The article analyzed the UN Congresses of Crime Prevention, in which the main problematic issues concerning the use of life imprisonment are considered. Universal and special international standards are defined in the field of serving (execution) of life imprisonment. It is established that the only specialized international document that defines the procedure for life imprisonment is the 1994 UN Recommendations, which set out the main areas of work with this category of prisoners. It is

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... ned that the norms of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Social Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the countries that have ratified them are binding. The basic principles of treatment and recommendations of international experts on the procedure and conditions of life imprisonment are analyzed. The problems of sentencing and execution, the conditions of detention and the treatment of offenders in penitentiary institutions have always been the focus of the United Nations, and the documents are approved by it is the basis for development of legislation, in particular, which regulate execution of life imprisonment in member countries-UN. The UN Recommendation proposes a list of areas of research on the problems of life imprisonment. The main ones are the following: consequences for society, victims, their relatives and friends after the release of "lifers"; impact of life imprisonment on the prisoner's identity; impact of educational programs and penitentiary programs on the lives of the released, including parole; achieving the goals of punishment in the case of the appointment and execution of life imprisonment; determine the correlation of life imprisonment and human rights, which are guaranteed by the constitutions of states. Following scientific analysis of the international standards of the United Nations both world tendencies in the penitentiary direction, and separate aspects of execution of life imprisonment were formed.