Features of Tactics of Interrogation of Juvenile Witnesses and Victims

Abstract

In the article, the Author analyzes the organizational, legal and tactical features of the interrogation of juvenile victims and witnesses. Currently, there are problems of observing the rights of juvenile participants in criminal proceedings included in the mechanism of the crime, and the specifics of their personal and psychophysiological characteristics make this investigative action particularly difficult and time-consuming. In this connection, the Author has set the purpose of this article to study the organizational and legal possibilities of questioning juvenile victims and witnesses. In the course of studying law enforcement practice and the most common mistakes made during interrogations of minors, the main stages of this investigative action are highlighted and the most effective recommendations for their conduct are proposed, taking into account the psychophysiological characteristics of minors. The methodology of this research consists of: dialectical, analytical, comparative legal, empirical methods of cognition, comparative and logical-structural analyses, a systematic approach and a method of analysis and generalization of practice. The conducted research and the practical experience of the Author allowed us to draw conclusions about the imperfection of law enforcement practice and legal regulation of the interrogation of a minor. According to the Author, amendments to the current legislation will make it possible to fully use all possible tactics of interrogation of minors, which will increase the effectiveness of interrogation and minimize the possibility of repeated psychotraumatization of minors. The findings of the study can be used by practitioners when conducting investigative actions with the participation of minor victims and witnesses during the investigation and disclosure of crimes of various types. The theoretical conclusions made in the course of the study will help in studying the tactics of interrogation in the discipline “Criminalistics”.