Crime and Punishment is a novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, first published in 1866. It is the second of Dostoyevsky's full-length novels following his return from ten years of exile in Siberia. Crime and Punishment focuses on the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Raskolnikov, an impoverished ex-student in St. Petersburg who formulates and executes a plan to kill an unscrupulous pawnbroker for her cash. Raskolnikov argues that with the pawnbroker's money he can perform good deeds to counterbalance the crime, while ridding the world of a worthless vermin.