Psychological aspects of guilt in criminal law

Andrey Pominov

VAK Russia 5.3.9 UDC 343.951 CSCSTI 15.81 UDC 159.99

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PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF GUILT IN CRIMINAL LAW Psychological aspects of guilt in criminal law

АА Аа

Published in Vestnik of the St. Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia · Volume 2026, Issue 1 · Pages 307–318 · Rubric: FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY OF SAFETY

Received: 28.05.2025 Accepted: 20.03.2026 Published: 30.03.2026 Language of publication: RUS

Authors

Andrey Pominov

ORCID

Andrey Pominov

Academic degree: candidate of pedagogical sciences

Sibay Institute (branch) Ufa University of Science and Technology Russian Federation · Sibay

ORCID

ABSTRACT

Introduction. The problem of determining guilt in criminal law has a long history of research. The understanding of guilt ranges from social condemnation to personal phenomenology. Guilt, which includes a person’s mental attitude towards an act, has become the subject of this psychological and linguistic study. Methods. The dialectical method was used as a framework for understanding the subject of this study. An explanatory extralinguistic method was used to understand the semantics of root and derivative concepts. The interdisciplinary nature of the problem predetermined the integrative nature of the study. Results. In this paper, we have examined mental attitudes within the paradigm of the cultural-historical approach, where an attitude represents not an action evaluation, but an action meaning. Guilt as a psychological attitude is revealed through the attitude of the subject of the action towards the object of the action, the event, and towards themselves as the subject of the event, which fills the objective and subjective components of the crime. It has been determined that guilt as a psychological attitude includes a goal, transformative actions, self-control, and self-assessment. This makes it possible to consider guilt through the prism of the guilty person’s subjectness, revealing their psychological attitude in a system of behavioural reactions. The concept of “admitting guilt” is presented and the role of conscience in this moral act is formulated. New directions for research into the psychology of guilt in criminal law are formulated.

KEYWORDS

guilt, culpability, intent, deliberate action, subjectness

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Pominov A. V. Psychological aspects of guilt in criminal law // Vestnik of the St. Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. 2025. no. 1. pp. 307-318. URL: https://vestnikspbmvd.ru/en/nauka/publications/article/6a9c15d332807fdbab86e246/psychological-aspects-of-guilt-in-criminal-law/view. (Date of access 23.10.2026).

MLA

Andrey Pominov. "Psychological aspects of guilt in criminal law." Vestnik of the St. Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia 2026.1 (2025): 307-318. URL: https://vestnikspbmvd.ru/en/nauka/publications/article/6a9c15d332807fdbab86e246/psychological-aspects-of-guilt-in-criminal-law/view.

APA

Pominov A. V. (2025). Psychological aspects of guilt in criminal law. Vestnik of the St. Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, 2026(1), 307-318. URL: https://vestnikspbmvd.ru/en/nauka/publications/article/6a9c15d332807fdbab86e246/psychological-aspects-of-guilt-in-criminal-law/view

Chicago

Andrey Pominov. "Psychological aspects of guilt in criminal law." Vestnik of the St. Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia 2026, no. 1 (2025): 307-318. URL: https://vestnikspbmvd.ru/en/nauka/publications/article/6a9c15d332807fdbab86e246/psychological-aspects-of-guilt-in-criminal-law/view.

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{{cite journal | author = Pominov A. V. | title = Psychological aspects of guilt in criminal law | journal = Vestnik of the St. Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia | year = 2025 | volume = 2026 | issue = 1 | pages = 307-318 | url = https://vestnikspbmvd.ru/en/nauka/publications/article/6a9c15d332807fdbab86e246/psychological-aspects-of-guilt-in-criminal-law/view }}

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PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF GUILT IN CRIMINAL LAW Psychological aspects of guilt in criminal law

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