Circumstances to be ascertained during the investigation of high profile sexual criminal offenses

Abstract

In the article has been emphasized that the circumstances to be ascertained are a mandatory structural element of the methodology of investigating high-profile sexual criminal offenses, because their establishment, in turn, is a prerequisite for achieving the goal of criminal procedural knowledge and solving the tasks of criminal proceedings. It has been given the list of circumstances to be ascertained during the pre-trial investigation of such types of high-profile sexual criminal offenses as: rape and sexual violence committed by a group of persons and/or parents, persons who replace them, and/or against minors; molestation of a child for sexual purposes; conducting a spectacular event of a sexual nature with the participation of a minor. It has been found that different approaches to the systematization of the circumstances to be ascertained during the pre-trial investigation have been formed in forensic science. They are mainly determined by the specifics of the mechanism of committing a specific type of criminal offense, which undoubtedly affects the formation of investigative and other evidentiary information. An analysis of scientific approaches to determining the range of circumstances to be ascertained (established) during the investigation of sexual criminal offenses has been carried out. It has been proposed to systematize the circumstances to be ascertained during the pre-trial investigation of high-profile sexual criminal offenses taking into account the mixed (criminal procedural and forensic) criterion. The following groups of circumstances to be ascertained during the pre-trial investigation of high-profile sexual criminal offenses have been singled out and characterized: circumstances characterizing the event of a criminal offence; circumstances characterizing the person of the offender; circumstances characterizing the person of the victim; other circumstances.