Integration as a Trend in the Development of the Institute of Special Knowledge in Criminal Proceedings Involving Minors

Abstract

The article considers complexing as a significant trend in the genesis of the institution of special knowledge in criminal proceedings involving minors. The phenomenon under study is defined as the combination by one person of two or more procedural functions and/or special knowledge to provide a multilateral assessment of the circumstances important for the criminal case and the individual characteristics of the minor. Four historical stages of the formation of the domestic institution of special knowledge in criminal proceedings involving minors are identified and presented. It is concluded that this institution has gone the way of development from the situational involvement of a few knowledgeable persons through the use of special knowledge by law enforcement officers themselves with the optional involvement of knowledgeable persons to the established practice of producing comprehensive examinations (in which the commission is not a mandatory property) and the active involvement of various knowledgeable persons, in particular, a teacher and a psychologist. Actual situations are considered in which the minority of the participants in the criminal process, along with their individual characteristics (psychophysiological, cultural, religious, linguistic and others), entails the need to combine procedural functions and / or special knowledge. The results of an empirical study conducted by the Author of the article under the guidance of Candidate of Legal Sciences, Docent E. V. Elagina (questionnaire survey of 161 investigators and 116 prosecutors on the involvement of knowledgeable persons in pre-trial proceedings in criminal cases involving minors) are presented; it is shown that in most cases respondents note the leading role of a psychologist in the production of investigative actions with children and adolescents. It is also noted that the functions traditionally implemented by the teacher do not meet the goals of his involvement in the criminal process, and therefore it is necessary to exclude the possibility of such involvement. A general conclusion is made that, when complexing, the first place should be given to special psychological knowledge, since it is psychologists who are competent in assessing a number of phenomena significant for criminal proceedings (for example, emotional and behavioral reactions of minors). The Author proposes a method for optimal integration of procedural functions and / or special knowledge in a criminal process involving minors – the use of special knowledge by a law enforcement officer or the combination of two or more functions by one knowledgeable person. It is shown that the proposed method will reduce the number of persons in contact with a minor and reduce the psychological burden on him.