The intensive rise of deviant consciousness and behavior in the population (including consciousness and behavior conducive to crime) has been classified rightly as one of the most dangerous "social disorders" of Russian society. Especially salient is the epidemic of "deviancy in regard to the law" in the consciousness and behavior of young people, whose sense of civic-mindedness will largely determine the country's current state and historical future. The author has carried out an empirical study of this set of problems in a number of groups of college students majoring in various specialties--the law, sociology, and the humanities, and also college-age young people who are not in school and were surveyed in places where they hang out together. The answers of 364 respondents have been analyzed. The survey was based on a quota sample, with the objective of clarifying not so much the magnitude but rather the degree of deformation of respondents' legal consciousness and lawful behavior. Use was made of a combination of methods developed by S.I. Grigor'ev and V.O. Rukavishnikov. Characteristic deviations of consciousness and behavior in young people are also revealed by official statistics. The statistics show that deficiencies of legal consciousness and phenomena of mass deviant behavior among children, adolescents, and young men and women are rising to higher levels. In this article, the author discusses the factors of deviation in the consciousness and behavior of the young people of Russia. (Contains 5 tables and 3 notes.)