Beyond the Screen: Criminological and Criminal Law Aspects of Preventing Self-Destructive Behavior of Minors

The subject of the research is criminological and criminal law aspects of countering self-destructive behavior among minors, shaped in the digital environment (in information and telecommunication networks, including social networks and other online platforms). The focus is on the qualifying feature "committing an act using information and telecommunication networks" prohibited by Articles 110, 110.1, and 110.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation; its normative nature, conditions of application, and significance for the differentiation of responsibility are analyzed. The criminological prerequisites for highlighting this feature, the peculiarities of online influence on the psyche of minors, the factors that increase the social danger of such acts, and foreign experience in legal regulation are investigated. The task of distinguishing between situations where the Internet plays a merely formal role and cases where the digital environment objectively increases the harmful potential of criminal behavior is considered separately; on this basis, the necessity of normative specification of the feature and improvement of preventive measures is justified. The methodological basis consists of formal-legal, comparative-legal, systemic-structural, and criminological methods. These were used to analyze the norms of Articles 110, 110.1, and 110.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, to compare Russian and foreign regulation, to examine the feature "committing an act using information and telecommunication networks" within the system of preventive measures, and to study risk factors. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the comprehensive analysis of criminological and criminal law characteristics for highlighting the feature "committing an act using information and telecommunication networks" concerning the crimes enshrined in Articles 110, 110.1, and 110.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, taking into account the peculiarities of online influence on the psyche of minors. The necessity of normative specification of this feature through the establishment of objective criteria that allow distinguishing between the formal use of digital communications and situations in which the online format significantly increases the public danger of the act is substantiated. Proposals for improving legislation and interdepartmental cooperation in the prevention of self-destructive behavior among adolescents, including the expansion of educational programs and institutional support for civil initiatives, are formulated. The conclusions of the research aim to enhance the effectiveness of criminal law responses and reduce the risks of involving minors in online communities with harmful content.