CRIMINAL JARGON AS A SOCIOLECT AND ITS LINGUISTIC STRUCTURE AND CRIMINOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE

This article examines criminal jargon as a sociolect functioning within antisocial subcultures. Drawing on historical, sociolinguistic, and criminological perspectives, the study analyzes its lexical-semantic structure, communicative functions, mechanisms of formation, and social role. Criminal jargon is conceptualized as a “language within a language,” characterized by metaphorization, semantic shift, onomatopoeia, repetition, and evaluative cynicism. The paper also considers the relationship between criminal professionalism and linguistic codification, regional variation, and the symbolic role of tattoos and non-verbal codes. The findings highlight the importance of studying criminal jargon not only for linguistic theory but also for crime prevention and social rehabilitation.