THE CONCEPT AND CONTENT OF CRIMINOLOGY ACTIVITIES OF JUVENILE PREVENTION UNITS

Abstract. The article analyzes scientific sources that reveal the essence of criminological activity as a phenomenon of legal reality, as well as the specifics of its implementation by various subjects. The author emphasizes that the effectiveness of criminological activity of juvenile prevention units largely depends on the timely application of preventive measures. Early prevention is of particular importance, which involves intervention at a stage when the formation of deviant behavior can still be prevented. Despite the fact that prevention among minors is a priority, the current state of this activity cannot be considered sufficiently effective. The reasons for this are the low quality of coordination by the subjects of such activity, the lack of clear response mechanisms, and the insufficient involvement of psychological and social tools for working with children and adolescents. In addition, it is important that prevention measures are comprehensive and integrated. This means involving not only law enforcement agencies, but also social services, schools, families, and public organizations, which will help create favorable conditions for the prevention of offenses among minors. Without due attention to early prevention, the risks of reoffending increase, which emphasizes the importance of improving the existing system and ensuring its effectiveness. The study proved that criminological activities by juvenile prevention units are broadly defined as an integral part of the law enforcement activities of the National Police of Ukraine, which is a set of regulatory, organizational, managerial, informational, analytical, scientific, methodological, educational, and ethical areas of preventive activities aimed at identifying and eliminating (minimizing) the causes and conditions for committing offenses, identifying the juvenile offender, as well as the victim of the offense. In a narrow sense, the criminological activity of juvenile prevention units during a military conflict is a set of actions of employees of juvenile prevention units to immediately prevent violations of the rights of minors caused by a military conflict, eliminate the causes and conditions of negative impact on them, identify minors who require special protection from the state and apply the necessary rehabilitation measures in social, legal, psychological and cultural-patriotic areas to them. When considering the features of the criminological activity of juvenile prevention units, the author emphasizes that juvenile technology, as a type of social technology, can be considered as an integrative (interdisciplinary, complex) socio-pedagogical, psychological and legal technology. In some cases, it also covers medical aspects, if this concerns the health problems of a minor. The main elements of juvenile technologies are goal setting, choice of methods of action and evaluation of activity results. The technological approach allows a specialist, using legal, pedagogical, psychological and medical tools, to gradually implement changes in key components, such as needs and motivation, the adolescent’s behavioral repertoire, the formation of a sense of responsibility and guilt, the elimination of the causes, conditions and consequences of the crimes committed. This is aimed at achieving the main result — law-abiding behavior. Thus, this approach allows for a comprehensive impact on the personality of a teenager, taking into account all aspects of his behavior and social adaptation. At the same time, «juvenile technology» is an orderly system of criminological measures, based on consistent multidisciplinary cooperation of specialists to provide social, legal, intellectual, physical and cultural impact on a minor who finds himself in difficult life circumstances in order to prevent him from committing offenses, ensuring the harmonious development of the personality, taking into account his age characteristics. It includes such stages as problem diagnosis, choice of solution methods (development of solution technology), problem solving itself and its evaluation, and in some cases these actions can be applied forcibly. This technology allows you to create a holistic approach to the resocialization of minors, ensuring the integration of various specialists in the process of rehabilitation and prevention of offenses.