Problems of juvenile criminal liability

Abstract

Despite many years of discussion by scientists and practitioners, the issue of juvenile criminal liability remains relevant today. In the criminal legislation of the Soviet period, the peculiarities of the criminal responsibility of minors were regulated not by an independent institution, but by separate norms of various institutions of Criminal Law (chapters on crime, on punishment, on sentencing and on release from punishment, on compulsory medical and educational measures). With the adoption in 1996 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the regulation of juvenile criminal liability changed both in form and in content, which led to the appearance in the criminal law doctrine of heated discussions concerning the validity of certain legislative decisions. They have not stopped to this day. The article examines the effectiveness of measures of criminal law impact on juvenile criminals, proves the need to reduce the age of criminal responsibility for certain types of crimes, as well as the need to expand the application of criminal penalties not related to imprisonment to adolescents.