The perpetrators of crimes differ from each other in demographic, legal, psychological and other characteristics, but on the other hand they are similar to each other and at the same time form stable groups, which leads to the need for classification and typology of criminals. The classifications offered by modern criminologists proceed from the moral and psychological characteristics of the offender's personality, the degree of social danger of offenders, its depth, persistence, and content. To properly address the issues of classification and typology of criminals, it is necessary to establish the fundamental methodological approaches of scientific knowledge. The classification is a stable grouping of the studied objects according to certain characteristics and is based on strict criteria of groups and subgroups, where each occupies a clearly fixed place, while the typology does not contain such differentiation.