The article presents a classification of social contradictions ensuing from economic, moral and ideological destructive processes which have occurred and are currently underway in Ukraine. This will help to give a further objective assessment of the role they have in the system of crime determination. The purpose of the article is to make a criminological analysis of the legal nature of social contradictions from the general social to individual levels, as well as of the circumstances and factors triggering them and their role in the system of determinative links evoking crime. From this perspective, contradictions are viewed through the prism of the sociological approach as the interaction of opposing socially significant relations which are associated with discrepancies between the interests and objectives of different social groups and communities and the interests of an individual and society. It is established that social contradictions affect the shaping of value orientations which build the internal basis of an individual; they have certain autonomy and function as a mechanism of behavior self-regulation. The difference in and specific features of value orientations of different gender and age groups are due to different nature, mobility and susceptibility to external influence, and this determines the integration into new behavior stereotypes, including the criminal ones. The authors focus on such issues as implications of social contradictions for legal consciousness and legal culture of an individual at the individual level in a democratic society. The authors come to the conclusion that settlement of social contradictions and minimization of their negative consequences will contribute to a reduction of crime rates and criminogenic tension in society, and will also form the basis for a respectful attitude to law, promote compliance with legal norms (lawful behavior) based on the awareness of their rightfulness and benefit to an individual and society. The authors argue that an appropriate level of legal awareness about current legislation, its objectiveness and rightfulness forms the correct attitude to its implementation, and accordingly – plays a significant part in crime prevention and legal education of an individual.