FEATURES OF LEGAL CONSCIOUSNESS OF DELINQUENT TEENAGERS

ABSTRACT

The article presents the results of the study of the peculiarities of the legal consciousness of delinquent teenagers. It has been established that delinquent adolescents have the following characteristics: a low level of legal awareness in general (legal nihilism), a weak level of business legal awareness, an average level of development of domestic, civil legal awareness and legal knowledge. We have developed a programme to raise the level of legal awareness among delinquent adolescents, the implementation of which has shown that the development of such components as legal knowledge, domestic legal awareness and civil legal awareness helps to reduce juvenile delinquency.

Keywords: deviant behavior, delinquent behavior, illegal behavior, adolescence, legal consciousness, legal consciousness.

The relevance of the study of the features of the legal consciousness of delinquent adolescents is primarily due to the high prevalence of deviant behavior, including delinquent behavior, among the adolescent sample and the need for its correction. Delinquent behavior associated with violation of norms and laws in adolescents may develop due to a deep deformation of their legal consciousness. Contradictions arise in their legal consciousness related to the discrepancy between the norms broadcast in society and actual examples of their implementation and interpretation. Deviant (or deviant behavior), as E.V. Leus notes, is "... an act, an action of a person or group of persons that does not correspond to officially established or actually established norms and expectations in a given society, culture, subculture, group" [1, p. 176].

Analyzing legal consciousness, we define it, following A.R. Ratinov, as a sphere of consciousness, skills and evaluative attitudes to law, to the peculiarities of its functioning in practice, value orientations, attitudes that regulate the behavior of an individual [2, p. 182]. The author notes the fact that legal consciousness directly influences and determines human behavior. The empirical study was carried out by us in order to study the features of the legal consciousness of delinquent adolescents. To study its features, the following methods were used: the test "Propensity to deviant behavior" (E.V. Leus); the method of diagnosing propensity to 13 types of addictions (G.V. Lozova); the test of legal and civil consciousness (TPGS, L.A. Yasyukova); observation; conversation.

At the first stage, a diagnostic study was conducted to determine the features of the legal consciousness of delinquent adolescents. It was found that the most pronounced type of deviant behavior in the sample is socially conditioned behavior (cf. value =16.2), which is within the average limits of severity. The remaining types of deviant behavior (suicidal, delinquent, aggressive, dependent) are poorly expressed and correspond to the level of unformed signs of deviant behavior. The most pronounced type of addiction is love addiction (cf. value = 15.8), dependence on a healthy lifestyle (cf.value =15.5), food addiction (cf.value=12.2), which corresponds to the average level of addiction. Such teenagers have a strong and obsessive need for another person, a commitment to excessive physical training and a desire to overeat foods that are attractive to them. All other types of dependence are weakly expressed and are in the values of the lower.

The study of the peculiarities of legal and civil consciousness showed that more than half of the sample have its average level of formation (52%), that is, the foundations of legal consciousness in such adolescents are laid. Analyzing the components of legal awareness, we state that domestic legal awareness is most developed among adolescents (cf. value =5.8; average level), legal knowledge of adolescents (cf.value = 5.6; average level) is formed and found in the knowledge and understanding of part of the laws, weakly expressed civil legal awareness (cf. value=3.9; weak level) characterizes the following features inherent in such adolescents: infantilism, passivity, the least pronounced component of the respondents' business sense of justice (cf. value = 3.5; weak level).

Correlation analysis showed a number of significant relationships between the studied parameters. In particular, delinquent behavior has: 1. A strong positive correlation at a high level of significance (p≤ 0.01) with a tendency to addiction, that is, the higher the formation of delinquent behavior in adolescents, the higher their tendency to dependent behavior; 2. Negative correlation (p<0.05) with business legal awareness, legal consciousness, that is, the higher the tendency to delinquent behavior, the less developed the business legal awareness of adolescents and legal consciousness in general; 3. A negative correlation (p < 0.05) with addiction, which means that the higher the business sense of justice, the less addiction in adolescents.

At the second stage, we developed a program with the aim of developing legal consciousness, right culture, lawful behavior and, as a result, reducing delinquency of minors. The program consists of 10 classes, lasting 1-1.5 hours, the total duration of the program is 3-4 months. Based on our study, the working group consisted of adolescents with situational or formed delinquent behavior. The main methods of work are techniques and technologies of individual and group work, in particular trainings, conversations, art therapy techniques.

Checking the effectiveness of the program using the U-Mann-Whitney criterion allowed us to establish positive dynamics in many components. In particular, differences at a high level of significance (p≤0.01) in the overall level of formation of legal consciousness of delinquent adolescents indicate that the conducted program made it possible to increase legal consciousness in the experimental group (cf. value=17.9). Differences at a high level of significance (p≤0.01) in business legal awareness indicates its increase to a "good" level (cf. value =5.8). Such teenagers in business interaction began to make attempts to comply with the established rules. The obtained statistically significant differences (p≤0.05) in the components of domestic legal awareness (cf. value=6.1) and legal knowledge (cf.value=7.1), which corresponds to a "good" level of development, indicate that the persons of the experimental group acquired knowledge related to the legal sphere and began to actively use them in the domestic sphere.

In addition, positive dynamics in the indicators of legal consciousness in delinquent adolescents, as well as a general decrease in the propensity for such behavior, were found. It can be assumed that the implementation of a longer-term program will allow achieving better results in working with this category of adolescents. Thus, the legal consciousness of delinquent adolescents is characterized by a low level in general (legal nihilism), a weak level of business legal awareness, an average level of development of domestic, civil legal awareness and legal knowledge; an increase in the level of formation of legal consciousness and its components (legal knowledge, domestic legal awareness, civil legal awareness) in delinquent adolescents, it helps to reduce delinquency.

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