Law Journal of the National Academy of Internal Affairs

The topical age issues of criminal responsibility arising from creation and participation in illegal militarized and armed formations under Ukrainian and foreign legislation are studied in the article. The necessity of age decreasing from 16 to 14 years is grounded. Establishing minimal age of criminal responsibility for this crime the legislator obviously was guided by such criterion as the possibility of the person having achieved the defined age to realize the public danger of actions dealing with creation and participation in illegal militarized and armed formations. Certain legislator’s inconsistency is identified – in some cases for the creation of criminal units criminal responsibility is established starting from 14 years, in other cases – from 16 years. It is established that at the same level as in Ukraine the minimal age of criminal responsibility for the creation of illegal militarized and armed formations is established mainly in the CIS counties. Still in other European countries criminal responsibility for the same crimes comes for 15 and 14 years. Thus, based on the abovementioned, it is possible to conclude that the age of criminal responsibility for crime committal according to the Article 260 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine should be decreased to 14 years. It is conditioned by ability of the person in this age to realize public danger and criminal illegality of creation and participation in illegal militarized and armed formations, intentional character of crime, significant degree of public danger, prevalence of crimes in recent years, experience of certain foreign countries, and also by results of Ukrainian and foreign scientists’ research.