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The article is dedicated to clarifying the procedure of execution of punishment in the form of deprivation of liberty concerning convicted juveniles in foreign countries. It is noted that due to the optimization of penal institutions (during 2018–2021, 39 penal institutions were «preserved» in Ukraine), due to the rapid reduction in the number of convicts (including juveniles), the number of special educational institutions (educational colonies) has decreased significantly. Thus, as of the end of 2021, there were 63 persons in 1 educational colony and 1 sector for female juvenile convicts (which operates within the penal institution for men sentenced to deprivation of liberty). This, on the one hand, requires the administration of penal institutions to comply with the requirements of separate detention of convicts, enshrined in Art. 92 of the Criminal and Executive Code of Ukraine, and on the other – from the leadership of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine – to consider the feasibility of using some aspects of foreign experience in organizing the process of execution of punishment in the form of deprivation of liberty concerning convicted juveniles. The comparative analysis for execution of punishment in the form of deprivation of liberty concerning convicted juveniles in foreign countries showed the following trends: 1) deprivation of liberty is the most severe punishment and is applied to juveniles in exceptional cases; 2) in some foreign countries the regulation of the execution and serving of deprivation of liberty concerning juveniles is carried out by independent regulations, and not by a separate section or part of the law governing the execution of sentences as a whole; 3) juveniles, compared to adults, have additional rights and freedoms, as well as kept isolated from other categories of convicts; 4) in case of further optimization of penal institutions of Ukraine and reduction of the number of juveniles sentenced to deprivation of liberty, there will be a need to create multifunctional (universal) penitentiary institutions in compliance with the requirements of separate detention of different categories of convicts.

The article provides the characteristic of a female recidivist through a qualitative empirical analysis of socio-demographic, criminal-legal, and criminal-executive features of convicted women serving their sentences in the Chernihiv Correctional Institution No. 44 by conducting an anonymous survey of 123 female recidivists. The characteristic features inherent to female recidivists have been identified and generalized and, on this basis, a typical characteristic of such persons has been worked out based on the analysis of results of the survey of convicted women. This category is mostly represented by middle-aged people from 36 to 48 years. This person has a secondary or secondary special, vocational education, is unmarried, without stable socially useful ties, and the existing family ties have deteriorated after being sentenced to imprisonment, and by occupation she has a predominantly working specialty. She is serving a sentence of imprisonment for a term mainly from 2 to 5 years for middle grave crimes, has 3 to 4 convictions, which indicates her extensive criminal experience.

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The article is dedicated to the analysis of the domestic legislation on release from serving a sentence in the form of life imprisonment. It has been found out that life imprisonment is the most severe type of punishment in many countries of the world. This fact leads to lively scientific and practical discussions around the legal regulation of certain aspects of its implementing and serving. The issue of release from serving this type of punishment is especially acute, as human rights organizations emphasize the lack of an effective mechanism for release from serving a sentence in the form of life imprisonment in Ukraine, which contradicts not only a number of international normative and legal acts but also the basic principles of a democratic society which should not deny a person in the opportunity to re-socialize. A review of international norms relating to this area of legal relations is maintained. The main models of release from serving a sentence in the form of life imprisonment on the example of foreign experience are considered. It is concluded that the current model of release from serving a sentence in the form of life imprisonment in Ukraine is inconsistent with the provisions of Article 3 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the principle of humanism, and therefore has no prospects for further development and requires significant transformation, because the institution of presidential pardon is rather exceptional and does not create a really functioning mechanism of release from serving a sentence in the form of life imprisonment, but only creates additional problems in the law enforcement process. These shortcomings of the existing model of release from serving a sentence in the form of life imprisonment in Ukraine have been highlighted, in particular, by the European Court of Human Rights. It is substantiated that the current initiatives aimed at making changes in this area at the level of normative and legal acts are an important but insufficient step to solve this problem. Therefore, the relevant amendments should be made in the Criminal and Criminal Executive Codes of Ukraine and further detailed at the sub statutory level. Making such amendments will not only allow to bring the provisions of domestic criminal and criminal-executive legislation in line with high international standards of human rights protection, but also in accordance with the Constitution of Ukraine, which is the Basic Law of our state. Key words: life imprisonment, release from serving a sentence, pardon, legislation, foreign experience.