He explains the legal status of convicted persons and forms of public control of penitentiary establishments. The Soviet justice system is based on the principle that every offender can return to socially useful activity. Thus, the state and its agencies do not take revenge on people who have harmed society and its members, but try instead to correct offenders and reform them into honest-minded citizens. Punishment is viewed as an extreme measure of influence to be used only when measures of education and prevention fail to produce results. The analysis focuses on three aspects of the system of reeducation of convicted persons: (1) the content of the law and all related provisions for the implementation of punishment; (2) the role of theory in educating convicted persons, and (3) the practice of correction. Footnotes and index. (Author summary modified)