History of the death penalty in Ukraine: causes, stages and influence on public awareness

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to reveal the historical reasons for the emergence and distribution of death penalty as well as the attitude of Ukrainians to this type of punishment. Particular attention is paid to the attitude of contemporary traditional ideological currents to the death penalty in Ukraine. The research methodology is based on the principles of historicism, continuity and objectivity. The interdisciplinary nature of the study led to the use of a range of general scientific, philosophical and special historical methods, among which we distinguish the following: historical method, comparative method, document analysis, and others. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the social challenges Ukraine is currently facing, based on which we discuss the need to restore the death penalty. The historical retrospective and evolution of the assertion of the death penalty from ancient times to the present day has shown that the death penalty is not traditional. As a rule, its establishment on the territory of Ukraine is associated with the presence of the territory of our country within other states in a particular historical period, as well as subjective and objective conditions for the development of national liberation movements in the early and mid-twentieth century. Although not an inherent punishment for Ukrainians, the death penalty has a significant impact on the public awareness, as well as the processes of state formation. The formal and declarative nature of this type of punishment in the Old Rus state was replaced by active application in the Polish-Lithuanian era. This in turn influenced the adoption of the death penalty for war crimes among the Cossacks. The most ambiguous period in Ukrainian history and the use of the death penalty is the twentieth century, when the amnesty and renunciation of executions proclaimed by the Third Universal of the Central Rada changed to the use of the death penalty for war crimes during the Hetmanate, Directory and Western Ukraine. For Soviet totalitarianism, the death penalty was not so much a method of punishment as an instrument of asserting power. Under conditions of independence, Ukraine has evolved from a country with one of the highest rates of the death penalty to its abolition. In our opinion, the debates in society and politics evidence the poor legal culture and historical memory, which actually need to be corrected, e.g. through scientific research. If we try to define the role of the death penalty in historical retrospect, it was not just the factor of realization of a specific legal or ideological worldview, but also a measure of the spread of democratic and humanistic ideals and values. Attitude to the death penalty is a measure of “maturity of society”. As an object of repressive policy of the Soviet government, Ukrainians should become the main opponents of the death penalty as a punishment for crime in the 21st century, as Ukraine has always sought European standards of humanity and treatment of convicts.