GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND PRINCIPLES OF ASSIGNING CRIMINAL PENALTIES TO MINOR OFFENDERS

The article discusses the general principles and the principles applied when imposing punishments to minors who have committed crimes. Juvenile delinquents are the social base of organized crime. Juvenile delinquency harms the personal development of the minor offender himself, thereby contributing to continuing the minor's criminal activity. The research results confirm that a significant number of serious offenders began their criminal activities being minors. Correction of juvenile offenders is very important, that is, formation of stable skills of an honest attitude to work. Precise execution of laws and respect for them. Crimes committed by minors, despite the degree of their study, the share of crimes committed by minors in the total number of crimes is on average 10–12% and these are only registered official data, which means that real statistics can be 1.5–2 times higher. The above-stated points to the problem of illegal behavior of minors and the need to find effective ways to impose penalties to juvenile offenders.