The article is dedicated to analyzing the role and position of legal principles within the framework of criminal law. The author emphasizes the importance of researching the principles of law both from a theoretical perspective - aiming to understand the content and directions of the development of criminal law as a branch of law, and from a practical perspective, manifested during the direct application of measures of criminal legal influence on certain subjects of criminal legal relations. Legal principles express the essence and social purpose of law, so it is difficult to overestimate their significance. They reflect the fundamental values and ideals of society at a particular stage of its development. As these values and ideals change, the principles of law also evolve. The relevance of the research topic is driven by the lack of a unified approach among scholars in defining the principles of criminal law, as well as insufficient attention to them from the legislator. The author's goal is to formulate their own definition of the concept of criminal law principles. To achieve this goal, the author examines the fundamental approaches taken by various scholars in defining legal principles as a whole and specifically those in context of criminal law. Emphasizing the diversity of such approaches, the author focuses on defining legal principles within the framework of broad and narrow types of legal understanding. The article highlights key features of criminal law principles that correspond to the specific characteristics of criminal law as a legal field. Trends of incorporating legal principles into legal norms are also analyzed. Furthermore, the article separately explores the issue of incorporating criminal law principles in legal norms. The article is intended for further research in the given field, that hold prospects in the specified thematic area.