The novel Crime and Punishment is set in the summer of 1865; a period in which radical legal and social changes swept through Russia. The reforms of the 1860s and 1870s were known as the Great Reforms because they affected every aspect of Russian life. With “an 1861 decree emancipating serfs and [a] monumental reform of the justice system in 1864,” Russian society was still transitioning from a kingdom-state style toward a more just system focused on equality (Burnham 1227). . The reformed penal system not only respects the modern sense of justice, but guarantees a much greater level of equality than the previous model, dominated by aristocrats and government officials. Lagging behind by a few years, Russia was following the trend of other European countries by reshaping the criminal and criminal justice system (Timasheff 16-18). According to The Politics of Punishment: Prison Reform in Russia, Robbins Jr. states, “the great reforms of the 1860s set in motion a process that radically altered the Russian penal system” (1282). France and England already had reformed and well-established courts; Thus, the Russians felt the need to follow them (Historically speaking, since the times of the Enlightenment, Russia wanted to be considered a prosperous country like the great European nations, but its tyrannical government and social policies prevented it. Russia, the little stepbrother of European states, watched from afar as the splendor of the burgeoning states to the west. The Russian tsars, Peter and Catherine the Great, attempted to shape the country as a Western state while maintaining a unique Russian identity. 19th century illustrates this transition ). Full of a sense of p......middle of paper......tally (Dostoevsky 350-355). Dostoevsky is cynical about the criminal justice system because it not only deceives society, but also deceives its own rules. This all-powerful governmental power is reminiscent of previous unjust systems. Speaking about the dying horse in Raskolnikov's dream, people insist that "it will gallop," but Dostoevsky urges not to beat the dead horse (57). A complete dismantling and reconstruction seems like the only real solution to fixing Russia's disorganized criminal justice system. Dostoevsky uses Crime and Punishment to analyze and criticize the transitioning legal and judicial system of 1860s Russia. He argues that the true purpose of the criminal justice system is to rehabilitate and restore an individual; society needs this institution because not everyone is as thoughtful and ultimately kind-hearted as Raskolnikov.