Sexual violence against a child is a global, complicated social and legal problem, existing in all the countries of the world. Sexual violence towards children is a serious violation of the child’s fundamental rights and still one of the main issues in Latvia, which in most cases takes place within families. In Latvia, despite the measures taken by the state and severity of criminal punishments, the number of sex crimes against children has increased since 2016. The aim of the study is to research the practices of   criminal punishments for sexual violence against children, reveal and analyse the problems.In the paper, the author reveals topical issues and offers solutions. There should be a uniform case law on application of aggravating circumstances for the offences against morality and sexual integrity of children committed by a person who is the first and second degree relative to the child. If the victim materially depends on the perpetrator, as well as it should be provided as an aggravating circumstance if the offence is committed by a family member or a person staying with the child, but who is not the first and second degree relative. It is necessary to prosecute family members of the perpetrator if they were aware of sexual violence against the child, for not reporting about sexual violence against the child. Prevention of sexual violence against children should include a range of additional measures and close cooperation among public authorities. There is a necessity to establish a public register of persons convicted of sexual violence against children in Latvia, it is necessary to carry out administrative supervision of these persons after serving the additional sentence, as well as chemical castration of the persons half a year before the end of their imprisonment would be useful to prevent risk of recidivism.

The aim of the research is to study, analyse and discover issues of peculiarities of interrogating a juvenile, who has suffered from a criminal offense against morality and sexual integrity, in the pre-trial proceedings. The paper deals with study of the status of a juvenile victim in criminal proceedings concerning morality and sexual integrity and the related regulatory framework, as well as the procedure for interrogation of a juvenile victim who has suffered from a sexual offence. During the research it was concluded that the Criminal Procedure Law requires the following additions: to regulate the status of an especially protected victim during a trial and to provide for peculiarities of interrogating such victim during court investigation; to stipulate the right of a person directing the proceedings to change a representative of the victim, who has known or suspected a sexual offence against a child but failed to prevented it, throughout the criminal proceedings; to determine mandatory simultaneous participation of juvenile especially protected victim’s representative and provider of legal aid in all procedural actions, determine mandatory participation of a psychologist during interrogation of a juvenile victim; to provide for a full interrogation report instead of an overview to be prepared concerning investigatory activity recorded in the sound and image record, and the report shall contain all the facts established in the investigatory activity and its process.

The goal of the research is a study of legal basis for court interpreter's activity, exposure and analysis of problems. The research deals with the detailed study of legal basis for court interpreter's activity, reveals the topical issues in the there of court interpreting and provides analysis of these issues and suggestions. In Latvia there is no certain definition of court interpreter. In Latvia there is no institute of sworn interpreter. In Latvia there is no normative regulation stipulating the professional activity of a court interpreter. The research has a practical importance as it provides solutions for improvement of court interpreter's work to be introduced in the Latvian normative regulation.

The goal of the research – to study of the peculiarities of the administrative punishment for driving of a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, revelation and analysis of problems and elaboration of suggestions. The author studied the types of punishment applicable for administrative violation provided for by the Part three and four of the Section 14915 of the Latvian Administrative Violations Code, explored the statistical data, compared the punishments for driving of a vehicle under the influence of alcohol with other countries, elaborated suggestions for achieving the goal of the punishment. Duplication of administrative punishments or driving of a vehicle under the influence of alcohol did not achieve the goal of punishment, namely, to significantly reduce and prevent violators from committing the administrative violation. The research has practical importance as it provides solutions how to improve the situation in the road traffic field, preventing violators from driving of a vehicle under the influence of alcohol.

Court interpreter plays a specific and important role, which is often underestimated in criminal proceedings. One of human rights’ aspects deals with ensuring a high-quality translation in order to make the procedure available for a person, who does not understand the proceedings language, ensure one’s rights and administer justice. The aim of the study is to find out the legal ground of court interpreter’s activity in criminal proceedings, to reveal and analyse related issues. In the article, the authors reveal topical issues linked to legal regulation concerning court interpreters and offer solutions. Namely, to ensure efficiency of court interpreter’s work, a judge should create as beneficial working conditions for an interpreter as possible, make breaks every 2 hours during court hearings, speakers (judges, prosecutors, lawyers, specialists, experts) should be trained in the field of public speech and how to work with an interpreter as well as court rooms should be ensured with modern interpreting equipment. In order to introduce single practice and deliver highquality translations in Latvian courts, there is a need in development of training and certification system for court interpreters and a special normative act regulating the legal activity of court interpreters, what would be a good basis for elaboration of court interpreters’ register.