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

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.

1. Foynitsky I. Ya. Uchenie o nakazanii v sviazi s tiur'movedeniem [The doctrine of punishment in connection with imprisonment]. Moscow, Gorodets Publ., Dobrosvet Publ., 2020. 462 p.

2. Tagantsev N. S. Russkoye ugolovnoye pravo [Russian criminal law]. Moscow, Yurayt Publ., 2020, pt. 2. 446 p.

3. Kistyakovsky A. F. Molodye prestupniki i uchrezhdeniya dlya ikh ispravleniya [Young criminals and institutions for their correction]. Kyiv, Univ. typ. Publ., 1878. 232 p.

4. Utevsky B. S. Nesovershennoletnie pravonarushiteli [Juvenile delinquents]. Moscow, Leningrad, Narkompros RSFSR, Gos. Uchebno-ped. izd-vo, 1932. 64 p.

5. Astemirov Z. A. Ugolovnaya otvetstvennost' i nakazanie nesovershennoletnikh [Criminal responsibility and punishment of minors]. Moscow, Vysshaya shkola MVD SSSR Publ., 1970. 125 p.

6. Maltsev V. V. Problemy osvobozhdeniya ot ugolovnoi otvetstvennosti i nakazaniya v ugolovnom prave [Problems of exemption from criminal liability and punishment in criminal law]. Volgograd, VA MVD Russia Publ., 2004. 209 p.

7. Naumov A. V. Rossiiskoe ugolovnoe pravo [Russian criminal law]. Moscow, Norma Publ., 2000, 454 p.

8. Voloshin V. M. Ugolovno-pravovaya politika Rossii v otnoshenii nesovershennoletnikh pravonarushitelei i rol' otvetstvennosti v ee realizatsii. Avtoref. diss. dokt. yurid. nauk [Criminal law policy of Russia in relation to juvenile offenders and the role of responsibility in its implementation. Dr. legal sci. absract diss.]. Ekaterinburg, 2008. 47 p.

9. Koltsov M. I. Osobennosti nakazaniya nesovershennoletnikh (na primere praktiki sudov Tambovskoi oblasti). Avtoref. diss. dokt. yurid. nauk [Features of punishment of minors (on the example of the practice of the courts of the Tambov region). Dr. legal sci. abstract diss.]. Tambov, 2007. 27 p.

10. Kuzankina I. A. Nakazaniya nesovershennoletnikh: ugolovno-pravovoe issledovanie. Avtoref. diss. kand. yurid. nauk [Punishments of minors: Criminal law research. Cand. legal sci. abstract diss.]. St. Petersburg, 2006. 24 p.

11. Nichugovskaya O. N. Sistema nakazanii v sovremennom rossiiskom ugolovnom zakonodatel'stve: problemy i perspektivy razvitiya [The system of punishments in modern Russian criminal legislation: problems and prospects of development]. Voronezh, Nauchnaya kniga Publ., 2016. 149 p.

12. Petrova O. N. Naznachenie ugolovnogo nakazaniya nesovershennoletnim: ugolovnopravovye i kriminologicheskie aspekty. Avtoref. diss. kand. yurid. nauk [Assignment of criminal punishment to imperfect-year-olds: criminal-legal and criminological aspects. Cand. legal sci. abstract diss.]. Volgograd, 2004. 27 p.

13. Ugolovnoe pravo. Istoriya yuridicheskoi nauki [Criminal law. History of legal science]; ed. by N. V. Kudryavtsev. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1978. 309 p.

14. Sinyaeva M. I. Ponyatie "vozrast" i ego ugolovno-pravovaiya reglamentatsiya [The concept of "age" and its criminal legal regulation]. Izvestya Iugo-Zapadnogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya: Istoriya i pravo = Proceedings of the Southwest State University. Series: History and Law, 2019, no. 2 (31), pp. 102–107.

15. Kara I. S. Nekotorye voprosy ustanovleniya vozrasta ugolovnoi otvetstvennosti i nakazaniya nesovershennoletnikh v dosovetskom otechestvennom ugolovnom zakonodatel'stve [Some issues of establishing the age of criminal responsibility and punishment of minors in pre-Soviet domestic criminal legislation]. Vestnik Bryanskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta = Bulletin of the Bryansk State University, 2013, no. 5, pp. 145–151.

16. Shubina A. A. [The history of the development of legislation on criminal responsibility and punishment of minors in Russia]. Perspektivy razvitiya institutov prava i gosudarstva. Sbornik nauchnyh trudov mezhdunarodnoj nauchnoj konferencii [Prospects for the development of institutions of law and the state. Collection of scientific papers of the international scientific conference]. Kursk, Southwest St. Univ. Publ., 2019, pp. 264–267. (In Russ.)

17. Tagantsev N. S. Issledovaniya ob otvetstvennosti maloletnikh prestupnikov po russkomu pravu i Proekt zakonopolozhenij ob etom voprose [Research on the responsibility of juvenile offenders under Russian law]. St. Petersburg, Tip. A. M. Kotomina, 1871. 159 p.

18. Salakhov E. B. Istoriya razvitiya ugolovnogo zakonodatel'stva ob otvetstvennosti nesovershennoletnikh [The history of the development of criminal legislation on the responsibility of minors]. Molodoi uchenyi = Young scientist, 2022, no. 52 (447), pp. 285–288.

19. Belyaeva L. I. Vospitanie nesovershennoletnikh pravonarushitelei v Rossii. Uchrezhdeniya dlya nesovershennoletnikh pravonarushitelei v Rossiiskoi imperii [Education of juvenile delinquents in Russia. Institutions for juvenile delinquents in the Russian Empire]. Moscow, Moscow Psychological and social institute Publ., Voronezh, MODEK Publ., 2004. 400 p.

20. Burlaka S. A. Osobennosti ugolovnoi otvetstvennosti i nakazaniya nesovershennoletnikh [Features of criminal responsibility and punishment of minors]. Belgorod, Bel. YUI MVD Russii Publ., 2013. 82 p.