MINORS AS A SPECIAL SUBJECT OF ADMINISTRATIVE LIABILITY: IMPROVING THE LEGISLATIVE REGULATION IN UKRAINE

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of some problematic provision of the current Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences and the formulation of proposals for improving the legislative regulation of the issue of administrative liability of minors. With Ukraine's efforts to integrate into the European community, the issue of updating the legislation on administrative liability has become acute. Among the key issues there is a need to change approaches to the administrative liability of minors. Minors as a special subject of administrative liability are distinguished by their specificity, which is connected with peculiarities of their age, physical and mental state. Ukraine is humane about this category of people, but, unfortunately, the number of administrative offences committed by minors increases every year, so the urgency of this topic is beyond any doubt. Measures of influence are applied to minor offenders. Measures of influence are a special kind of measures of administrative liability, which is a state condemnation of a person's misconduct, has a preventive and educational nature and consists in limiting the personal benefits and other legal interests of a minor based on the principle of humanity. In the current Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences, the age of administrative delictability is defined as 16 years. Today, there is an increase in offences among young children, for example, bullying among schoolchildren has become widespread. Sometimes the feeling of impunity becomes the reason for further illegal actions of such a person. The current legislation gives preference to the application of educational measures to minors. First of all, measures of influence are applied to minors, which are defined in Article 24-1 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences. The development of information technologies and legislative regulation in many areas provides grounds for reducing the age of administrative delictability. Today, a person receives a passport upon reaching the age of 14, so he/she can independently bear administrative liability from this age. An example of regulation can be criminal legislation, which takes into account the peculiarities of criminal liability depending on the age and type of action of minors. Having researched the scientific literature and legislation, this article concludes that the new legislation should include a gradation of administrative liability measures depending on the age and degree of harmfulness of the committed tort. The new Code of Ukraine on Administrative Misdemeanors should clearly distinguish between the use of influence measures and administrative penalties, taking into account the age of the person. For example, impact measures will be effective for 14–15-year-old people. Persons who have reached the age of 16 should bear administrative liability on general grounds and administrative penalties should be applied to them.