Criminal offences related to domestic violence: Structure of the investigation methodology

Abstract

Violence by family members is not only systematic in nature, but also characterized by an increase in their intensity, growth in aggression, and the feeling of impunity and the inability of the victim to resist, leads to serious criminal consequences. Even after detection of criminal offenses leading to maiming or death of a person, it is not always possible to identify their connection with domestic violence. Such a situation can be avoided by following a defined, scientifically based structure of actions. Therefore, today there is a need to develop algorithms for investigator actions during the investigation of criminal offenses that are the consequences of domestic violence. That is why in the article the author sets the goal of determining mutually dependent elements of the process of investigation of criminal offenses. To achieve the specified goal, the methods of analysis, synthesis and questionnaires, the decomposition method, and the special legal method were used. As a result, such work made it possible to justify the feasibility of dividing the investigation methodology into nine mandatory structural elements. The fullness of such elements depends on the investigative situation, on the specific type of criminal offense committed, the form of implementation of criminal plans, the identity of the offender (either a person who commits systematic domestic violence or a person who is a victim of such violence or a witness to it), the presence or absence previous experience of illegal behavior of the offender, place of commission of the criminal offense (rural area or environment of a big city).The article substantiates the need to include in the structure of the methodology such structural elements as “interaction with state and public bodies, institutions and organizations on the prevention and counteraction of domestic violence and gender-based violence” and “preventive activity of the investigator in criminal proceedings related to domestic violence” violence”. It is also determined that the effectiveness of the methodology is determined by the interdependence of the investigative (search) actions, compliance with the stages of the investigation and the timeliness of the involvement of relevant specialists in it. Such elements, subject to the correct sequence and combination, form the methodology of investigation of the specified category of criminal offenses. The practical value of the work lies in the formation of an effective program, the planning of the investigator’s actions not only with the aim of establishing the circumstances of the event, but also establishing a cause-andeffect relationship between domestic violence and other criminal offenses

Keywords

• сriminalistic characteristics
• special knowledge
• investigation tactics
• investigative situation
• illegal activity