Dear colleagues!We present to Your attention a new issue of our journal. We are still working to expand the geography of our authors and invite to cooperation all specialists, who carry out scientific research in areas related to penitentiary activities.The first issue of 2020 contains articles on various aspects of the implementation of criminal and penal policy in the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan and Qatar. The journal presents the results of a study on the organization of Probation Service in the Republic of Azerbaijan. The first results of this work are summarized and the prospects for the development of the analyzed structure are pointed out. The issue also includes an article, which authors study the crime of juveniles in the Republic of Kazakhstan and their criminal responsibility. This study was conducted on the basis of the new Criminal Legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan adopted in 2014. The complex of problematic aspects in this area has received a new interpretation and argumentation from the perspective of the latest opportunities for study.Special attention should be paid to the study of the main types of punishments not related to isolation from society, and their content under the Criminal Code of Qatar. The comparative legal analysis of the Qatar Legislation with separate norms of the Russian Legislation is one of the few works on this subject published in the Russian scientific periodical press.In addition, there is a report on the annual Interuniversity scientific and practical conference “Current problems of Penal system bodies and institutions activities organisation and ways of their decision”, dedicated to the memory of the Honored scientist of the RSFSR, DSc (Law), Professor A. I. Zubkov and the Day of Russian science.Alexey Vladimirovich RodionovEditor-in-Chief of International penitentiary journal,DSc (Economy)Scopus ID 57194512706Web of Science Researcher ID E 5744-2016ORCID 0000-0002-9311-4896