Investigation with a young witness in criminal matters

Investigative practice shows that minors often witness crimes, which, on the one hand, makes it necessary to involve them in investigative actions in order to obtain information; on the other hand, there is a threat to their safety by persons who are not interested in establishing the actual circumstances of the crime committed. The relevance of the conducted research is due to the significance of this category of participants for criminal procedure science and practical law enforcement and the need to optimize a number of procedural actions carried out with their participation.

The article proposes a theoretical model for the participation of young witnesses in investigative actions with unconditional security measures, which involves obtaining the unconditional consent of the legal representative to involve the child in investigative actions; a psychologist's consultation confirming the child's ability to reproduce the information received adequately to his or her age. Participation of a child psychologist in the investigation of a child; warning of all participants in the investigative action about the inadmissibility of disclosing information received during the investigative actions, as well as the data of a young witness. Persons who are aware of the participation of a young witness in the investigation must be warned of criminal liability for the disclosure of this information. Legal representatives are required to report any information related to the expressed interest in and possession of meaningful information about their child.

The purpose is to identify and substantiate the problem of improving the criminal procedure legislation in terms of optimizing the participation of young witnesses in investigative actions while unconditionally providing them with security measures.

The objectives of the study were to study the forms and grounds for the participation of minors in criminal proceedings, to clarify the peculiarities of their behavior in investigative actions, the expediency of attracting minors to participate in investigative actions; analysis and generalization of scientific points of view; research of criminal procedure legislation, in terms of regulating the security guarantees of the participation of minors in criminal proceedings, the formation of their own position on these issues, the presentation of author's proposals.

Methods: dialectical, analytical, comparative, concretization, formalization, modeling, deduction, generalization.

Results:

1) The participation of a minor witness in investigative actions must be conditioned by his role in the committed act. If a minor took part in the commission of a crime, or was present at its commission in a group, the invitation is considered necessary, and the participation of legal representatives of a minor witness is mandatory when conducting investigative actions with him.

2) In the case when a minor turned out to be an accidental witness of a crime, the question of his interrogation as a witness should be resolved only with the consent of his legal representative, since in this case there is a threat to the safety of the child, which is more important than obtaining information even having evidentiary value.

3) It is proposed to make a decision on the participation of a minor in an investigative action only after consulting a psychologist, if there is a conclusion on the mental state of the child confirming the possibility of his participation in investigative actions.

4) When conducting investigative actions with the participation of young witnesses, a child psychologist must be present, who provides compensation for the intellectual development of the child and helps to establish contact with him.

5) In order to ensure the safety of a minor witness, all persons who have information about his participation should be warned about criminal liability for disclosing information about minor participants in the process, and it is also proposed to explain to legal representatives the obligation to report information about persons who express interest in a child acting as a witness in a criminal case.

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