Results of the comparative analysis of clinical, social and pathopsychological indicators that characterized patients from forensic hospitals with different level of security are presented. There were revealed significant differences in terms of education, social maladjustment, and criminal history among patients with various degree of public danger. Among the psychological variables the selected groups of patients were distinguished by the severity of violations of the dynamic aspect of mental activity with a predominance of the liability of the mental processes, low level of insight and the adequacy of the perception of quality of life. The authors concluded that despite stationary course of the disease and the absence of gross intellectual impairment, the percentage of reoffending, the short period between criminal acts, the predominance of their negative personality mechanisms is highlighting the necessity of social and psychological preventive interventions.

The paper investigates individual psychological features of self-regulation in people with personality disorders and accentuated personality traits. Our goal is to specify the data on regulation disorders taking into account the nature of committed offences so as to substantiate the validity of expert conclusions, promote individualization in punishment, and build models for secondary psychological prevention. We survey 134 men including 94 individuals with personality disorders, 20 individuals with accentuated personality traits and 20 individuals without mental disorders. We use a set of methodological tools to assess the extent of self-control deficiency); the set includes J. Kagan’s Matching Familiar Figures Test, situation analysis, a new questionnaire for tolerance toward uncertainty, J. Stroop’s Color and Word Test, behavioral self-regulation style. We carry out statistical processing of the data with the help of descriptive statistics method, frequency analysis, an independent samples t-test, the Mann–Whitney U-test, and the Kruskal-Wallis test to compare three independent samples. We have found out that regulation disorders in people with personality disorders who committed violent crimes are associated with the ability to predict the consequences adequately and find socially acceptable ways to resolve problem situations. We show that when an individual has to deal with information shortage, contradictory information, perceptual interference or increased emotional intensity of the situation the probability of disorders in their conscious regulation of behavior increases significantly. Accordingly, to address the tasks of penal science and practice, we consider it expedient to use the indicators identified in the course of our present research, because they can be not only predictors of behavioral dysregulation and aggressive responses, but also targets for psychological therapy. Key words: self-regulation, personality disorders, accentuated personality traits, situation analysis, type of offence.

The article considers legal awareness as a subjective perception of legal phenomena by citizens. It is assumed that there is an individual predisposition towards law-conscious behavior. In a sample of 2011 subjects, employees of state bodies, the dependence of legal awareness on the personal characteristics of employees performing duties in the field of legal relations was studied. Legal awareness correlates with the activities of civil servants indirectly through a system of real legal actions and does not always coincide with labor productivity (action - attitude). The study of justice was carried out using the test of L.A. Yasyukova. Individual psychological characteristics were identified through the use of intelligent techniques, the modification of MMPI, the locus of control, the test of volitional self-control and the motivational profile of Ritchie-Martin. To assess the success (effectiveness) of the staff professional activities, an expert assessment was performed. It was revealed that legal consciousness has a specification and depends on the type of activity of public officers. Relations can be traced within the entire volume of personal characteristics. The article provides data on the correlation of legal consciousness and individual psychological characteristics of public service employees in the verbal and cogitative, characterological and motivational spheres.