Motives of a Person’s Criminal Behavior

Abstract. It has been found that the motives of a person's criminal behavior are psycho-socio-criminological motivational properties that direct a person's activity into the illegal plane in order to realize personal aspirations and illegal behavior. A person can be motivated by many reasons and circumstances for criminal behavior, but all of them, except for the state of affect, should not be an excuse for such an act, although in certain situations they can become circumstances that mitigate the punishment. In order to recognize a motive as an aggravating or mitigating circumstance, it is necessary to determine how objective and conscious a person's decision to commit a crime was, because the motives for committing certain actions characterize the psychological essence of a person. It is emphasized that it is not possible to form an exclusive classification of the motives of a person's criminal behavior, because the civilizational development of mankind forms new spheres of social activity in which a person realizes his lawful and, unfortunately, unlawful behavior. Criminal activity is characterized by motivational features. In jurisprudence, a number of features and essential approaches to determining the motive of the crime are determined. The conceptual bases for understanding the motives of criminal behavior are based on psychological and social factors. It is noted that potentially every person can commit a crime at a certain time and under certain circumstances. It is important to understand motivation, external and internal factors that influenced a person. That is why criminal law theory and practice interacts with legal psychology, using conceptual theories of personality development and motivation for the formation of its behavior. This kind of interaction makes it possible to maximally avoid making unfounded conclusions and decisions regarding the motivation of a person's criminal behavior. Attention is focused on the fact that the formation of a person's personality and his legal behavior is a complex process that continues throughout life and begins in early childhood. If a person has been influenced by an illegal environment, then, of course, his motivational value orientations will be maximally gravitating towards illegal self-realization. It is important to remember that it is not necessary to brand a person because he has committed illegal actions, but on the contrary, to contribute to the fact that the motivational factors of behavior are directed in a legitimate direction. Keywords: motive; legal behavior of a person; criminal behavior; motivation; subjective side of the composition of the crime; socio-legal phenomenon; qualifying features.