The problems of criminological prevention of violent crimes are inextricably linked to the correction of a person’s “negative” motivational attitudes, their internal attitude towards the level of their needs and the prospects for their realization. Representing a conscious urge to a certain behavior, the motive objectifies a person’s material and spiritual needs, forms his inner activity to achieve his goals, and serves as an indicator of the direction in which criminal violence is realized. Motive and motivation allow us to describe the nature of criminal violent (and non-violent) behavior, which is a very general concept that refers to a systematic approach to understanding the mechanism of interaction between the elements of criminal violence, the main of which are the needs and psychological attitudes that trigger the mechanism itself. Despite the numerous publications on this topic, the legal and criminological assessments have not gained widespread recognition.