Currently, prevention is considered as one of the main activities of law enforcement agencies. Its content is reduced to carrying out measures aimed at preventing the commission of crimes by persons who have previously committed criminally punishable acts. In order to establish a system of measures for the special prevention of recidivism, the article examines the causes, conditions and circumstances contributing to its spread. It has been established that the imposition of punishment in case of recidivism has specifics related to the fact that the applied corrective measures do not bring the desired result, which necessitates the need to strengthen the impact on the defendant in order to return him to an honest life. Based on the results of the study, it was concluded that special criminological prevention of recidivism should be comprehensive, systematic and depend on the type of recidivism. Measures for the timely detection, suppression and prevention of recidivism should be reflected in the activities of various State bodies, officials, including internal affairs bodies, the commission on juvenile Affairs, institutions of the penal enforcement system, and judicial authorities.