This dissertation relies on Russian law codes and commentaries by jurists on them, documents from the Main Prison Administration (GTU) and the Moscow Provincial Prison Inspectorate, published reports from individual institutions and the GTU, and professional and philanthropic journals to examine the development of penal policy and practice for minors in late imperial Russia. This study is a contribution to the history of childhood in Russia and illuminates both the development of tsarist penal policy and the role assumed by private philanthropy in addressing social problems.

Since the mid-eighteenth century, concerns about minors' comprehension of their actions had become increasingly important in the formation of penal regulations adopted by the Russian state. During the first half of the nineteenth century, anxieties about the influence of adult convicts on minors began to influence discussions about the appropriate penalties for minors as well. It was not until 1864, however, that the Judicial Reform gave formal sanction to the creation of separate juvenile correctional institutions. Later innovations in judicial proceedings reflected the same concerns. The dissertation stresses the growing importance that philanthropists and lawmakers accorded to childhood during the late imperial period. It also calls attention to the often negative comparisons educated Russians drew between their own country and their Western neighbors. Finally, this study illustrates the ways in which not only professionals and experts but also young criminals and their families influenced the operation of reformatories and the courts.