Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated October 14, 2021 N 41-UD21-35