Criminal law may serve a moral educative function, reassuring law-abiding citizens that they are right. In the former Soviet Union, the educational role of law appeared to be central to the concept of justice. Russian citizens, however, now appear to be ambivalent toward the moral aspect of criminal law. This ambivalence has undermined respect for the legal system and for social institutions that typically provide moral and social underpinnings of a society's legal system. The author suggests a multi faceted approach to the reform of Russian criminal law, particularly to address crimes of the new economy and to educate by drawing a line between behavior that is allowed and not allowed in the new economic system. Russian criminal law reform also requires the development of new legal structures. Further, because of the link between criminal law and political, economic, and social institutions, effective criminal law reform requires changes in those institutions as well. 9 references and 2 photographs