Problems in the criminological characteristic of juvenile offender identity

Relevance. Insufficient attention of state bodies to the problem of juvenile crime also leads to the aggravation of antisocial manifestations in society, neglect of social and cultural norms, and increased manifestations of crime and cruelty. Child welfare and protection of children's rights are among the main tasks of every democratic, social, and legal state. Purpose. Despite the close attention to the problem of juvenile crimes, many of the relevant aspects are still understudied; they require scientific and theoretical interpretation and substantiation, including problems in the criminological characteristic of the juvenile criminal identity. Methodology. The study employed a variety of methodologies including dialectical analysis, historical legal method, comparative legal analysis, logical legal method, documentary analysis, statistical analysis, and sociological method to comprehensively examine and understand the criminological characteristics of juvenile criminal identity and develop proposals for enhancing prevention and intervention strategies. Results. The study covers doctrinal approaches to the criminological characteristic of the personality of juvenile criminals, to find out the variability of ideas and concepts aimed at identifying the essence and features of the juvenile criminal identity on the territory of various states, and also to conclude that the system of social prevention of offences, including crimes, that has developed in the past, which has practically ceased to exist in our time, requires a qualitative reform. Conclusions. The study has substantiated that there is currently an urgent need to reproduce such a system based on new principles and unified foundations of the criminological characteristic of the juvenile criminal identity, to create an appropriate legislative framework for this purpose and to widely involve the public in this activity.