Somatic and psychological health of convicted minors as a risk factor of repeated offence

Statement of the problem. The article presents the results of studying the parameters of the somatic and psychological health among juvenile convicts. The necessity of psychoprophylactic and correctional measures to reduce the risks of repeated offence is indicated. Adolescents who use psychoactive substances have a high level of maladjustment and poor control over their behavior, which leads to the commission of offenses. Materials and methods. The study is empirical in nature. The methodological and theoretical basis of the undertaken research is: systematic (B. F. Lomov), complex (B. G. Ananyev), activity-based (S. L. Rubinstein) and personality- oriented (K. A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, A. G. Asmolov, A. A. Bodalev, A.V. Petrovsky, K. Rogers, A. Maslow) approaches; the concept of formation of child’s personality and self-consciousness (V. S. Mukhina, V. V. Stolin, etc.); the position on the influence of activity and communication on the ontogenesis of children (L. S. Vygotsky, A. Ya. Varga, A. N. Leontiev, M. I. Lisina, A. S. Spivakovskaya, D. B. Elkonin, etc.). Theoretical and empirical research methods were used, which included the analysis of personal files of juvenile convicts, their questionnaires, methods of mathematical statistics in the automated workplace of a penitentiary psychologist (APM PP). Research results. Data on the state of somatic and psychological health of juvenile convicts serving sentences in the young offender institutions of the Siberian Federal Okrug Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia were obtained. Taking into account the obtained results, methodological recommendations for conducting preventive and psychocorrective work are compiled. The main areas of work of penitentiary psychologists will be: psychocorrection work with minors (work with motivation, values, attitudes, development of adequate self-esteem, self-regulation of behavior; prevention of dependent behavior, aggressive and auto-aggressive behavior, criminal infection) and their parents (correction of child-parent relations). Conclusion. The article presents and describes information about the state of somatic and psychological health of juvenile convicts serving sentences in the young offender institutions of the Siberian Federal Okrug Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia. Almost a quarter of juvenile convicts are prone to addictive behavior and have various diseases, including mental illnesses, which is significantly higher than among minors who have committed a crime for the first time. It is worth noting that addictive behavior begins to manifest itself quite early. The search activity of adolescent offenders leads to the use of psychoactive substances and alcohol. Such adolescents are predisposed to escape from reality by changing their mental state, are prone to an illusory-compensatory way of solving personal problems (alcoholism, drug addiction). The analysis of personal files shows that in many cases illegal acts were committed in a state of alcoholic, narcotic or toxic intoxication.