COMPETENCE OF THE NATIONAL POLICE IN THE FIELD OF SOCIALIZATION OF CHILD OFFENDERS

Abstract

The top priority of a legal social democratic state is to ensure human rights and freedoms. Children and young people constitute a segment of the population that, for objective reasons, is most vulnerable to social problems, and therefore they require special remedies by civil society and the state. Moreover, it should be emphasized that all categories of children and young people, including those in conflict with the law, require special attention. Probably, there are certain social patterns that contribute to the growth of social deviance of minors. The rise in deviance among minors is, first and foremost, the result of “social outsiderism”, when young people and children find themselves outside the existing society and being pushed out of it. This is a result of the disruption of normal socialization that is now of a natural nature. Nowadays, society is losing the system of social control over the process of becoming a younger generation. Institutions of socialization, such as family, school, children and youth organizations, are losing their value and some are disappearing altogether. The process of socialization of adolescents is becoming increasingly negative in nature, and youth are more exposed to the criminal world than to the values of civil society institutions. Absence of a complete socialization environment in society, alienation of adolescents from the main spheres of positive life activity – family, educational institution, labor collective, entertaining institutions – are the factors that guide minors to commit crimes. The National police have an important role in crime prevention, in social protection of children, legal education, socialization and integration of child offenders into society, therefore the competence of the National police as well as and the competency of employees involved in working with child offenders play a vital role and is a necessary part of their professional activities in the performance of their duties. However, the existence of various scientific approaches to the concept and content of the “competence” and a lack of consensus on its definition make it necessary to develop a unified approach to the interpretation of the term competence. The article describes various approaches to the determination of the essence of competence, gives the definition of the term competence. The article also analyzes the legal acts regulating the activities of the National police, defines itscompetence in the field of socialization of child offenders.