Some Aspects of the Preliminary Investigation Conducted by an Investigative Team in Russian Criminal Proceedings: Through the Prism of an Expert Opinion

Abstract

The article analyzes the results of a survey of 476 subjects of criminal procedure work, including 169 investigators and 307 prosecutors, which was carried out in different regions of the Russian Federation (the Altai Republic, the Sakha (Yakut) Republic, the Buryat Republic, Transbaikal, Primorsky, Kamchatka, Irkutsk Regions, and others). The survey was devoted to the assessment of the quality and effectiveness of criminal proceedings conducted by an investigative team, as well as the suggestions on the improvement of normative and organizational foundations for the preliminary investigations conducted by a team. The question of the composition of the investigative team at the current stage is considered: thus, it is determined that clauses of Part 2, Art. 163 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation need improvement. This need is explained by the fact that if the work of the investigative team requires the participation of, for example, a forensic investigator, or employees from the inquiry body, etc., these people join the investigative team. At the same time, the article presents the results of a survey of investigators and prosecutors regarding the assessment of the quality of preliminary investigation conducted by an investigative team in Russian criminal proceedings. The opinions of the subjects of criminal procedure activities are used to identify key advantages of the collegial (group, team) mode of the preliminary investigation, and to determine the most urgent problems in the law enforcement work during the preliminary investigation of a criminal case conducted by an investigation team. Besides, the author takes into account the positions of both the representatives of the criminal procedure and criminalistic doctrines on the one hand, and investigators and prosecutors, on the other, and then develops and offers his own concept of improving the criminal procedure regulation of the procedure of preliminary investigation conducted by an investigative team.