Evolution of the Norms of Domestic Legislation about the Criminal Legal Impact in Relation to Minors

Abstract

Relevance. The article deals with the issues of the age of criminal responsibility of minors and the criminal legal impact on this category of persons at different stages of the Russian state in an inseparable unity, reveals their essential nature and prospects for development, as well as the historical conditions for the adoption of certain normative legal acts. According to the author, the main feature of the evolution of domestic legislation on criminal legal impact on minors is a gradual increase in the age of prosecution, based on taking into account the psychophysiological characteristics of this category of persons.The purpose of the study is to trace the path taken by the domestic legislator in the direction of finding the optimal balance of humanistic and repressive principles in the content and forms of criminal legal influence on minors.Objectives: to identify the genesis and evolution of criminal penalties and other measures of criminal legal impact on minors under domestic legislation; to reflect the features of criminal penalties and other measures of a criminal legal nature, taking into account the historical context of the development of the state and law.Methodology. The basis of writing the article was general scientific methods (analysis, synthesis, comparison, historical method), private scientific, including special legal (formal legal, comparative legal methods of cognition).Results. As a result of the conducted research, it was determined that in its development the institution of criminal responsibility and punishment of minors has passed a fairly long way. Having first appeared only in the XVIII century, it underwent changes over time, adapted to the existing conditions, the parameters of criminal responsibility of the rest of the population. One thing remained constant – the institution under review for a significant part of the history of criminal law occupied a special position due to the role assigned to minors as socially unprotected strata of society.Conclusion. Educational components should always be present in the content and forms of criminal legal influence on minors, the humanistic principle should noticeably prevail over the repressive one, and taking into account personal characteristics should result in a thorough individualization of criminal responsibility.