Subculture of convicted as from criminal subculture: cultural and historical aspect

The purpose of the article is to distinguish the subculture of convicts and criminal subcultures as a known concept Methodology. The basis of this study is a theoretical analysis, synthesis, generalization, systematization of available scientific literature on the subject. Results. The theoretical analysis of scientific works on the basis of an interdisciplinary approach helped to distinguish the subculture of convicts and the criminal subculture in the context of their manifestations in the public consciousness. It is determined that the subculture of convicts develops on the basis of the criminal subculture, which performs a regulatory function in relation to convicts. The criteria of delimitation of subcultures are singled out, which gives each of them a separate place in the general continuum and concerns: attitude to social and legislative norms, places of formation and forms of manifestation, peculiarities of communication and self-presentations. It is proved that a clear distinction between the convicted subculture and the criminal subculture will provide a basis for the rehabilitation of convicts and the effectiveness of the penitentiary service in prison conditions. It was established that the subculture of convicts is a structural element of the criminal subculture with its own system of norms, values, traditions, customs that regulate the behavior of convicts in the informal structure of penitentiaries. Its emergence and existence in places of imprisonment causes a compensatory psychological reaction with a forced desire to adapt, ensure their safety, assert themselves in a community of their own kind, where inevitably formed a system of values, concepts, customs, regulating relations between individuals isolated from society. Practical implications. The subculture of convicts is created and manifested in places of imprisonment, is characterized by the preservation of norms, values, traditions, customs of the criminal subculture, provides for the formation of adaptive mechanisms for places of imprisonment with subsequent inclusion in the rehabilitation process. Value (originality). The clarity of the distinction between the subculture of convicts and the criminal subculture will create the basis for the deployment of prison rehabilitation processes and increase the efficiency of the penitentiary service. Key words: subculture (criminal, prison, convicts), penitentiary institutions, norms of behavior regulation.