The article is devoted to the research of the youth criminal subculture and its impact on the personality of under-aged. In the course of analysis of this negative impact, a definition of the criminal subculture of under-aged was proposed. The main principles of such a criminal subculture as AUE (the acronym, transcribed from Russian: АУЕ or А.У.Е., comes from «Арестантский уклад един» / “Prisoners Unity (Solidarity)” are defined. The reasons contributing to the development of this negative phenomenon and the typical fea- tures of a minor sharing the ideology of the AUE were identified. The methods for counteracting the AUE were proposed. The method- ological basis of the research is formed by general scientific methods: dialectical, system research method, analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, analogy, etc., as well as such private scientific methods as comparative legal, formal legal, structural and functional, statistical ones. The authors relied on the results of research by Russian and foreign legal scholars, sociologists, psychologists.
