On the Complete Registration of Age-Dependent Features of Juvenile Delinquents in the Penal Regulation

The age-dependent features of juvenile delinquents can be considered in the mechanism of penal regulation in two aspects: firstly, when determining the age limits of the subject of criminal liability and, secondly, when determining the specificity of the implementation of criminal liability with already established age limits. However, the author focuses on the problem of complete implementation of the second aspect, analysing the penalties and other measures of criminal law provided for in the current Russian criminal legislation in terms of their effectiveness and compliance with the age characteristics of minors. Drawing on the analysis of judicial statistics on the incidence of applying certain types of primary punishments to minors and on the insignificant use of coercive educational measures, the author concludes that: (1) the current criminal legislation is generally humane towards juveniles; (2) the current Russian criminal legislation does not fully take into account the age-dependent features of this category of delinquents; (3) the legislative regulation of punishments imposed on juveniles needs significant amendments; (4) coercive educational measures are applied to minors in very rare cases. A number of legislative changes are required in Articles 90-92 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation to expand their application range; (5) a suspended prison sentence is absolutely ineffective in juveniles, which makes it necessary to amend Part 6.2 of Article 88 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

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