On 6 June 1921, Igor Karpets was born.
Igor Karpets, an outstanding Soviet scientist, criminologist, Doctor of Legal Sciences, Professor was one of the leading experts in the field of criminology and criminal law. For the creation of the theoretical foundations of Russian criminology, Igor Karpets, together with a group of other scientists, was awarded the State Prize. He had other state awards. His ideas are used in programmes and legislative acts in the field of combatting crime. He participated in the Great Patriotic War.
In 1946, he entered the Law Faculty of Leningrad University and graduated in 1951. For 8 years, Igor Karpets worked in the Leningrad police, headed the scientific and technical department, the inquiry, the investigation. He also served as a deputy head of the department.
In 1955, he defended the candidate dissertation on the topic ‘The appointment of punishment under Soviet criminal law.’ In 1963, he defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic ‘Individualization of punishment in Soviet criminal law.’
In 1965, he was awarded the academic title of Professor, and in 1973 – Honoured Scientist of the RSFSR.
In 1963, he was appointed director of the All-Union Institute for the Study of the Causes and Development of Crime Prevention Measures under the Prosecutor’s Office of the USSR.
Since 1969, for 10 years, he worked as the head of the Main Criminal Investigation Department of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, was a member of the Board of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs.
From 1979 to 1984, Igor Karpets was the head of the All-Union Research Institute of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. He was actively engaged in scientific research, conducted extensive pedagogical work and contributed to the introduction of scientific achievements to the crime-fighting practice.
In 1984, he was again appointed director of the Institute of Public Prosecutor’s Office, which he headed until his death. Igor Karpets was a member of a number of scientific and specialized councils, including the Scientific and Methodological Council of the USSR Prosecutor’s Office and the Scientific Advisory Council of the USSR Supreme Court. For many years, he was Vice-President of the International Association of Criminal Law, a member of the Administrative Council of the International Higher Institute of Criminal Law Sciences, and Vice-President of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers.
For his services in strengthening the rule of law, Igor Karpets was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour and the Badge of Honour.
Karpets’s scientific works are widely known abroad. He published more than 200 works. He was at the origin of the revival of domestic criminology. His first major work of the 1960s – ‘Problems of Crime’ – created a new direction that still is successfully developed by his students and followers. Co-authored with N. Dubinin and V. Kudryavtsev, the book ‘Genetics, Behavior, Responsibility’ was the first joint study of representatives of social and natural sciences in this field.
Translated by Elizaveta O. Ovchinnikova
