Judicial reform of 1864 as perceived by Fyodor Dostoevsky

The work is devoted to the study of the views of the great Russian writer F. M. Dostoevsky on the judicial reform of 1864, the legal institutions created by it, as well as the moral contradictions generated by this reform. In Russia, in view of the literary-centric nature of its culture, writers have a special role in cultural production. They are not only great artists and experts in the human soul, but also manufacturers of "mirrors" of Russian life. Special attention is paid to the judicial pages of the "Writer's Diary". Dostoevsky's articles, in which he analyzed various criminal cases, are compared with the reports on the trials published in the periodical press and served as the writer's sources. A separate chapter is dedicated to the analysis of the novel "The Brothers Karamazov". The author concludes that Dostoevsky's attitude to the reforms in general and to the judicial reform in particular was complex and contradictory. Whatever the reform was, it would not have escaped the criticism of Dostoevsky because of the unattainable bar of his ideal. The main idea of the writer is that reforms are certainly necessary, but they will not give the expected effect without changing the inner world of people.