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He murders a pawnbroker, Alyona Ivanovna, with an axe he found in a porter's woodshed, with the intention of using her money for good causes, based on a theory he had developed. Raskolnikov believed that people were divided into the "ordinary" and the "extraordinary": the ordinary are the common rabble, the extraordinary (notably Napoleon) must not follow the moral codes that affect the ordinary since they are meant to be great men. An extraordinary man would not need to think twice about his actions. He has been contemplating this theory for months, only telling it to his (now deceased) fiancée (although he wrote an article along those lines in a journal on the condition that only his initials be used to attribute it to him). He believes himself to be one of these extraordinary men and is thus allowed to commit murder. However, his plan goes wrong; before he pawnbroker's flat, her meek sister arrives and stumbles across the body. Raskolnikov, in a panic, murders the pawnbroker's sister as well (Lizaveta Ivanovna).

He finds a small purse on Alyona Ivanovna, which, in his ensuing confusion and paranoia, he hides under a rock without checking the contents of the purse. His grand failure is that he lacks the conviction he believed to accompany greatness and continues his decline into madnepious prostitute Sonia Semyonovna Marmeladova, she guides him towards admitting to the crime. He also confesses to Ilya Petrovich, a police lieutenant with an explosive temper that Raskolnikov finds endearing. Raskolnikov is sentenced to exile in Siberia, accompanied by Sonia, where he begins his mental and spiritual rehabilitation.