The Problem of Assessing the Mental Development of Juvenile Offenders Who Have Committed Socially Dangerous Acts Against Sexual Inviolability Using the Internet

Sexual inviolability offenses committed using the Internet are becoming an increasingly common type of illegal activity by adolescents. A lot of such socially dangerous actions are committed by juvenile offenders due to a poor understanding of social and moral and ethical norms, a feeling of complete anonymity in the Internet space with the difficulties of separating real life and virtual, as well as features that characterize the weak formation of the personal sphere. Adolescents who commit illegal acts of a sexual orientation differ from adult offenders, the psychosexual sphere of adolescents is actively developing, certain forms of sexual behavior of adolescents, which can be considered illegal, are implemented by them in certain cases not with the aim of satisfying sexual needs, but due to cognitive interest, such adolescents do not regard their actions as illegal and criminally punishable. The initiation of criminal cases against adolescents who have committed offenses against sexual inviolability using the Internet entails a lot of difficulties at the stages of qualification of these offenses by the judicial investigating authorities, as well as in assessing the mental state and development of a teenager, his activities in a situation of committing unlawful acts when conducting a comprehensive forensic psychological and psychiatric examination. Important research tasks are the prevention of deviant and criminal behavior of juvenile offenders in the digital space, as well as the definition of expert criteria used in the framework of a comprehensive forensic psychological and psychiatric examination.

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