Introduction: the article analyses the scientific understanding of guilt as a legal category; investigates the peculiarities of the formation of the concept of guilt in philosophical and legal thought at different stages of state-legal development; reveals the specificity of scientific approaches to the understanding of guilt in the formation and development of psychology; identifies the stages of modification of theoretical and legal approaches to the concept and construction of guilt; reflects the diversity of approaches to the concept and construction of guilt in the legal science of criminal profile; considers the legislative model of regulation of guilt in the legal science of criminal profile. Materials and Methods: the study of guilt as a legal category, based on the disclosure of the features of the theoretical, methodological and sectoral understanding of its essence and construction, led to the use of both general scientific logical and philosophical, including dialectical, and private scientific methods of cognition, among which the key role was assigned to formal legal, comparative legal and psychological methods. The Results of the Study: the study of guilt as a legal category, based on the disclosure of the peculiarities of theoretical-methodological and sectoral understanding of its essence and construction, conditioned the use of both general scientific logical and philosophical, including dialectical, and private-scientific methods of cognition, among which the key role was given to formal-legal, comparative-legal and psychological methods. Findings and Conclusions: he position that theoretical-methodological and sectoral doctrinal and legislative approaches to understanding and regulation of guilt are based on the combination of psychological, evaluative and normative criteria, taking into account the doctrinal formula developed in the framework of the theory of dangerous state of personality, volitional theory, theory of representation, etc. is substantiated. The psychological criterion for assessing guilt consists in the fact that a person, entering into legal relations, realises certain interests caused by a specific need. Realisation of this interest entails the search for the object of its satisfaction, which gives rise to the purpose and motive of the carried out activity. As a result, a person, guided by the arisen interest, purpose and motive taking into account the necessity, strives to achieve them to satisfy his needs. In the presence of alternative variants of predicted (lawful or delinquent) behaviour occurs, taking into account the "struggle of motives", the subject chooses and makes a volitional decision on the implementation of a particular action, chooses the means of achieving the goal and then implements the intended act. An offence is characterised by the correlation of intellectual, emotional and volitional components in a person's behaviour. Guilt as a legal category has an asocial essence, which is manifested in the presence of asocial attitudes of a person, allowing him to express in the form of action or inaction neglectful, negative or insufficiently careful attitude to the objects of legal protection. The criteria of legal understanding of guilt should be considered qualitative and quantitative characteristics, including its essence, content, degree, form and volume.