Bullying (cyberbullying) and the Internet as leading modern determinants of criminogenicity among minors

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Odessa National Maritime University

Bullying (cyberbullying) and the Internet as leading modern determinants of criminogenicity among minors

Galina Palamarchuk

Ph. D. Candidate, senior lecturer

General aspects of illegal behavior of minors

The rapid development of today's society, the spread of globalization processes, the rapid pace of scientific and technological progress and so on - all this creates favorable background phenomena for the formation of direct and indirect background phenomena. Against the background of such phenomena, the definition of juvenile delinquency is formed directly or indirectly.

Bullying and its variety - cyberbullying - is increasingly occurring in Ukraine and the world. Bullying, which manifests itself in systematic insults and psychological pressure, is a manifestation of violence, therefore it contains the potential for further, already criminal, violent behavior of a minor. Moreover, not only minors observe the manifestations of bullying, adults also fall under this type of unhealthy attitude in society, for example, bullying at the workplace. But, nevertheless, in the article we will focus on bowling in relation to minors.

The issue of manifestations of criminogenic behavior among minors was and remains an acute and urgent problem. This issue constantly attracts the attention of both scientists and practitioners in the field of work with minors. Such attention to the mentioned issue is explained by the fact that minors are a sensitive category of the population. And those minors who have committed criminally illegal acts, especially of a violent nature, need a special approach.

Considering the topic of determining factors of illegal behavior among minors, it should be noted that today's society creates more and more new conditions that contribute to the formation of direct and background phenomena, against the background of which, directly or indirectly, the determination of juvenile delinquency is formed.

In the rapid development of today's society, such an offense as bullying reaches another level of accountability due to its level of cruelty - criminal responsibility. And it is precisely the issue of establishing stricter accountability for the commission of such an offense that will be discussed in this article. Given the scale of bullying, its research is now extremely relevant. But about everything in order.

The goal of healthy social education of a person is the formation of social (political, economic, legal, moral, religious, artistic, scientific and other types) culture of a person [1, p. 132]. Even a certain level of achievement of this goal during the upbringing of a minor reduces his tendency to illegal behavior. It is the formation in the mind of a minor of the basics of awareness, a sufficient level of culture and intelligence, an adequate worldview and worldview in general that excludes the determination of potential criminal behavior.

Therefore, it can be seen that one of the main factors determining the illegal behavior of minors should be identified as deficiencies in their upbringing - unfavorable socialization, family circumstances, school environment, etc. In order to reduce the level of juvenile delinquency, it is necessary to form in their minds a correct, i.e., progressive worldview, based on the ideology of natural law.

The high social significance and social danger of delinquent behavior, and especially its manifestations among minors, give rise to many studies and different concepts that explain this phenomenon. Delinquent behavior is, first of all, one of the varieties of deviant behavior. The concepts of "deviance" and "deviant behavior" are, as a rule, the most common in the literature to denote various manifestations of behavioral disorders among minors. But these concepts, it turns out, do not accurately reflect the essence of the phenomenon. The phenomenon of delinquent behavior is studied in various fields of science: criminology, sociology, psychology, pedagogy, and medicine.

The concept of "delinquent behavior" (from the Latin delinquens - guilt), in a broad sense, is synonymous with illegal behavior - a type of deviant behavior, actions of a person that violate the norms of public law and order, threaten the well-being of other people or society in general and can be legally punished. At the same time, we mean both the behavior of a person officially recognized as a crime and illegal actions that do not fall under the jurisdiction of the court [2, 59]. It is in this sense that the concepts of "delinquent behavior" and "delinquency" are used in most modern sociological and criminological publications. In domestic pedagogy and psychology, the concept of "delinquent behavior" is often used in a narrow sense: to denote antisocial behavior and noncriminal offenses by minors or an intermediate stage in the formation of illegal behavior by minors. Therefore, delinquent behavior has a complex nature, which is caused by many interrelated factors that influence each other.

The problem of delinquent behavior is an interdisciplinary problem, therefore, during the last decade, the number of scientific publications on this topic has increased significantly, which emphasizes the importance and relevance of the problem at the current stage of society's development.

The social environment at the micro and macro level of a minor should contribute to his healthy socialization, and not push him to a criminal path. Negative factors that influence the formation of illegal behavior from childhood in a person are not always good relationships in the family, circle of friends and further self-realization for any purpose, including through violent methods. Such factors definitely affect the unformed psyche of a minor and young age, which in the future will be realized as an everyday model of relations in society. Significant oversaturation of real life with virtual, where scenes of violence and aggression are played every hour, by its excess leads to the deformation of the adolescent's subconscious, which is confirmed by a number of studies. In order to prevent these illegal actions, it is necessary to carry out preventive measures both among the risk group and the general population in a timely manner and in sufficient quantity.

Such results are also explained by the fact that adolescence and early youth are one of the most controversial periods of a person's life. An important role in the proper socialization of a teenager should be played by the family, school, and public environment. Teenagers in this period are too impulsive, emotional, strive for independence and do not pay attention to the opinion of adults. The opinion of a group of peers and friends becomes a kind of authority for the student and is of decisive importance. It is quite important that a teenager during this period does not join various informal groups that approve of alcohol, drugs, and criminal activity. Here, in our opinion, the family environment should occupy an important position, since it is the family that has a priority place in the process of formation and development of the child.

Modern society is faced with the problem of not only the low morality of the younger generation, but also the low moral values of the families where these children are brought up. Families where violence, alcoholism, drug addiction, and sexual depravity prevail are called dysfunctional. Deviations from the norm in the behavior of family members affect the entire spiritual world of a minor. The child adopts from adult family members a cynical attitude towards moral values, disrespect for other people, rules and laws. Of course, such an environment during the period of physical and spiritual formation of a child leads to violations of his personal development and the formation of deviant and delinquent behavior. The problem of child refugees and homelessness grows out of dysfunctional families. In a family whose members are characterized by such traits as brutality, immorality, humiliation of human dignity, the teenager will accordingly develop bitterness and a desire for revenge. Quite often, a child from such a family practically does not attend school, because the student does not want to be the object of criticism, or even ridicule, from teachers and peers. Most often, adult criminals involve in criminal activities those children who already have some kind of "experience" of socially maladaptive behavior.

Usually, it is a common statement that juvenile criminals are formed precisely in dysfunctional families or in families where low moral qualities prevail, the use of alcohol, drugs, etc. is promoted. However, quite often we can hear or witness a situation where a teenager raised in a normal family became a member of a criminal group or committed a crime on his own. There may be several reasons for this behavior of a minor.

A teenager is dissatisfied with the financial situation of his own family and seeks to compensate for it through criminal activity.

The difficult financial situation pushes parents to look for earnings, which quite often take place abroad, and the child remains without supervision from older family members.

Parents do not spend free time with their child not because of his absence, but because of indifference to the upbringing of the child [3, p. 153].

Therefore, caring for parents with their own children, spending free time together, in particular, is one of the most important conditions for the successful socialization of a child. Such a course of events in the socialization of a teenager at the level of his microenvironment will contribute to the formation of high values and rejection of deviant behavior.

As it has been repeatedly mentioned, the psychologically negative and hyperactive state of minors is an essential determinant. In particular, very often manifestations of aggression among minors occur in schools. Educational institutions are unable to fully ensure the proper performance of educational functions in relation to minors. This is explained by such factors as standardization of the educational process, formalism, overloading of schools, authoritarianism, gap between education and upbringing, etc.

Back in the middle of the 20th century, foreign criminologists paid attention to the harmfulness of excessively high social requirements for young people in determining criminal behavior in general. Thus, in 1961, R. Clovard and

Olin published the monograph "Juvenile delinquency and opportunities: the theory of youth criminal groups" [4]. The authors clearly argued their opinion that society, imposing various values on teenagers, hardly cares whether the achievement of these values is realistic for the majority of young people. After this book was written, a law was passed to prevent juvenile delinquency, a special youth empowerment program was created, and millions of dollars from public and private funds were allocated for the implementation of this program. It should be noted that this case serves as confirmation of the importance of scientific research on the issues of juvenile delinquency in general and for the state to implement effective measures in the field of juvenile justice, in particular.

A "traditional" important determining factor of the illegal behavior of minors is their aggression. The determinants that influence the aggressive behavior of minors are: the cult of violence in the family, the negative influence of the mass media, a low level of upbringing, hypercare, computer games, a large number of negative publications in the mass media and social networks, personal negative qualities, etc. In particular, according to S. V. Gorlach, the reasons and conditions contributing to the commission of intentional murders by minors are the lack of organized leisure time for minors; propaganda of violence, brutality, in particular by mass media; spread of background phenomena (drunkenness, drug addiction, prostitution); shortcomings of family and school education; adult family members showing examples of violent behavior to minors, including the use of violence against them; the participation of minors in informal groups in which the cult of violence and brutality is cultivated; low level of education and lack of life experience; mental disorders, aggressiveness and cruelty; the influence of specific life situations of a criminogenic nature [5, p. 228]. It is obvious that there are many favorable determinants of illegal behavior by minors.

In general, juvenile delinquency as a negative social phenomenon exists in all countries. Violations of the norms of behavior in minors and minors, which lead to criminal responsibility, arise for various reasons. But as a result, society loses a full-fledged change of generations in them. Delinquent behavior is a type of deviant behavior, a set of illegal acts and crimes that do not correspond to formally recorded social and legal norms. At the same time, a delinquent (offender) is a minor with social deviations in behavior who commits acts prohibited by the legislation and other regulatory acts. This is basically a mentally and physically healthy student with certain negative life experiences, deformed socio-ethical knowledge, unhealthy habits and needs, spoiled by improper upbringing or antisocial influence of a certain environment.

The leading determinants of the growth of crime among minors include: lack of control over the sale of alcoholic beverages to children, dysfunction in the family, violence, immoral lifestyle of parents, centers for the commercialization of leisure time, video libraries, game halls encourage teenagers to commit crimes with payment of money. Teenagers who have left school and do not work anywhere, quickly come to the attention of criminal groups.

Illegal actions include concessions, offenses and crimes. Among the typical misdemeanors of minors are bad language, systematic violation of discipline at school, fights with peers, brawling.

Offenses are violations of administrative and legal norms that manifest themselves through petty theft, bullying, theft of vehicles, and hooliganism.

A crime is an illegal, socially dangerous act classified according to certain norms of criminal procedural law (rape, murder, inflicting significant bodily harm, etc.).

A prerequisite for delinquent behavior is severe indolence. The terms "difficult student" and "difficult education" characterize children with a negative attitude to learning and norms of moral behavior [6, p. 18].

In general, healthy children with some deviations in physical health, a slightly disturbed or weakened nervous system due to exposure to psycho- traumatic factors are those who are aggravated in non-pathological terms. Inadequate reactions, strong aggressiveness, hypocrisy, depravity, malice, envy can be observed in their behavior. The most characteristic manifestations of difficult parenting of children are laziness, aggressiveness for extra time, irresponsibility, disorganization, unimportance, emotional instability, weak dexterity to resist the negative influence of others.

A high level of aggressiveness among minors is manifested, in particular, in such a negative phenomenon as bullying.

Conducting a criminological study of bullying is quite relevant today in Ukraine. The aggression of minors has a significant increase, which is expressed in bullying, both morally and physically, against persons of the same age, younger or older. The specified period of life of these persons takes place in schools, lyceums and other educational institutions, where institutions of socialization of personality, moral and psychological properties of minors are formed. This age is considered "transitional", which often becomes a crossroad in terms of understanding and influencing the minor. Both in the family circle and teachers quite often ignore the "pranks" of schoolchildren, such irresponsibility of adults gives minors a sense of impunity, which leads to aggressive and illegal behavior of the latter. Although school bullies are usually not prosecuted, this does not mean that their actions are not criminal.

Precisely because bowling is one of the leading negative manifestations, it usually precedes the commission of other, more violent, illegal actions by minors. We will talk about the manifestations of bullying among teenagers.

Bullying as a background phenomenon that forms a criminogenic potential in the behavior of minors

The background phenomena of crime are a set of immoral manifestations that contradict generally accepted norms of behavior and are organically interconnected with crime. Such immoral manifestations determine each other and lead to the social degradation of the individual, and ultimately the entire society. As is obvious, this paragraph will discuss bullying as a background phenomenon that forms the potential of criminogenic behavior among minors.

The term "bullying" is used to include moral or physical violence, aggression in any form, or any other actions committed with the aim of causing fear, anxiety, subordinating a person to one's interests, which have signs of deliberate cruelty.

The very term "bullying" in its meaning means to bully, mock, force with threats, as well as the English noun a bully.

In a broad definition, bullying should be considered as the actions of participants in the educational and work process, which consist of psychological, physical, economic, sexual violence, which are committed with the use of electronic communications. Such actions are directly aimed at the victim of bullying and have the result of psychological, physical, economic and other harm to the victim of bullying.

The following main signs of bullying can be distinguished.

First of all, it is the presence of parties - the offender (bully), the victim (bullying victim), as well as observers. Sometimes bullying is committed without the participation of observers, and in this case it is extremely difficult to prove the fact that it was committed.

Secondly, it is repeatability / systematicity of action. The fact of one-way bullying almost does not exist. As a rule, bullying has the character of a constantly committed act and with the potential increase of more and more severe forms of bullying.

The third is the presence of consequences of inflicting certain harm on the victim of bullying. Such consequences can have a psychological, physical, economic nature, as well as humiliation of the victim on a sexual basis.

It is by the results and consequences of the act of bullying that certain types of bullying can be distinguished.

Psychological bullying is humiliating looks, gestures, offensive body movements, facial expressions, spreading offensive rumors, isolation, ignoring, threats, jokes, manipulation, blackmail, etc.

Physical bullying is a fact of physical violence against the victim of bullying. Physical violence is the most visible, but accounts for less than a third of bullying cases (pushing, stomping, hitting, fighting, slapping, damaging and destroying the victim's clothing and personal belongings, as well as looks, gestures, offensive body movements and facial expressions).

Economic bullying is theft, damage or destruction of clothes and other personal belongings of the victim, extortion of money, etc.

Sexual bullying - expressed in humiliating looks, gestures, nicknames and insults of a sexual nature, filming in changing rooms, spreading offensive rumors, sexual threats, etc.

Cyberbullying is the act of humiliation using mobile phones, the Internet, and other electronic devices (sending ambiguous photos, calling people names on the phone, filming fights or other humiliations and posting videos on the Internet, bullying through social networks).

Bullying among teenagers manifests itself through various acts of physical or psychological violence and oppression experienced by children from other children. These can be: systematic mockery that reflects some features of the victim's appearance or personality; spoiling their personal belongings, pushing them under the desk, demanding money; frank bullying that degrades the sense of human dignity.

There are several types of bullying in society: physical, psychological, economic bullying, within which cyberbullying is possible as a sub-form of bullying, direct and indirect bullying, etc.

It should be emphasized that bullying always aims to hurt, offend, humiliate, demoralize, subjugate, and cause fear in its victim. Systematization is a characteristic feature of bullying. Bullying can be expressed in systematic verbal insults, showing contempt, bullying, making fun of someone. Bullying can be expressed in more threatening forms, for example, hitting. Taking or damaging things, even physical humiliation, etc.

These physical or verbal actions are signs of direct bullying. Manifestation of indirect bowling occurs through the implementation of manipulative behavior, dissemination of personal information of the victim, rumors, removal of the victim from joint activities, etc.

Manifestations of bullying serve as prerequisites for the formation of illegal behavior of minors, in particular as a prerequisite for subsequent possible violent actions. Therefore, it can be seen that the manifestations of bullying among minors should be attributed to the background phenomena of violent juvenile delinquency. Although there is no definition of the term "bullying" in the Great Ukrainian Criminological Encyclopedia, there are enough reasons to attribute this phenomenon to the background phenomena of crime - phenomena that are "related to repeated behavior and (or) established actual social and legal status of a person. With such phenomena, it is possible to predict the highest (special) degree of probability that persons will commit acts that contain signs of a crime." [7, p. 14]. Bullying is manifested in systematic manifestations of contempt, insults and psychological pressure, it is a manifestation of violence. Because of this, bowling contains the potential for further, already criminal, violent behavior of a minor.

In Ukraine and throughout the world, the phenomenon of bullying and its variant - cyberbullying - is becoming more and more widespread. The latter will be discussed in the next paragraph. According to the Center for Information on Human Rights, as of July 2017, 67% of children in Ukraine aged 11-17 faced the problem of bullying during the last three months. 24% of children were bullied, and 48% did not even tell anyone about these incidents [8].

According to the World Health Organization, Ukraine ranks fourth among European countries in terms of the level of adolescent aggression [9, p. 34].

In the Ukrainian judiciary, there is already a practice of considering cases where proceedings were opened and considered regarding the manifestation of bowling among minors. In particular, there are court decisions in criminal proceedings that dealt with issues of understanding bullying as a background phenomenon of violent crime among minors, as well as as a phenomenon that is identical to violence as a criminal manifestation of illegal behavior by minors. Thus, according to the decision of the Volyn Court of Appeal in case No. 158/525/21, the lawyer's appeal against the decision of the investigating judge of the local court was dismissed [10].

The specified court decision refused to satisfy the complaint of the lawyer on behalf of the representative of the minor PERSON_1 against the decision of the deputy head of the investigative department to close the criminal proceedings. As it was established, information No. 12021030590000056 was entered into the Unified Register of State Decisions of Ukraine on the grounds of a criminal offense, which is provided for in Article 128 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, based on the fact of causing bodily harm to a minor PERSON_1. The investigating judge motivated his decision by the fact that a mandatory sign of bullying is damage to the mental or physical health of the victim as a result of such violence, and the materials of the criminal proceedings do not confirm the fact of the use of physical or mental violence against PERSON_1 as a result of bullying. The appellate court recognized the specified decision as legal and noted that the participants in the conflict are 6th grade students, in particular PERSON_4 and PERSON_1, born in 2009. Therefore, they are not subjects of the criminal offense provided for in Art. 128 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine [11], and therefore their actions do not constitute this offense.

On January 19, 2019, Law of Ukraine No. 2657-VIII of December 18, 2018 "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Combating Bullying" entered into force, which introduced a number of amendments to the legislative acts of Ukraine. In particular, the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses was supplemented by Article 173-4. "Bullying (harassment) of a participant in the educational process", which defines bullying (harassment), i.e. the actions of participants in the educational process, which consist of psychological, physical, economic, sexual violence, including with the use of electronic communications, committed against a minor or of a minor or such a person in relation to other participants of the educational process, as a result of which damage to the mental or physical health of the victim could be or has been caused.." [12]. This law focuses on violence and the negative impact of electronic means of communication, which will be discussed in the next paragraph.

The first court decision was issued in Ukraine specifically for bullying using electronic communications. The Boryspil city district court of the Kyiv region made a decision in the case of bullying, ordering the parents of the guilty minor to pay a fine. According to the results of the court hearing, the fact of bullying with the use of electronic communications was established. The teenager was found guilty of bullying a peer, and his parents were fined 850 UAH. This case confirms that anti-bullying legislation is already working.

In general, as practice in Ukraine shows, bullying in a children's environment precedes the same children committing violent crimes in the future, which are dangerous in their consequences and can cause harm of various nature. The study showed that the majority of children who commit illegal acts, attributed to the signs of bullying other people (mostly their peers), do it between the ages of 10 and 16, of which 40% are between the ages of 14 and 16 [13, p. 24].

Based on the above-mentioned examples of judicial practice and the high rate of bullying, a proposal should be made to introduce a tougher punishment for bullying. Especially, it should be taken into account that manifestations of bullying often have a group character. This significantly increases the degree of social danger of such violent actions. If in the case of one-on-one bullying, the teenager can fight back the bully, then in the case of group bullying, the teenager has no way to stand up for himself.

Thus, from the above argumentation, paying attention to the harm caused by bullying, a proposal should be made to classify bullying as a background phenomenon of violent crime among minors. It is also necessary to define countering bullying as one of the priority directions of the juvenile anti-criminal policy of Ukraine. criminological bullying internet

Internet space as an environment for the development and manifestation of the criminogenic potential of minors. Cyberbullying

Combating illegal deviant behavior and crime among minors is one of the priority areas of state policy. In Ukraine, there is a process of constant increase in violence among young people, increase in aggressive behavior among students of general secondary education institutions, etc. Such factors pose a threat to the normal physical and mental development of children and adolescents.

The analysis of the causes and conditions that give rise to the criminal behavior of minors shows that, along with other factors - the crisis of morality, economic instability, the negative impact on minors' microenvironment, etc., such a component as the influence of mass media, social networks and Internet communities becomes especially relevantn [14, p. 233].

In many cases, electronic means of communication exert a negative influence of the criminal subculture on the deviant behavior of children and the spread of various manifestations of violence in the youth environment. Important in this context is the Recommendation N R (97) 19 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe "On the display of violence by the electronic media", which was adopted by the Committee of Ministers at the 607th meeting of deputy ministers on October 30, 1997 (hereinafter - the Recommendation) [15]. The document noted that the increase in the amount of violence shown by electronic media, as a result of which it becomes an important social problem. Depending on the situation, there are many ways to show violence in the media, ranging from information to entertainment; and also that, particularly in the latter case, violence is sometimes presented as a common occurrence or even glorified to attract the attention of a large audience.

Means of communication can be different, including electronic, at the same time it is not entirely correct to talk about electronic communication (communication). There are many cases of suicide as a dangerous modern trend, the cause of which stems from communication in electronic means of communication - minors have been induced to commit suicide in social networks.

The analysis of the determinants that give rise to the violent and illegal behavior of minors shows that mass media, social networks and Internet communities (electronic means of communication) create a basis on the basis of which a minor forms his behavior, life priorities and worldview.

Researchers from different countries unanimously claim that movies that contain aggressive and violent actions are the cause of 27% of acts of violence that occur in real life [16, p. 131]. Since it is at the age of five that their own system of world perception, system of values and priorities is actively formed, children adopt various behavior patterns of adults, and, unfortunately, violence becomes one of these patterns. Therefore, the instability of the emotional sphere, an unformed value system, a tendency to copy "real adult behavior", the need for self-affirmation in combination with a negative social environment, the romanticization of a criminal lifestyle, numerous scenes of violence and cruelty, leads to a distorted perception of the permissibility of aggressive and criminal behavior , to bullying, and ultimately to the commission of violent criminal offenses by minors. Therefore, all this is a complex of determinants that form deviant behavior in teenagers.

It can be seen that the complexity of the process of controlling the impact of negative information products on minors also lies in the significant scale of

its broadcast in the mass media. It can be stated that the scale of showing "aggressive" information products needs to be reduced in general. The negative impact of mass media on increasing the level of violent criminal behavior occurs primarily in combination with psychological instability, a reduced level of general motivation, underdeveloped legal awareness and legal culture of minors. Therefore, in order to neutralize the negative influence of mass media on the behavior of minors, first of all, to prevent them from committing violent offenses and bullying, coordinated activities of state and other bodies are necessary. It is necessary to ensure the positive educational influence of mass media on personality formation in Ukraine.

When it comes to general social measures carried out in the specified directions, it is necessary to carefully prepare special programs with the involvement of specialists of various specialties, in particular, doctors, psychologists, teachers and criminologists. This is necessary in order to have a multifaceted, professional impact on the consciousness of a minor, to cover all the negative aspects of certain dangerous phenomena. It is obvious that the reserve of electronic means of communication in the sense of educational and enlightening influence on minors is significant.

Empirical studies have established that children and adolescents spend more time in front of the TV and on the Internet than in school. With the beginning of the period of the COVID-19 pandemic and the introduction of distance learning (online), these indicators have increased many times. Television and the Internet have a double effect: positive, that is, it stimulates positive behavior if the child watches programs aimed at popularizing relevant values, or it stimulates violence, other negative behavior patterns, if programs promote aggression and similar types of negative phenomena [17, p. 149]. Therefore, the influence of mass media on the violent crime of minors can have two qualitatively different directions:

negative psychological impact - increase in aggression and violence;

positive psychological impact - prevention of the spread of aggression and violence.

However, in objective reality, it should be noted that the mass media have both a positive and a negative influence (the latter effect prevails).

It should be noted that the informatization of the social space is an objective reality today. An important component of this reality is the Internet, which actually permeates all spheres of human existence. Every year, an increasing number of Ukrainians use the Internet. It is becoming more and more accessible to broad segments of the population of different age groups. In particular, according to Factum Group data for the third quarter of 2019, the number of Internet users in Ukraine is 22.9 million people (71% of the country's population) [18]. This increase occurred due to the "smartphoneization" of the population (22% of the population access the Internet using smartphones). At the same time, almost the entire population of Ukraine under the age of 35 are Internet users [19]. During the pandemic, the number of Internet users increased both in the world and in Ukraine. "During the year of quarantine associated with the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, from the beginning of 2020 to the beginning of 2021, the Ukrainian audience of social networks increased by 7 million people, GlobalLogic said in a statement [20]. At the beginning of 2020, there were 19 million users of social networks in Ukraine), in 2021 the figure reached 26 million. At the same time, the penetration of social networks increased by half: currently 60% of the country's population is registered with them, while in January 2020 there were slightly more than 40%. According to GlobalLogic, since 2019, the number of Ukrainians on Instagram has increased by 22%, and on Facebook - by 7%. Currently, they are used by 14 and 16 million Ukrainians, respectively. Over the past year, the TikTok social network reached 16% of users from Ukraine, its growth was 500%. The most popular social network remains YouTube with a reach of 96% of users in Ukraine. The Internet has become a globally available tool for storing and transmitting certain data, a platform for remote communication.

Today, both in the international arena and in Ukraine, the issue of digital human rights is being discussed. The UN has recognized that the right to the Internet is an inalienable human right that must be ensured at all levels, and that the Internet itself plays a crucial role in the development of society. At the same time, the rights that a person has in the offline environment must also be protected in the online environment [21].

Such activity of minors on the Internet for most of them is explained by social conditions of life, namely, insufficient attention from parents, teachers at school, in professional institutions, lack of friends, inability/unwillingness to contact peers in real life, the opportunity to present oneself online better , than teenagers are perceived by the offline environment. That is, the online environment for a minor today becomes a more effective form of social identification compared to real life.

Children and teenagers are becoming familiar with new technologies, such as the Internet, ahead of their parents in terms of technical literacy. There is a positive side to this: raising the level of erudition, forming communication skills with people. But there is also a negative: lack of life experience, as a rule, increases the risk of encountering online threats: online violence; fraud; pornography; obtaining personal information for the purpose of criminal use" [22, p. 7].

However, there is almost no clear line between online and offline social environments that is easy to cross. Therefore, the Internet network becomes a kind of catalyst for the development of both victim and criminogenic potential of minor users.

The rapid development of the Internet and its importance in modern society led to the emergence of a special type of social reality, which can be called a virtual, online social environment (online society), which in no case can be contrasted with an offline social environment. The online social environment seems to have its own structure. An element of such an environment is a product - information. Information posted on the Internet can be both operational and current. The user makes a certain request on the Internet through search engines. Information can have both positive and negative, including criminogenic potential. Thus, information in the online space forms an information environment (both internal and external), which can have a destructive effect on a minor consumer of the Internet information space.

The next element of the online social environment that should be considered is communication (cyber communication) on the Internet. A minor may be a participant in such communication. In the online social environment, communication takes place - the exchange of messages about certain events, as well as communication of a personal nature. This includes the data subject's own "personal" assessment of these events.

The specified elements of the online social environment (information and cyber communication) by their content may relate to any forms of violence and carry criminogenic potential for persons who consume the information product, communicate with other Internet users regarding the commission of violent offenses.

The Internet actually changed the sphere of social communication of teenagers, expanded the temporal and spatial boundaries for social ties of such persons. Internet users build virtual social relationships that are virtually identical to traditional social relationships, compensating for the time and space limitations of real social relationships and communications. Minors usually transfer existing social ties to virtual reality, superimpose them, erasing the boundary between these social ties, reconstructing and restoring lost ones, creating new social ties, which causes the emergence of new virtual network communications. Thus, the online community actually expanded the boundaries of the social life of minors. The network organization of virtual communication forms an alternative way of social interaction, allowing access to an unlimited range of information, including of a criminogenic nature.

Information that is constantly updated in the online space, as well as in communicative, informational means of communication (messengers, social networks, forums, virtual games, etc.), software products, even if it carries a criminogenic potential, does not yet turn into a condition for a minor to commit a criminal offense offenses under the influence of such information. For example, in the Internet space there is a large number of Internet resources, on which information about narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, various types of weapons, methods of their acquisition or manufacture is freely available. Such information has a criminogenic and determining potential, but a minor may perceive its criminogenic basis and commit a criminal offense, or may, on the contrary, perceive the relevant information and not use it in his behavior pattern, but reject such information. In both cases, the perception or nonperception of criminogenic information by minors is an extremely complex mental process that includes analysis, synthesis and evaluation of relevant information. However, in the second case, when the minor does not perceive criminogenic information and does not make it a model of his behavior, the corresponding mental processes are more complex, since the minor in this case not only analyzes and evaluates criminogenic information, but also builds certain protective barriers that reduce the negative potential of criminogenic information perceived by a minor in the online space.

Thus, the criminogenic potential of information distributed on the Internet can become a determining factor in the illegal behavior of a minor only in combination with other determining factors of the social environment and personal traits of a minor. In order to prevent the absorption of the abovementioned factors by teenagers, it is necessary to constantly conduct various educational and educational activities among them, which will be aimed at a deeper awareness of the issues of correct and rational use of relevant information products of the Internet space. At the legislative level, this issue should be studied more thoroughly and relevant experts in the field of informational Internet products should be involved in their discussion.

Criminal offenses that can be committed by minors, taking into account the negative informational impact of such an Internet product, turn from traditional ones into more intense ones, which are characterized by a greater degree of aggressiveness. Among them, a prominent place is occupied by cyberbullying, which is becoming widespread among minors and Internet users.

Cyberbullying, unlike bullying, is seen as more dangerous. Cyberbullying is characterized by less clear boundaries, is more stigmatizing towards the person who is bullied using the Internet.

Cyberbullying (cyberbullying) or electronic bullying (electronic bullying), or online social cruelty (Online social cruelty) is a type of bullying that is defined in Western criminology as intentional systematic aggressive actions committed over a period of time by a group of people or an individual 166 using Internet interactions are directed against the victim who cannot defend himself [23, p. 376].

Cyberbullying includes the use of e-mail, instant messages, web pages, blogs, forums and chats, MMS and SMS messages, online games and other communication information technologies [24, p. 35].

Among scientists, the definition of cyberbullying is actively discussed. Thus, according to T. V. Myronyuk and A. K. Zaporozhets, "cyberbullying is the newest form of illegal behavior that manifests itself in aggressive, cruel actions aimed at harassing, harming, and humiliating a person using information and communication tools: mobile phones, e-mail, social networks, etc [25, p. 105].

N. M. Panteleeva and G. T. Kebengele, identifying the means of cyberbullying as an "informational weapon by the direction and degree of the informational nature of psychological pressure", define cyberbullying as follows: "these are aggressive actions that create a conflict situation in the relations of subjects in a virtual environment , the consequences of which are a violation of the psychological and social security of the individual." [26, p. 125].

I. Lubenets, believes that cyberbullying is "systematic intentional actions by a person or a group of persons (most often teenagers) using information and telecommunication means, directed against another person (persons), characterized by the creation of a hostile, humiliating, offensive environment and the goal or the consequence of which is intimidation, violation of the right to safe education, respect, honor, dignity, property, health and life, restriction of the freedom of expression of a person (persons), etc [27, p. 128]. The scientist believes that cyberbullying differs from other types of school violence as follows: the perceptibility of time and geographical limitations; scale and speed of dissemination of offensive information and unlimited audience; protection of the pursuer in the virtual world; high level of latency of this type of violence; gaps in legislation regarding responsibility for the above actions.

Modern American researchers Robin Kowalski, Susan Limber and Patricia Agatston identify eight types of behavior that are characteristic of cyberbullying, reflecting the vast majority of types of negative influence in the Internet space:

disputes or flaming (English flaming - burning, hot, fiery) - exchange of concise angry and inflammatory remarks between two or more participants through the use of communication technologies;

attacks, constant exhausting attacks (English harassment) - this is the involvement of repeated offensive messages directed at the victim with overloading of personal communication channels;

slander, defamation - dissemination of humiliating false information using computer technologies;

impersonation, impersonation - the stalker positions himself as the victim, using her password to access an account in social networks, blog, mail, instant messaging system, etc., and then carries out negative communication;

fraud, illegal receipt of confidential information and its further distribution (outing & trickery);

Alienation (ostracism), isolation. It is inherent in any person, especially in childhood, to perceive himself either in some group or outside it;

cyberstalking is covert tracking of the persecuted and those who are idly nearby;

happy slapping (from the English happy slapping) is a relatively new type of cyberbullying, which was started in the English subway, where teenagers, walking on the platform, suddenly slapped each other, and another participant filmed it on a mobile camera [28].

N. M. Panteleeva and G. T. Kebengele, describing the specified types of behavior, identify security threats for each of them. So, flaming creates unequal psychological terror, which leads to strong emotional experiences; harassment - characteristic of online games, destruction of gaming experience; slander, slander - psychological terror that leads to strong emotional experiences, increases reputational risks (destruction of image and reputation); impersonation - impersonation against people included in the "list of hate groups" exposes their lives to real danger; cheating, extortion of confidential information and its distribution - increases reputational risks (destruction of image and reputation); alienation - a drop in self-esteem, serious emotional troubles, up to complete emotional destruction, social death; cyberbullying - criminal acts, physical violence, beatings, slapping - can lead to tragic consequences [26, p. 126].

T. V. Myronyuk and A. K. Zaporozhets single out the following manifestations of cyberbullying: threatening and offensive text messages; distribution (spam) of videos and photos of pornographic content; trolling (threatening, rude messages in social networks, chats or online games); demonstrative removal from communities in social networks, from online games; creation of hate groups against a specific child; an offer to vote for or against someone in an offensive poll; provoking teenagers to suicide or selfmutilation ("Blue Whale" type death squads); creation of fake pages in social networks, theft of data to form an online clone; sending candid photos; suggestions to children to send their private photos of a frank nature and invitations to sexual conversations or correspondence using instant messengers [29, p. 275]. These researchers believe that "bullying actually turns into torture with the presence of all the elements of this crime, except for the subject. One should agree with this position of the specified scientists, since there is every reason to believe so.

And here it is necessary to emphasize the legislative gap - teenage bullies who committed acts constituting torture are not criminally liable under Article 127 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, since part 2 of Article 22 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine does not include this crime in the list of those criminally liable for which it comes from the age of 14 [11]. If they carry out their illegal actions through the Internet (cyberbullying), then the owner of the computer from which false information or intimidation was spread is responsible for threats to other children on the Internet. Therefore, within the framework of this legislative gap, the proposal of T. V. Myronyuk should be shared and supported regarding the need to lower the age of criminal responsibility of the subject who commits bullying to 14 years (if his actions caused serious consequences). As for children who, from the age of 11 to the age of 14, commit a socially dangerous act that falls under the signs of bullying, in accordance with Article 97 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the court applies coercive measures of an educational nature to them, provided for in part 2 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine .

A vivid example of cyberbullying is the well-known in France and the world "L'affaire Mila". The case had a high-profile nature, so it should be considered. In July 2021, a Paris court announced its verdict in a case concerning cyberbullying and the "right to blasphemy" [30]. In January 2020, 16-year-old Mila posted a video on Instagram where she talked about the insult from a man who spoke about her sexual orientation with reference to religion. "Your religion is shit," Mila replied, after which she became the object of hatred and threats of death and rape. Ten months later, she decides to respond to those who insult her and threaten her death, in a video posted on TikTok, where she again criticizes Islam. Among the hundreds of thousands of threats and insults received were photo montages "with the head of bloody Mila instead of Samuel Pati" - a history and geography teacher whose head was beheaded in the fall of 2020. 100,000 threats a day - her lawyer called it "digital lynching". Since then, Mila has been living in a shelter under 24-hour police protection. In November 2020, the prosecutor's office opened the first proceedings against Mila for "inciting hatred against a group of people because of their belonging to a race or a certain religion", which was closed at the end of January 2021. The investigation proved that her statements "regardless of their outrageous tone" , had "the sole purpose of expressing a personal opinion about religion without soliciting hatred or violence against individuals." On the other hand, in February-March 2021, 11 unrelated people between the ages of 18 and 29 were taken into custody under the operational coordination of the Central Hate Crime Directorate for cyberbullying and death threats. In total, 13 people appeared before the Paris Criminal Court, 11 were sentenced to suspended terms of four to six months. In addition to the conditional terms, each must pay 1,500 euros in moral compensation to the victim of bullying and compensation for court costs (€ 1,000). One defendant was acquitted due to lack of evidence, another was acquitted due to procedural violations.