Problems of criminalistic characteristics of murders committed by a generally dangerous method

In this article, the authors consider the problem statements of criminalistic characteristics of murders committed by a generally dangerous method. The study uses the modern methodology of scientific research represented by historical, systems and comparative modeling methods. The aim of this study is the substantiation of elemental constituents of modern criminalistic characteristics of murders committed by a generally dangerous method, which is given in the context of understanding a criminalistic characteristic of a crime as a category of criminalistics. The authors note that the absence of special research of criminalistic characteristics of murders committed by a generally dangerous method cannot be balanced for the purposes of theory and practice by research dedicated to the criminalistic characteristics of domestic murder, assassination, ritualistic murder and other types of murder, and this should be taken into account when selecting the techniques for investigating murders committed by a generally dangerous method. Such murders constitute a small proportion in the general number of annually committed murders in Russia; nevertheless, they have a special criminological importance in view of the potentially high threat of infliction of harm to a considerable or even indefinite range of persons. In the authors' opinion, this is the reason why investigation of these cases is always under special control of heads of law enforcement departments and is always accompanied with external difficulties caused by the character of this act, and this fact foregrounds the elaboration of problem statements intermediating the creation of the corresponding specific criminalistic methodology. The authors note the difference between the approach of the concept of criminalistic characteristics of a crime and the approach of the concept of the mechanism of a crime, which lies in the fact that supporters of the former approach come to the mechanism of a crime as a dynamic system through investigation of interacting subjects, and supporters of the latter to the investigation of elements participating in one or another form of interaction through investigation of the system of interaction process. The scientific approach consisting in the denial of the necessity of the notion “criminalistic characteristics of a crime” as a category is criticized. As a result, a suggestion is made of typical criminalistic characteristics given in extremely methodological terms indicating general features of the mentioned category. The elements of criminalistic characteristics of murders committed by a generally dangerous method considered in this article allow the authors to define the characteristics as a system of scientifically grounded statements on the settings of committing a crime, method of its preparation, committing and concealing, mechanism of a crime, identity of the criminal and identity of the victim. These can give information about each of the elements and about the crime as a whole for a successful detection, investigation and prevention of this crime.