Peculiarities of motivation for the participation of convicts in a special military operation

The article is devoted to the study of the problem of personal choice of convicts to participate in volunteerism as a type of exemption from criminal liability and punishment during a special military operation. The dilemma of the «prosocial» and «pragmatic» in the personal choice of extreme collaborative activities is actualized. The research methodology is represented by the subject-activity and subject-participatory approaches. The subject of the study is the motivation of convicts to participate in a special military operation in the format of extreme volunteerism. The aim is to study the motivation of convicts to participate in a special military operation. Methods: a questionnaire based on the author's questionnaire to study the socio-psychological and motivational characteristics of volunteers. Sample: 176 convicts participating in a special military operation. Mathematical and statistical data processing included the use of descriptive statistics, frequency, correlation and regression analyses. The study shows that the personal choice of convicts to participate in a special military operation is polymotivated and determined by characteristics that can be grouped into such groups as prosocial motives, pragmatic motives, motives for personality transformation, and personally significant motives. Motives have the greatest influence on making decisions about extreme volunteerism.: «Pay off my criminal record», « Being a patriot», «Change my fate». Willingness to perform volunteer tasks in combat conditions largely depends on such prosocial motives as «Being a patriot», «Helping the family», «Being a military man, defender of the Fatherland», as well as on functional, combat and tactical readiness, level of equipment and trust in commanders. The results make it possible to improve measures of psychological support and reintegration of extreme volunteers from among former convicts in peaceful life.