PECULIARITIES OF CRIMINAL LIABILITY OF MINORS UNDER THE CRIMINAL CODE OF UKRAINE

Abstract

The peculiarities of criminal responsibility and punishment of minors, defined in the Criminal Code of Ukraine, are considered. Statistical data on the number of criminal offenses committed by persons aged 14 to 18 over the past five years were analyzed. A comparative legal description of the punishments that can be applied by the court to a minor found guilty of a criminal offense is given. Attention is paid to the legislative regulation of issues related to exemption from criminal liability and punishment with the use of coercive measures of an educational nature. Proposals made on this basis to improve the norms of the current Criminal Code of Ukraine, taking into account national experience, judicial practice, experience of other states, as well as international standards in the field of protection of the rights of minors, are presented.

The relevance of having a separate section in the General part of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on the specifics of criminal responsibility and punishment of minors has been confirmed, which allows, when solving issues of bringing minors to criminal responsibility, to take into account the peculiarities of their mental development, upbringing, reasons and conditions that contributed to the commission of criminal offenses, and appoint legal and just punishment. The main trends in the resolution of criminal cases by courts during the commission of criminal offenses by minors have been determined. The difficulties that arise when imposing certain types of punishments on minors are outlined. Based on the study of judicial practice, the ineffectiveness of exempting minors from punishment with the use of coercive measures of an educational nature in the form of transferring minors to the supervision of parents or persons who replace them, or to the supervision of a pedagogical or labor team with their consent, as well as individual citizens at their request, is indicated , because in this case, a minor who has committed a criminal offense does not receive all the necessary educational measures and, as a result, continues a criminal lifestyle.

Based on the results of the analysis, relevant generalizations were made. Further directions for improving the current Criminal Code of Ukraine with the aim of optimizing and humanizing criminal punishments for minors are proposed.