The method of expert research is, along with the subject, the most important distinguishing feature of the type of expertise.

In the production of psychological expertise, the method of psychological research is used, with the help of which the mechanism, structure, functioning and various qualitative characteristics of mental activity are studied.

The method of psychological research involves the use of psychological laws and patterns to achieve expert goals, which can be "applicable" to qualitatively different objects. Thus, psychological research is also possible in relation to a mentally ill person. In this case, the task of the psychologist will not be to diagnose pathology (this is the sphere of competence of the psychiatrist), but to assess how the pathological changes in the personality revealed by the psychiatrist influenced the change in the psychological behavior of the personality, how the pathology "corrected" the action of psychological mechanisms.

The psychological research method includes general and special methods; a set of special methods forms a methodology.

The general methods of psychological research include:

1.psychological diagnostics;

2. forecasting;

3. design;

4.methods of influence

Not all of them are equally valid in forensic science. In particular, the method of influence has a limited scope. The same can be said about the method of psychological experiment (not every situation can be ethically modeled to achieve expert goals).

General methods are modified through special techniques depending on the specifics of the expert tasks and goals.

For example, the method of psychological diagnostics is implemented through special methods: biographical, observation, conversation, instrumental personal techniques, methods of studying the characteristics of certain areas of mental activity. Testing is widely used (for example, tests MMPI, TAT, Rosenzweig, Rooschach, etc.). Usually, a set of special methods is used for diagnostics, depending on the purpose. Let's say that the study of changes in a person's state in a non-standard situation is carried out using the psychophysiological method, psychometric tests, the method of operator tasks, personality tests. In some cases, a psycholinguistic research method is necessary (research of the content side of a document, writing in order to establish the thinking skills reflected in it, features of memory, perception).

It is the method that plays an important role in delineating the competence of psychology and psychiatry, psychological and psychiatric expertise. Unlike psychology, psychiatry studies the causes and nature of mental illness. However, such a substantive distinction is not enough. A psychologist and a psychiatrist can study the same object, but from different angles. The way of studying is predetermined by the specifics of the method.

Psychiatric examination is characterized by the method of psychiatric analysis, through which distortions, deviations in the functioning of psychological laws and patterns, diagnostics of such deviations as pathological or non-pathological are revealed. If the phenomena identified by the expert do not fall under psychiatric diagnostics (cannot be defined as pathological), then this statement limits the competence of the psychiatrist. Psychological diagnostics and psychological analysis are the competence of a psychologist. When a pathology is detected, the psychiatrist makes diagnostics, determines the degree of deformation of the emotional, intellectual and volitional spheres, states the degree of preservation of certain personality qualities, explains psychopathological behavior in the categories of psychiatry.

However, in practice, there are often cases when, on the one hand, it is necessary to establish circumstances of a psychological nature (for example, the person's ability to fully realize the actual content of his actions), on the other hand, there is information about deviations in the psyche of a non-psychotic nature (i.e., not related to mental illness) In such situations, in the production of expert research, the interaction of specialists in the field of psychology and psychiatry is necessary. In other words, there is a need for a comprehensive psychological and psychiatric examination.

Finally, the issues of the subject and the method of complex examination are not resolved, the problem of the limits of the scientific competence of a psychologist and psychiatrist is debatable. We can say that the general subject of a comprehensive examination is such mental activity, which in general obeys psychological laws and patterns, but the latter are "burdened" with certain changes in the psyche of a non-psychotic nature. Most scientists believe that a psychological and psychiatric examination is necessary when it comes to the so-called borderline states, oligophrenia, neuroses, psychopathies, the establishment of affect (non-pathological) in mentally ill, as well as the identification of psychological factors of behavior (actions) of mentally ill who are in remission. In the production of a comprehensive examination at different stages, both methods of psychiatric and psychological research are used.

Forensic Psychological Expertise (PEA) - one of the types of forensic examinations and, therefore, one of the means of establishing the truth in legal proceedings, a source of evidence. The subject of psychological expertise is to find out the possibility of the interrogated linden, due to the individual characteristics of the course of mental processes, to adequately perceive, store in memory and reproduce information about the facts to be proved.

The EIT examines the peculiarities of the psyche, victims and witnesses, which are essential for a criminal case.

The competence of an expert psychologist includes:

1. 1. determination of affective states, which, if they are caused by the unlawful actions of the victim, either are a mitigating circumstance, or determine the privileged qualification of certain corpus delicti;
   2. the study of other states that determined the special nature of a person's behavior at the time of the commission of a crime (among them, in addition, a state of overwork, severe fear, great grief, depression, etc.) can be attributed.

Difference from forensic psychiatric examination:

• • EIT examines mental manifestations that do not go beyond the normal, i.e. non-pathological.

The possibilities of EIT are limited by the current level of development of psychology, its diagnostic methods and procedural requirements.

The limits of the possibilities of the EIT are determined by the basic principle - the principle of scientific objectivity; it can resolve only those issues that are associated with mental phenomena that are subject to objective analysis.

The EIT is not competent to resolve issues of legal content: to determine the reliability of testimony, the motives and goals of a criminal act, to establish the form of guilt, etc.

EIT should be carried out using modern scientific and psychological methods. The results of the expert study must be reliable, verifiable, available for evaluation by the investigator and the court.

The main task of EIT is scientifically grounded diagnostics (from the Greek "diagnos" - to recognize) of non-pathological legal psychological anomalies.

Tests used for forensic diagnostics must be valid and highly reliable. Validity (from the Latin "valid" - suitable, having force) is the suitability of the test for measuring the revealed mental characteristics, its adequacy. Among psychodiagnostic tests, intelligence tests, tests, etc. are especially widely used.

The expert psychologist does not provide a legal assessment of the circumstances under study.

The impossibility of obtaining the necessary information or a precise answer must be justified. If an unambiguous answer is not possible, then it can also be probabilistic.

The conclusion of the EIT can be assessed by other participants in the criminal process, who may apply for a re-examination.

Only a specialist with a higher psychological, pedagogical or medical education can be appointed as an expert psychologist. Refusal to conduct an examination should be accepted if the questions posed to the EIT do not correspond to the professional specialization of the person.

And the duties of an expert psychologist are the same as the rights and duties of all forensic experts - they are determined by law (for example, Article 57 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation). In his cognitive activity, the expert is independent and independent.

Grounds for appointing a PPE

The reasons for the mandatory appointment of a forensic psychological examination include (Article 196 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation):

1. 1. if it is necessary to establish the mental or physical condition of the suspect, the accused, when there is doubt about his sanity or ability to independently defend his rights and legitimate interests in criminal proceedings;
   2. if it is necessary to establish the mental state of a suspect accused of committing a crime against the sexual integrity of a minor under the age of eighteen years old, in order to decide whether or not he has a sexual preference disorder (pedophilia);
   3. if it is necessary to establish the mental or physical condition of the suspect, the accused, when there are reasons to believe that he is sick;
   4. if it is necessary to establish the mental or physical condition of the victim, when there is doubt about his ability to correctly perceive the circumstances that are important for the criminal case, and to give evidence;
   5. if it is necessary to establish the age of the suspect, the accused, the victim, when it is important for the criminal case, and the documents confirming his age are absent or are in doubt.

EIT, associated with identifying a person's ability to correctly perceive circumstances important for the case and give correct testimony about them

EIT can establish the individual characteristics of the psyche, the level of absolute and differential sensitivity, the peculiarities of color perception, the volume of perception, the peculiarities of the perception of time, movement and spatial qualities of objects and phenomena (proportions of parts of objects, their spatial orientation, size, shape, distance, relief features, etc.). etc.), peculiarities of pitch differences, etc.

The ability to give correct readings is associated not only with the individual characteristics of sensations and perceptions. Memory, thinking and imagination of a person have a wide range of individual differences, such personality traits as suggestibility, a tendency to fantasize.

The recognition process is also sharply individualized. People with heightened suggestibility are prone to false recognition, to various suggested additions to their ideas.

The competence of the EIT does not include the establishment of the influence of specific conditions on the possibilities of perception.

The EIT should be asked questions related to the identification of specific mental abnormalities in individuals that are significant for a criminal case. Such questions can be, for example:

• • whether this person has pronounced deviations in the perception and understanding of certain phenomena,
  • whether the person has heightened suggestibility,
  • can the weak mental development of this person be the cause of distortion of the information transmitted to him, etc.

The ETS should not be asked questions related to the diagnosis of false readings (for example, whether the person was actually identified by the presented object or did not identify whether his readings correspond to actual events). EIT is not an examination of the reliability of the testimony. Establishing the truth or falsity of testimony is the professional task of the investigator (but at the same time, of course, he must have the appropriate psychological knowledge).

EIT in the investigation of sexual crimes

When investigating sexual crimes, an expert psychologist may be asked questions related to the establishment or denial of the helpless state of the victim. This is a qualifying feature of this corpus delicti. The state of helplessness has different manifestations and can be caused by different reasons: general physical weakness, illness, alcohol intoxication, the inability to freely express the will, young age, inability to correctly assess the situation, etc.

Before the forensic psychological examination in these cases, two questions can be posed:

1. 1. whether the victim in the relevant situation was in a state of helplessness;
   2. whether the victim, being in such a state, could be aware of the nature and significance of the actions performed with her.

The question should not be raised: could the victim have resisted the culprit? Unresistance to circumstances does not mean agreement with these circumstances, their acceptance.

Helplessness is precisely the state that excludes the possibility of resistance.

Not understanding the nature of the actions being taken is one of the manifestations of helplessness. It can be due to a number of circumstances:

1. 1. chronic mental illness;
   2. a temporary abnormal state of mind at the time of sexual intercourse with the victim (due to a somatic illness, a state of frustration, passion, stress);
   3. lagging behind in mental development;
   4. age and personal characteristics of the victim.

Circumstances of the first type are established by forensic psychiatric and forensic psychological examination. Circumstances of the second type - a comprehensive forensic psychiatric and forensic psychological examination or a medical and psychological examination. Circumstances of the third and fourth types - by a forensic psychological examination.

The victim's sexual maturity should be established by a comprehensive medical and psychological examination.

The EIT may be limited in relation to the personal needs of the accused. In these cases, questions are raised about the presence of detention in the mental development of the accused, about possible accentuations of his character.

EIT due to affect

The reason for the EIT in connection with the affect is the presence of signs of an extremely heightened and suddenly arisen emotional overexcitement, manifested in a criminal act directly behind the unlawful actions of the victim.

Explosive impulsivity, conflict, insubordination of actions to conscious control are the main criteria of affect.

The heat of passion - This is a suddenly arising short-term state of extreme mental overexcitement, characterized by a narrowing of consciousness. Affect arises as a result of exposure to superstrong stimuli or as a result of long-term accumulation of traumatic influences in the absence of adequate ways of responding to these influences in the personality's behavioral fund. Affect arises in acute conflict situations, and at the same time disintegration, disintegration of consciousness occurs.

Narrowing of consciousness during affect is associated with a sharp decrease in a person's ability to consciously direct his actions. Taking this into account, the law recognizes strong emotional disturbance as a circumstance mitigating responsibility, or a circumstance that affects the qualification of the corpus delicti.

To determine the state of passion, one question is posed before the EIT:

• • Was the person at the moment of performing certain actions (description of these actions) in a state of physiological affect?

Since the physiological affect (as well as other mental states) cannot be reproduced again, its expert study is carried out by retrospective analysis and analysis of residual, trace phenomena.

How a Forensic Psychological Examination (EIT) or a Forensic Psychological Examination (EIT) is carried out consists of the following stages or stages:

Expert participation in the examination of evidence;
clarification of the circumstances that are important for the expert opinion;
experimental research;
drawing up an opinion;
announcement of the conclusion;
interrogation of experts.

Stages of psychodiagnostic research in the course of EIT

In the work of an expert psychologist, the following stages can be distinguished:

• familiarization with the case materials;
• study of special literature on the proposed area of ​​expertise;
• preliminary study of the subject;
• processing of the results obtained and their interpretation;
• drawing up an expert opinion;
• giving an opinion during the investigation and in court.

The main stages of psychological research in the production of forensic psychological and complex examinations with it can be represented in the form of the following generalized scheme.

1 . A clear understanding of the plot of the case. An expert psychologist reconstructs the temporal sequence of events, using all the testimony available in the case (the accused, the witness, the victim), the materials of the exit to the scene and investigative experiments, as well as the data of forensic examinations.

2. Psychological analysis of the individual psychological characteristics of the expert in the criminal case and the materials attached to it.

3. Psychological analysis of the dynamics of the mental state and mental activity of the expert based on the case materials.

4 . Conducting clinical and psychological conversation and experimental psychological research with the simultaneous observation of the subject.

5 . Comparative analysis of the data of the psychological study of the criminal case, the data of the conversation, observation and the results of the experimental study.

6. Analysis of the interaction of the subject's personality with a legally significant situation: study of the features of reflection, awareness, understanding, semantic perception of the situation, arbitrary volitional regulation of their actions, control of their behavior - taking into account individual psychological capabilities, emotional and functional state, characteristics of the level of mental development, mental disorders ...

7. Drawing up an opinion with the formulation of expert conclusions (answers to questions from the judicial and investigative authorities).

At the first stage, an expert psychologist, in order to establish the mental state of a person in the case, must find out the following factual data:

• whether such a person has suffered from mental illness before;
• whether it is registered in a neuropsychiatric dispensary, and if so, with what diagnosis;
• how long the person has been on this account; whether he had previously been placed in a psychiatric hospital for treatment;
• whether a forensic psychological examination was carried out earlier in relation to this person, and if so, in connection with what.

Other circumstances that characterize the state of health of the expert, his behavior at home or in public places are also being clarified.

An expert psychologist should also clearly identify the facts indicating the need for a forensic psychological examination, and it should always be remembered that an EIT for the mental retardation of a minor accused can be appointed only after a forensic psychiatric examination and in the presence of individual mental manifestations in the person's behavior , indicating the possibility of his lagging behind in mental development. At the same time, low academic performance is not an indicator of a minor's mental development lag.

Recall that the signs of a lag in the mental development of a minor are:

Infantilism of behavior and thinking, inability to make independent conclusions;
inconsistency of motives with the content and goals of actions;
violation of purposefulness and criticality of behavior;
inability to socially correct behavior. The following questions cannot be asked before the EIT:
What is the normal developmental level of the person's actual development?
Is the mental development of a mentally retarded minor fundamentally different from normal?

When asking the EIT questions related to the identification of a person's ability to correctly perceive the circumstances that are important for the case, the investigator (judge) must know the capabilities of the EIT in this area. The examination can establish the individual characteristics of the psyche, color perceptions, the volume of perception, the peculiarities of the pitch difference, etc.

The ability to give correct readings is associated not only with the individual characteristics of sensations and perceptions. Memory, thinking and imagination of a person, such personality traits as suggestibility, a tendency to fantasize, have a wide range of individual differences.

The recognition process is also sharply individualized. People with heightened suggestibility are prone to false recognition, to various suggested additions to their ideas.

The competence of the EIT does not include the establishment of the influence of specific conditions on the possibilities of perception.

The examination should be asked questions related to the identification of specific mental abnormalities in persons that are significant for a criminal case, for example: does the person have heightened suggestibility, can his weak mental development be the cause of distortion of the information transmitted to him, etc.

The ETS should not be asked questions related to the diagnosis of false readings (for example, did the person recognize the actually presented object or did not identify whether his readings correspond to real events?). EIT is not an examination of the reliability of the testimony. Establishing the truth or falsity of testimony is the professional task of the investigator (but at the same time, of course, he must have the appropriate psychological knowledge).

The criteria for the potential capabilities of an expert psychologist follow from the subject of a forensic psychological examination. The general subject in psychology is revealed through the elements of a person's mental activity (properties, processes, patterns), the characteristics and expert assessment of which are important for establishing the objective truth in the case.

The general subject of psychological expertise is transformed into a private one, concretizing into a specific expert task, namely:

Determination of states of affect (intensity, duration and mechanism of such a state);
determination of the state of overwork, severe fear, great grief, depression;
determining the level of mental development of a person, including his ability to realize the meaning of his actions;
assessment of the psychological maturity of oligophrenics, the role of pedagogical neglect in psychopathic personalities, explanation of the motives for inadequate defensive behavior of the defendants with signs of mental abnormality;
establishing the ability of a minor to fully realize the significance of his actions and to direct them.

The object of a forensic psychological examination, that is, the source from which the expert draws information about the facts established by him, is the psyche of the investigated person.

As one of the criteria for the classification of a forensic psychological examination, one can choose the procedural status of the tested person. On this basis, one can distinguish the examination of witnesses and victims and the examination of suspects and accused. Such a classification is due to the difference both in the legal status of the subjects and in the issues being resolved.

Based on practice, it can be noted that most often the personality traits and mental states of the subject are subjected to expert research.

Each of these types of examinations, in turn, is divided into several types. It is advisable to choose the personality of the subject as the criterion for differentiating the examination of the first type. On this basis, examinations are divided into examinations of minors; examination of persons suffering from sensory impairments (deaf, blind, etc.), and examination of adults in order to establish the characteristics of perception or value judgments, memorization, reproduction of the memorized, as well as their mental properties.

The classification of the varieties of examinations of the second type - mental states - should be based on the characteristics of the established state of the subject.

This examination is associated with the establishment of a physiological affect, a state of stress caused by extreme conditions in which the event under study took place, or with a conflict situation in which the subject was at that time.

The resolution of the plenum of the Supreme Court of the USSR No. 1 of March 16, 1971 "On the forensic psychological examination in criminal cases" says that in necessary cases, when the establishment of a particular circumstance is impossible by conducting separate examinations or it goes beyond the competence of one expert or a panel of experts, a series of studies may be assigned, carried out by several experts, using different expertise. In this case, we are talking about a comprehensive examination, a component of which may be a forensic psychological examination.

Methodological approaches to the organization of forensic psychological diagnostics in the SPE

And, therefore, one of the sources of evidence. Unlike forensic psychiatric examination, EIT examines mental manifestations that do not go beyond the norm, that is, they are not pathological. The possibilities of EIT are limited by the current level of development of psychology, its diagnostic methods and procedural requirements. The limits of the possibilities of the EIT are determined by the principle of scientific objectivity. EIT can only resolve those issues that are associated with mental phenomena that are subject to objective analysis.

I must say that not all mental phenomena are covered by specific diagnostic techniques. Some of them can only be studied over a long period or under natural experimental conditions. The EIT is not competent to resolve issues of legal content: to determine the reliability of testimony, the motives and goals of a criminal act, to establish the form of guilt, etc.

The examination should be carried out using modern scientific and psychological methods.

The results of the expert study must be reliable, verifiable, available for evaluation by the investigator and the court.

The main task of EIT is scientifically grounded diagnostics (from the Greek diagnose - to recognize) of non-pathological legal psychological anomalies. Psychodiagnostics as a field of psychology began to develop from the end of the 19th century. Its largest representatives were J. Kettle, F. Galton, and others. A great contribution to its development was made by A. Binet, who developed a method for diagnosing the mental development of children (a scale of intelligence development).

Currently, psychodiagnostics has a variety of techniques, specialized in various areas. In forensic diagnostics, the leading role belongs to specialists in the field of mental anomalies, delays in the mental development of children and trace affects.

The leading method of psychodiagnostics is the test method. Tests used for forensic diagnostics must be valid and highly reliable. Validity is the suitability of the test for measuring the identified mental characteristics, its adequacy. Among psychodiagnostic tests, intelligence tests, personality tests, etc. are especially widely used.

Diagnostics of the mental state of a person stands out among other types of EIT for several reasons.

Firstly, the conclusion of an expert psychologist is, as a rule, of qualifying value when considering a specific criminal case in court. Secondly, diagnosing the condition itself is a complex study. Thirdly, the expert "reconstructs" the state of the person on the basis of the case materials and the results of the experimental psychological research after a long period from the moment of the investigated events.

The methodological basis for conducting forensic psychological research is the widespread use of experiment, including the laboratory method and the method of natural experiment. Their difference, as the name implies, is in the conditions of use.

Other examination methods include:

observation (study of a person's behavioral acts, his states and reactions in certain situations);

interviewing;

study of case materials;

testing;

study of the products of activity (for example, from letters, drawings, diaries);

retrospective analysis of external signs of facial behavior.

As you can see, only a psychological experiment can give the greatest completeness, correctness and truthfulness of the examination results. The rest of the methods of expert psychological research can be called auxiliary, or additional to the experimental.
Forensic psychological examination of the mental state, like no other, requires a detailed study of the materials of the criminal case, since they may contain information about the diagnostic signs of affect, which we will discuss below.

Expert research should include:

Analysis of the situation that led to the commission of illegal actions;
analysis of stable individual psychological characteristics of the accused (based on the materials of the criminal case and the data of the conversation with the subject during the examination, the results of the experimental psychological research);
analysis of the psychophysiological state of the subject at the time of the crime;
analysis of the actions and behavior of the subject at the time of the commission of the act incriminated to him (purposefulness and expediency, their sequence, adequacy of the situation and individual psychological characteristics, etc.);
analysis of human behavior in the post-crime period;
analysis of the subsequent attitude of the subject to his illegal actions.
Let us consider in more detail these components of the expert study.

1. Analysis of the situation that led to the commission of illegal actions.

The purpose of this stage of the study is to establish whether the situation was affectogenic or not (since the affectogenic nature of the situation is a necessary condition for the emergence of affect), which will be discussed in more detail below. The following are considered as signs of an affectogenic situation:

Conflict;
surprise;
extreme;
reality;
dynamism.

If in the studied situation all the above-mentioned signs are noted, then we can categorically assert that it was affectogenic.

2. Analysis of stable individual psychological characteristics of the accused.

We can obtain data for analysis from the materials of the ‘criminal case and from the results of experimental psychological research. In the materials of the criminal case, it is necessary to pay attention to the characteristics of a person, to the information given about him by his relatives, friends, colleagues. At the same time, it is important to understand how the subject is resistant to stressful influences, how he behaves in conflict situations.

When conducting an experimental psychological study, it is necessary to determine the typological properties of the nervous system, stable personality traits, characteristics of the emotional-volitional sphere, and establish a hierarchy of personality values. To diagnose these features, it is possible to use survey methods, such as the Strelau diagnostic questionnaire, MMP1, 16-RG Cattell, Eysenck, Leonhard-Shmishek, Bass-Darki, RTS Bouhal's questionnaires, etc. Of the projective informative, the Rosenzweig frustration test, TAT, Luscher test, drawing methods. It is hardly possible (and indeed necessary) to define once and for all a set of experimental research methods. After all, each subject and each specific case require an individual approach, and, accordingly, the set of methods can vary significantly.

3. Analysis of the psychophysiological state of the subject at the time of the crime (or immediately before him).

This stage of the study is no less important than others, since the unfavorable psychophysiological state of the subject is that "fertile" soil that facilitates the onset of the state of physiological affect. Such conditions may include somatic diseases (including chronic ones), nervous diseases; insomnia, chronic mental tension (stress); period of menstruation in women; alcoholic intoxication. In particular, alcohol intoxication can disorganize mental activity, which is expressed in increased subjectivization of perception, changes in its accuracy and volume, disruption of the memorization process, emotional volitional instability, disinhibition of drives, etc.

4. Analysis of the actions and behavior of the subject at the time of committing the act incriminated to him and behavior in the post-criminal period.

The interest of law enforcement agencies in the EIT of a person's psychological state at the time of the offense is due to the fact that many serious crimes associated with physical violence are committed in a state of so-called strong emotional disturbance caused by the illegal actions of the victim. If it is established that a person is in a state of strong emotional excitement during the period under study, then his act is qualified under Art. 107 or 113 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which entails a significant mitigation of liability.

The legislator identifies the concepts of "strong emotional excitement" and "physiological affect". However, the concept of "strong emotional disturbance" is broader than the concept of "physiological affect", since it includes, among other things, an assessment of the illegality or illegality of the victim's actions, which is beyond the competence of the EIT. In addition, as will be shown below, under certain conditions, a number of other mental states (except for affect) can be recognized as strong emotional excitement.

Physiological affect is a state that has the dynamics of an "emotional explosion" (in the figurative expression of S.L. Rubinstein), characterized by short duration, high energy, which has a significant disorganizing effect on consciousness and human activity and is accompanied by changes in the activity of motor, endocrine, cardiovascular and the autonomic nervous system of the body. According to the content of experiences, the affects of joy, fear, anger, horror, etc. are distinguished. However, in judicial and investigative practice, the affects of anger (less often - fear, horror) are considered.

The reason for the EIT in connection with the affect is the presence of signs of an extremely heightened and suddenly arisen emotional overexcitement, manifested in a criminal act directly behind the unlawful actions of the victim. Explosive impulsivity, insubordination of actions to conscious control are the main criteria of affect.

A state of affect is a suddenly arising short-term state of extreme mental overexcitement, characterized by a narrowing of consciousness. Affect arises as a result of exposure to superstrong stimuli, due to prolonged accumulation of traumatic influences of superstrong stimuli, or as a result of prolonged accumulation of traumatic influences in the absence of adequate ways of responding to such influences in the personality's behavioral fund. Affect arises in acute conflict situations, while the disintegration of consciousness occurs. As noted by the famous psychiatrist P.B. Gannushkin, in order for feelings to prevail over reason, it is necessary that the mind be weak.

Narrowing of consciousness during affect is associated with a sharp decrease in a person's ability to consciously direct his actions. Taking this into account, the law recognizes strong emotional disturbance as a circumstance mitigating responsibility, or a circumstance that affects the qualification of the corpus delicti. To determine the state of passion, one question is posed: was the person at the moment of performing certain actions in a state of physiological affect?

Since the physiological affect cannot be reproduced again, its expert study is carried out by retrospective analysis of residual phenomena. The materials of the criminal case submitted to the expert psychologist must be sufficient for:

A) analysis of the personality traits of the accused;
b) determining the causes of affect;
c) reconstruction of the dynamics of development and extinction of this state.

The purpose of this stage is to identify the so-called signs of affect. These include:

The presence of all the listed signs (or most of them) may indicate that the person was in a state of physiological affect during the study period.

According to the views of M.M. Kochenov, conventionally the concepts of "physiological affect" and "strong emotional excitement" can be represented in the form of two overlapping circles for the most part. The area of ​​intersection of circles is what the legislator has in mind when he interprets the concept of "strong emotional excitement" (the essence is affect). However, physiological affect is not always the basis for qualifying acts as committed in a state of strong emotional excitement (for example, if the accused himself initiated a conflict situation that caused the victim's response, which in turn caused the defendant's affect).

At the same time, there is a number of mental states that can significantly disorganize the consciousness and mental activity of a person, which, under certain conditions, can be considered as strong emotional excitement (in the psychological sense of this concept).

These include mental tension (stress), frustration, confusion, etc. However, this is possible only in cases when:

• firstly, there is an acute traumatic situation;
• secondly, the actions of the victim affect values ​​that are personally significant for the accused;
• thirdly, despite the specific dynamics and content, stress or frustration in the studied situation cause disorganization of mental activity so significant that it is comparable to the influence of affect at the highest point of its development;
• and, finally, fourthly, the behavior of a person in the studied situation is for him atypical, paradoxical, contrary to the basic individual psychological characteristics of the subject.
  

When investigating sexual crimes, an expert psychologist may be asked questions related to the establishment or denial of the victim's helpless state (this is a qualifying feature of this corpus delicti). The state of helplessness has different manifestations and can be caused by different reasons: illness, alcohol intoxication, young age, etc.

Before the forensic psychological examination in these cases, two questions can be posed:
c) mental retardation;

5. Subsequent attitude of the subject to his illegal actions.

As a rule, most of the accused regret what happened (although they often say that they experienced a feeling of relief, relaxation, release from the pressure caused by the actions of the victim), easily rationalize their behavior, note possible ways out of the situation that are not related to breaking the law or entailing much less serious consequences.

The essence and significance of a forensic psychological examination. The resolution of special issues that arise before the investigation and the court when it is necessary to assess the phenomena related to the mental activity of people requires a forensic psychological examination, since this is within the competence of a psychologist as a specialist in this field of knowledge. 1

The study of investigative and judicial practice shows that as a result of the timely and reasonable application of special psychological knowledge and methods of scientific psychology, which allow to objectively establish the causes and internal mechanisms of specific actions of people involved in the sphere of criminal proceedings, their psychological characteristics, the possibilities of proving many facts are significantly expanded. necessary for the fair and correct resolution of criminal cases.

The main form of using special psychological knowledge in modern criminal process is forensic psychological examination, which develops in accordance with the general principles enshrined in the law (Article 78.79 of the RSFSR Code of Criminal Procedure) that regulate expert activity in criminal cases.

Forensic psychological expertise is able to provide significant assistance in resolving issues fundamental to the criminal process about the guilt of persons who have committed socially dangerous acts, qualification of crimes, individualization of responsibility, etc. Therefore, the use of special psychological knowledge in specific criminal cases seems to be an important guarantee against objective imputation, as well as against the equally significant threat of unfairness of punishment due to ignoring or incomplete accounting of certain personal properties that influenced the content of the act, the previous and subsequent behavior of the subject.

In the new Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (1996), the idea of ​​compliance of the criminal-legal consequences of a crime with the nature and degree of public danger, the circumstances of the commission and the personality of the perpetrator is consistently carried out. The use of concepts and terms related to the field of psychology, which is quite understandable, since criminal behavior is a kind of arbitrary (controlled) behavior.

The 1996 Criminal Code significantly expanded the tasks and limits of research on the personality of the accused and the victim in a criminal case (highlighting the features of such a study in relation to certain categories of persons - minors, recidivists, etc.).

The legislator quite boldly used the data of psychology to regulate many new definitions, norms and institutions of criminal law, using psychological terms that are unusual for practice, taken from psychological science. These are, for example, "mental retardation not associated with mental disorder" (as a circumstance that eliminates criminal liability); "The level of mental development, other characteristics of the minor's personality" (as a circumstance that individualizes the punishment); "Reasonable risk" (as a circumstance that eliminates the criminality of an act); “Sadism” (as a circumstance aggravating punishment), etc. The new Criminal Code uses concepts that are basic for criminal liability and punishment, requiring a psychological analysis of their content, taking into account the provisions of general and legal psychology. For example, sanity, the age at which criminal responsibility occurs, the criminal responsibility of sane persons with mental disorders, the distinction between careless guilt and incident, the motive of the crime, personality, etc. The establishment of many of them requires a psychological examination in a specific criminal case.

The foregoing explains the significant actualization of the problems of using professional psychological knowledge both when explaining, interpreting, commenting for investigative, prosecutorial, expert, judicial practice of the provisions of the new law, and directly in the production of forensic psychological examinations, scientific advice on specific criminal cases.

Forensic psychological examination(EIT) is an independent type of forensic examination, consisting in the use of special (professional) psychological knowledge to establish the circumstances included in the process of proving in a criminal case. Forensic psychological examination has its own subject matter, its own objects and methods of expert research.

V item EIT includes a wide range of circumstances that characterize the subjective side of the act, the presence and limits of awareness and leadership (controllability) of one's behavior in criminally relevant situations, as well as the state and personality traits that are significant for the individualization of responsibility and punishment.

Objects serve as sources of information about a person's mental activity - the results of an experimental psychological examination of the participants in the criminal process (the accused, the victim, the witness), the materials of the criminal case, including interrogation protocols, diaries, letters and other documents amenable to psychological expert assessment and having criminally relevant significance ...

Methods In most cases, EITs are borrowed from general psychology, but some of them are specially developed for the purposes of relevant expertise. Typical is the use within a specific PPE complex of methods, since, taken separately, none of them can independently solve the question posed to the expert. It is the complexity that provides a multilateral study of the psychic activity of the subject, which is the most important characteristic of the methodology of any direction of EIT.

Competence of forensic psychological examination. Theoretically, any issues of psychological content (personality traits, mental states of the accused, victims, witnesses) that are significant for proving or have a direct criminally relevant significance, for the solution of which special professional knowledge in the field of scientific psychology, can be attributed to the competence of a forensic psychological examination. It should be borne in mind that it is practically impossible to rigidly fix all the psychological issues that may arise in connection with the investigation of a specific criminal case. Let us outline only the main directions of forensic psychological examination, focusing on the issues that are advisable to pose to the experts.

1. Investigation of the identity of the accused directly follows from the law and is mandatory (F.S. Safuanov, O.D. Sitkovskaya, etc.). In accordance with the general principles of sentencing, the concept of individualization covers in a complex the assessment of an act, personality the culprit, the circumstances, mitigating and aggravating responsibility. Those personality traits are significant here, which influenced the choice and implementation of the unlawful behavior, made it difficult or facilitated, as well as influenced the attitude towards the deed.

Psychological personality traits can be associated in different ways with the crime committed. Some of them can play lead role in the choice of a criminal way to satisfy needs or resolve a conflict (selfish, selfish orientation of the individual, disrespect for the human personality and human dignity, sexual promiscuity, aggressiveness, etc.). Other psychological characteristics are more often only contribute to committing a crime in the presence of an external unfavorable situation (weakness, obedience, frivolity, low level of intellectual development, painful vanity, emotional excitability, cowardice, etc.). Finally, many of the psychological characteristics of the accused remain neutral in relation to the fact of a crime (for example, hobbies, interests of a person who has committed a crime in a state of passion or a careless crime, etc.).

A truly personal approach from the standpoint of justice ideally requires the study of a sufficiently large volume of properties of the accused in most criminal cases and includes the study of his inner world: needs, motives underlying actions (motives of behavior), general structure and individual character traits, emotional volitional sphere, abilities, individual characteristics of intellectual activity (perception, thinking, memory and other cognitive processes). Of course, in the framework of the criminal process, not all psychological characteristics of the accused can and should be studied, but only those that are significant for the criminal case. In most cases, it is necessary and sufficient to investigate those properties of the personality of the accused, which: a) indicate the regularity or randomness of the adoption and implementation of a decision on a crime; b) affect the ability to control behavior in a particular situation; c) are significant for predicting the danger of relapse and determining the program of corrective action.

Main questions with this type of expertise:

What are the individual psychological characteristics of the accused person?

Could the individual psychological characteristics of the accused affect his behavior at the time of the commission of unlawful acts?

Does the accused have such individual psychological personality traits as ... (depending on the circumstances of a particular case - impulsivity, cruelty, aggressiveness, emotional instability, suggestibility, obedience, etc.)?

What are the individual psychological characteristics of the personality of the accused in terms of predicting the danger of relapse and the program of corrective action?

2. The study of psychological motives specific criminal behavior (Enikolopov S.N., Konysheva L.P., Sitkovskaya O.D. and others). Motive is a sign of the subjective side of a crime. Its establishment is necessary to distinguish between compositions having similar signs, for example, hooliganism and causing minor bodily harm, etc. In a number of cases, finding out the motive is important for proving guilt. The motive of the crime can be taken into account as an aggravating or mitigating circumstance, testifying to the absence of public danger in the actions of the guilty party.

In psychology, a motive is understood as an incentive to activity directed at satisfying the needs of the subject, an object (material or ideal) for the sake of which the activity is carried out. To designate the motives of behavior, criminal law operates with such generalized concepts as revenge, self-interest, jealousy, hooligan motives, hostile attitudes, etc. Some of these concepts may include a variety of psychological motives. For example, selfish actions from a psychological point of view can be motivated by the desire for enrichment, envy, the need for self-affirmation, the desire to lead an idle lifestyle, a passion for entertainment, gambling, the need to satisfy difficult cravings (for example, for alcohol or drugs). The study of the psychological motives of the act deepens the knowledge of the legally significant motives underlying the offense.

As a special case of human behavior, criminal behavior is always motivated. The references in the literature to "unmotivated crimes" are based on ignorance of the patterns of human behavior and the difficulty of establishing a motive in a particular case. As a rule, acts whose motives are “inadequate to the occasion”, are not related to the behavior of the victim, as well as actions in a state of passion, are referred to as “unmotivated crimes”. However, in each specific case, when the motive is not obvious, one must proceed from the fact that it exists and maybe discovered in psychological research. If we are talking about a crime, then it always has a motive, regardless of what circumstances preceded the initiation of criminal actions - significant or insignificant in the eyes of the investigator or the court. There is no doubt that psychological knowledge at a professional level is necessary here.

The main question with this type of expertise:

Taking into account the individual psychological characteristics of the person and the situation, what are the main psychological motives of the act incriminated to the accused?

3. Diagnosis of affect from the accused (Article 107 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) at the time of the commission of a crime (Kochenov M.M., Sitkovskaya O.D. and others). Affect is a violent emotional outburst that captures the entire personality and perceptibly affects human behavior. Criminal acts committed under the influence of affect have special diagnostic signs, psychological causes and conditions that contribute to their occurrence: an affectogenic situation, personality traits that predispose to an affective breakdown, some factors that weaken the body.

Psychological diagnostics of affect in a subject at the time of committing the incriminated actions includes: a) a retrospective analysis of the subject's mental state, its influence on consciousness and activity; b) the study of the individual psychological characteristics of the subject, the degree of his resistance to emotiogenic situations, the tendency to accumulate affective experiences; the influence of age characteristics; factors temporarily weakening the body; c) study and psychological assessment of the situation in which the crime was committed.

The main question with this type of expertise:

Was the accused in a state of passion at the time of the commission of the incriminated act (which one)?

4. Diagnostics of the emotional state the accused at the time of the crime (in addition to affect), significantly affecting the ability to correctly understand the phenomena of reality, the content of a specific situation and the ability to arbitrarily regulate their behavior (Alekseeva L.A., Kochenov M.M., Sitkovskaya O.D., Shipshin S. .S., Etc.).

It's about the strong stress, states of neuropsychic stress, making it impossible or significantly hampering the performance of professional functions in the management of modern technology, leading to the commission of reckless crimes (in aviation, road and rail transport, in the work of an operator of automated systems in production, etc.); on the establishment of the subject individual psychological features that do not allow performing the necessary functions at a sufficiently high level in an extreme situation in the event of unexpected interference in activities, complicating the situation in the direction of increasing its requirements for the psychological capabilities of a person.

This area of ​​EIT is of particular importance in connection with the introduction of Art. 28 (part 2) on the innocent infliction of harm, when the act is recognized as committed innocently, if the person “although foresaw the possibility of socially dangerous consequences of his actions (inaction), but could not prevent these consequences due to the inadequacy of his psychophysiological qualities to the requirements of extreme conditions, or neuropsychic overload ". Closely related to this direction is the establishment by the psychologist reasonableness of risk(Article 41 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

Most often, in a state of stress, the process of choosing the goals of actions is disturbed, the sequence in the implementation of complex intellectual and motor acts. Errors occur in the perception of the surrounding reality, the amount of attention decreases, the assessment of time intervals is disturbed, difficulties in understanding the situation as a whole appear. The end of a stressful situation, its "peak" may be affect, which, however, does not happen in all cases.

The competence of the psychologist in such cases includes the study of psychological circumstances that are important for establishing the truth: an extreme situation (unexpectedness, novelty, complexity); individual psychological characteristics of the personality (intelligence; level of general and special knowledge of the subject; degree of formation, automation of his skills and abilities, emotional and volitional qualities, poise, impulsivity; leading psychological motives of the subject's behavior and motivation of specific socially dangerous actions; features of self-awareness and self-esteem , criticality, propensity to take risks; individual resistance to emotiogenic stimuli); the influence of fatigue, somatic disorders, stress, affect on activity; the influence of the characteristics of social contacts, interaction in a team, conformity, discipline, aggressiveness, self-confidence, defects in the organization of joint activities, etc.

Main questions with this type of expertise:

Was the accused in a stressful state at the time of the incriminated acts?

Taking into account the emotional state of the accused, could he accurately correlate his actions with the objective requirements of the situation?

Could the subject, if we take into account his individual psychological characteristics, correctly understand the requirements of an extreme situation?

Taking into account the subject's ability to establish cause-and-effect relationships and the general level of his intellectual development, could he foresee the onset of dangerous consequences, make the right decision and implement it?

Was the subject at the time of committing the incriminated actions in a mental state that could cause a significant decrease in the quality of professional functions, the ability to take actions to prevent dangerous consequences?

When using psychological knowledge to apply the institution of reasonable risk the following can be supplied main questions: a) Taking into account the characteristics of the personality (of the accused) and the situation, what is the purpose of the risky behavior? b) Taking into account the intellectual and characterological characteristics of the accused, was he able to comprehend the situation, the possibilities of its development and the expected consequences? c) Taking into account the dynamics of the development of the situation, could he correctly and adequately (self-critically) assess his own possibilities for resolving it?

5. Establishing the ability of minors accused with signs mental retardation, not associated with a mental disorder, completely be aware of the significance of their actions and determine the measure of their ability to direct their behavior(Article 20 Part 3).

The purpose of the expert study is not limited to diagnosing the presence or absence of signs of mental retardation in the subject: the presence of signs of mental retardation is not a direct indication of the minor's lack of the ability to fully understand the meaning of his actions and control them (Kochenov M.M., Safuanov F S., Sitkovskaya O.D. and others). Expert psychological research is always aimed not at establishing a general ability or inability to recognize the meaning of one's actions, which is constantly manifested as a property of a person; it concerns only concrete actions, perfect in specific conditions. Therefore, a forensic psychological examination considers the subject's behavior in unity with the situation in which the illegal acts were committed. Correlation of data on the state and characteristics of the adolescent's mental development with the results of the analysis of the situation and behavior of the subject is an obligatory component of the expert study.

The presence or absence of grounds for exemption from criminal liability with reference to Part 3 of Art. 20 can be recognized as reasonable only, if the description of the content of mental retardation is imposed on the mechanism of a specific act. The examination must establish whether the juvenile correctly understood the situation of the offense, in particular, whether he was aware of the existence of alternative exits from it, whether he was aware of the objective content of the goals of his actions, whether he foresaw the direct and indirect results of his actions, whether he was able to assess his own behavior from the point of view of the current legal norms. and generally accepted morality; could he freely choose both goals and ways to achieve them, arbitrarily regulate his behavior.

Main questions, permitted by this type of expertise:

Does the minor have signs of mental retardation and, if so, how they are expressed; what are their reasons?

Given the presence of a lag (if established), could a minor realize the factual nature and social danger of his actions at the time of the commission of a socially dangerous act?

Given the presence and nature of the indicated lag in mental development, could he direct his actions at this moment?

6. With regard to the victim it may also be necessary to ask an expert about his personality, motivation for action. However, in practice, it is most often required: establishing the ability to understand the meaning of one's own actions and actions related to attacks on him (primarily in cases of rape of minors and minors), as well as ability to resist illegal actions (Konysheva L.P., Kochenov M.M.).

One of the qualifying signs of rape is the helpless state of the victim (Article 131 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Helplessness (or defenselessness) is characterized by the inability of the victim to correctly understand the nature and meaning of the situation and the actions of the people around him, as well as to direct his own actions. Helplessness can be associated with the physical or mental state of the victim (young or old age, physical disabilities, mental disorder, a strong degree of drug or alcohol intoxication, etc.) In most cases, law enforcement agencies independently decide whether the victim has a helpless state.

The exception is cases of rape of minors, especially in cases where the victim (due to the characteristics of his mental state, personal properties) did not offer real resistance to violent actions and the investigation (court) has a version that her behavior is due to the presence of a helpless state: inability to effectively defend against encroachment by purposeful, conscious-volitional behavior in a specific situation.

In one of the criminal cases, a forensic psychological examination of the victim Zh. Was carried out. The investigation established that a group of teenagers had repeatedly had sexual acts with a minor Zh., While she did not offer significant resistance, she did not tell anyone about the incident. In the course of the examination, the materials of the case were studied, an experimental psychological study was carried out, and a conversation with the expert. It was found that J. is a very quiet and modest girl. Its characteristic features are lack of initiative, lack of independence in opinions, the habit of obeying, passivity, fearfulness and indecision. J. is afraid of not pleasing someone, is not prone to conflicts and quarrels with peers, does not express independent thoughts. In the experiment, she demonstrated great suggestibility. The mother characterizes the girl as obedient, compliant, unquestioningly fulfilling all the requirements of her parents and others. The study led the experts to the conclusion that J., by his temperament, does not show a tendency to active decisive action; she has little ability to resist mental and physical violence. These characterological features could contribute to the emergence of a state of affect of fear during the period of violent actions against her, as a result of which she was unable to resist.

However, there are situations when, in addition to an expert examination of the rape victim, it is necessary to simultaneously conduct a psychological examination of the underage accused (s). The use of special knowledge is necessary here not only to clarify the question of whether he (they), taking into account age and individual psychological characteristics, could fully realize the actual nature and social danger of their actions and guide them, but also, which is no less important, how they perceived the behavior of the victim in this situation, whether it could be perceived by them as consent to enter intimate intimacy. This is a study within the framework of a psychological examination the ability of the accused to correctly assess, understand and interpret the state of the victim.

Main questions, resolved by this type of expertise in relation to victims:

Taking into account the mental state and psychological characteristics of the victim, could she correctly understand the nature and meaning of the actions performed with her?

Taking into account the mental state and psychological characteristics of the victim, could she provide effective resistance?

Main questions, resolved by this type of expertise in relation to the accused:

Taking into account the peculiarities of the mental development of a minor and his mental state, the content of the situation of committing a sexual assault, could the minor fully realize the significance of his illegal actions?

Taking into account the peculiarities of the mental development of the accused and his mental state, can it be concluded that he could correctly assess the mental state and behavior of the victim?

To what extent could a minor, given his mental development and mental state, as well as taking into account the content of the situation of sexual assault, be able to direct his actions?

7. With regard to witnesses and victims the EIT may be asked about their fundamental capabilities, taking into account individual psychological and age characteristics, the level of mental development, correctly perceive the circumstances of the case and give correct testimony about them (Kochenov M.M., Osipova N.R. and others).

Main questions, solved by this type of expertise:

What are the individual characteristics of the cognitive activity of the witness (victim)?

Does the witness (victim) have psychological characteristics (for example, increased suggestibility, a tendency to fantasize, etc.) that reduce the ability to correctly perceive events or objects (indicate which ones) and give correct testimony about them?

What was the mental state of the witness (victim) at the time of perception of events or objects (indicate which ones)?

Taking into account the psychological characteristics, the mental state of the witness (victim) and the conditions in which the events or objects were perceived (indicate which ones), could the subject perceive them correctly?

Taking into account the psychological characteristics of the witness (victim), can he give correct testimony about the circumstances important for the case?

If we take into account the level of mental development of the witness (victim) and his psychological characteristics, could he understand the inner content (which one) of the events (indicate which ones)?

8. An expert psychologist can conduct posthumous examination to clarify the question whether the deceased was in the period preceding death, in mental state that predisposes to suicide and, if he was in this state, what could have caused it (Kochenov M.M. and others). In investigative and judicial practice, there are cases of faked murders for suicides, which sometimes leads to the need for a posthumous forensic psychological examination.

Suicide of a mentally healthy person is one of the types of behavioral reactions in difficult conflict conditions. As a rule, suicide is a pre-planned action (a persistent motivated intention to voluntarily leave this life) under the influence of difficult experiences, strong shock, deep disappointment when a person evaluates the situation as hopeless.

In some cases, it is possible to commit suicide in a state of sudden affect, which affects a person's consciousness (affectively narrowed consciousness), and therefore, in this state, the likelihood of making a decision to commit suicide and its implementation in immediate actions increases.

The main question with this type of expertise:

Was the mental state of a person in the period preceding death predisposing to suicide and, if so, what was it caused by?

Complex psychological and psychiatric examinations. In practice, situations are not uncommon when, in order to resolve issues that arise before the investigation and the court, it seems optimal to conduct complex psychological and psychiatric examinations. 2 This is a study carried out to answer specific questions of the court (or investigating authorities), touching on the borderline between psychology and psychiatry problems. At the same time, to develop conclusions, special knowledge related to both scientific disciplines is used, specific methods prevailing in psychology and psychiatry are applied, data from psychological and psychiatric research are compared and integrated.

The main prerequisite that determines the need for the development of psychological and psychiatric expertise is the existence of problems common to psychology and psychiatry. It is also important here the constant strengthening in law enforcement of the tendency towards the most complete and comprehensive study of all the circumstances of the case, disclosure of the internal mechanisms of behavior of the participants in the criminal process (accused, victims, witnesses) in specific situations.

It should be noted that experts - participants in complex examinations, in addition to their own main expert specialty, should have an additional professional characteristic - the presence of professional knowledge necessary and sufficient in order to be well oriented in the methodology and conclusions of its other participants and their significance for a general conclusion. They must be proficient in the methodology of joint work, complex research. In other words, only joint activity, interaction forms the integration of special knowledge necessary and sufficient for a comprehensive research and general conclusion.

1 One of the first to address the development of general problems of the application of psychological knowledge in criminal proceedings was MM. Kochenov in the monograph "Forensic Psychological Expertise" (M., 1977). In the future, a number of studies appeared devoted to a more in-depth study of the theory and methodology of certain areas of forensic psychological examination. (Sitkovskaya O.D. Forensic psychological examination of affect. - M., 1983; Konysheva L.P., Kochenov M.M. The use of psychological knowledge by the investigator in the investigation of cases of rape of minors. - M., 1989; Alekseeva L.V. The problem of legally significant emotional states. - Tyumen, 1997 .; Engalychev V.F., Shipshin S.S. Forensic psychological examination. Methodical guidance. - Kaluga, 1997; Safuanov F.S. Forensic psychological examination in criminal proceedings. - M., 1998; A number of new problems and areas of forensic psychological examination that arose in connection with the introduction in 1996 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation are considered in the monograph Sitkovskaya O.D. Psychology of Criminal Responsibility (M., 1998).

2 See: Kudryavtsev I.A. Forensic psychological and psychiatric examination. - M., 1988.

Educational literature on legal psychology

Kochenov M.M.
FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPERTISE.

Chapter VIII. METHODS OF FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPERTISE

The quality of forensic psychological expertise and its scientific level largely depend on research methods. In a forensic psychological examination, all the basic methods of psychology can find application: laboratory and natural experiment, conversation, observation, study of the products of mental activity, etc. which creates the basis for conclusions on those specific issues that are presented to the expert.

Each forensic psychological examination is a monographic study of a specific personality, psychological mechanisms of human behavior in strictly defined conditions. Therefore, the choice of research methods by an expert psychologist is primarily determined by the general tasks assigned to him by representatives of law enforcement agencies and formulated in a resolution or determination to conduct a forensic psychological examination. If, for example, the question of whether the accused has a state of physiological affect at the time of the crime is being investigated, the expert must first of all turn to the study of the materials of the criminal case, collect and analyze biographical information about the expert, and conduct a conversation with him. In cases of determining the state of mental development of underage accused, in addition to the methods already mentioned, methods of laboratory experiments should take an important place in the study.

A specific feature of forensic psychological examination, which partly brings it closer (methodologically with forensic psychiatric examination, is that “even one of the methods used in the study does not lead directly to the answer to the question posed to the expert.) a psychiatrist, having examined the patient and assessing the severity of the disease, can logically, using the available data, conclude about the ability of the expert to understand the meaning of his actions and to guide them, the expert psychologist, having analyzed and summarized the results obtained during the study, has the opportunity to express judgments on specific issues The only exception can be, perhaps, only some expert studies aimed at establishing the fundamental ability of witnesses and victims to perceive circumstances important for the case and give correct testimony about them. t with particular seriousness and exacting attitude to the selection of methods for each expert study.

In psychology, a conditional division of methods into "personal" ones has developed, used to study stable and situationally determined motives of behavior, character traits, emotional-volitional properties of the subjects, and "intellectual" ones, which reveal the individual characteristics of a person's cognitive activity. However, the majority of psychological methods are such that, with skillful use, they, in addition to basic information, can provide valuable additional material; the results of an experimental study of cognitive activity always contain some information about the character of the subject, his emotional-volitional and other personal characteristics, as well as the study of "personal" methods can enrich the idea of ​​a person's intellectual activity.

The apparent simplicity of some psychological methods should not mislead about the ease of interpretation of the results obtained. They can be truly understood and interpreted only when correlated with theoretical and experimental general psychological principles known to a professional psychologist. The use of any psychological method makes sense if the expert is proficient in it. In this chapter, we restrict ourselves to the task of indicating only some of the methods of psychological research that can be used in the conduct of forensic psychological examination.

Study of case materials. The first stage of expert psychological research should always be the study of the materials of the criminal case. Acquaintance with the plot and the circumstances of the case as if introduces the expert into the atmosphere of the events that he has to investigate, forms an idea of ​​people acting as experts. There is practically no and cannot be a criminal case, the materials of which would completely lack information of interest to a psychologist. Many case materials can and should be subjected to psychological analysis. "The use of special knowledge to resolve the issues that have arisen in the case (ultimately, this is the essence of any examination)," writes Z. M. Sokolovsky, "is nothing more than an interpretation from the point of view of special knowledge of certain facts" 1 ...

A psychological study of the case materials is necessary to clarify the tasks of the expert study, its boundaries and, in some cases, to clarify the questions of the investigator or the court. All this is of great importance for drawing up a plan and choosing methods for further research.

The main attention of an expert psychologist in the process of studying the case materials should be directed to:

data characterizing the psychological characteristics of the personality of the subject;

data on the behavior of the expert (especially if the accused or the victim is subjected to the examination) in the situation that constitutes the plot of the case;

data on the subject's attitude to the events under investigation;

data on the dynamics of changes in the testimony of the expert.

The study of the case materials helps to see in the information collected by the investigator or the court "blank spots", without filling in which the expert is not able to fully use his special knowledge. Through the investigator or the judge, the expert has the opportunity to obtain the information he lacks.

The materials of the criminal case form the foundation for a retrospective psychological analysis of the facts that are directly related to the main goals of the examination. Its essence lies in the assessment of facts expressed in legal or everyday concepts from the standpoint of scientific psychology. For example, testimony recorded in the interrogation protocols about the behavior of the accused at the time of the commission of the crime can be interpreted from a psychological point of view as an indication that he was in a state of physiological passion.

Conversation with the expert. The application of this method can be considered productive in almost all cases of a forensic psychological examination; During the conversation, the subject is asked a number of pre-prepared questions, the content of which is determined by the objectives of the study. The form of questions should be available to the person being investigated, it is chosen taking into account his age, education, life experience.

It is desirable that the conversation touches on the circumstances about which the subject had previously testified at the investigation or in court. The protocols of testimony contained in the case materials are drawn up, as a rule, by the investigator and reflect the almost inevitable editorial interference, "smoothing" of the interrogated's statements, as a result of which some psychologically important moments do not find place in the interrogation protocols. Therefore, an expert psychologist should strive for a verbatim record of the subject's answers with the fixation of pauses and the main features of his behavior during the conversation.

Discussion in a conversation with the subject of information previously communicated by him to the investigator or the court is not intended to verify the correctness of his previous testimony. Sometimes bias in the presentation of facts, the desire to embellish them can serve as an indicator of the psychological characteristics of the subject.

The conversation provides valuable material that makes it possible to judge the intellectual capabilities of the subject, his ability to think logically, and consistently express his thoughts.

Biographical method. In psychology, he is one of the oldest methods of studying personality and the laws of human mental development. It allows tracing the main tendencies of personality formation, stable ways of responding to similar events, ontogenetic development of needs and motives of activity, the process of formation and content of interests, qualitative manifestations of self-esteem, and much more. The essence of the biographical method is not limited to a simple compilation of a person's biography, it involves the purposeful identification of facts that have psychological significance. They can be obtained by various methods: in a conversation with the expert, his parents, teachers, comrades; by studying medical and pedagogical documentation; from diaries, letters and similar sources.

The study of biography can be based on the following scheme.

1. Data on the parents of the subject: profession, educational and cultural level of each of the parents, their lifestyle, degree of participation in the upbringing of children and the methods of upbringing used.

2. Family composition, the subject's relationship with parents, siblings. How his family members influenced him.

3. The preschool period of the subject's life: information about the early (infancy) period of development (development, past illnesses, the age at which he began to walk and talk, whether he attended child care institutions or was brought up at home, what behavioral features he discovered during this period, favorite activities and games, when I learned to read, write and count, how this process went, how relationships with other children developed.

4. The school period of the subject's life: when he began to study, how he felt about the studies, the "progress curve" as he moved from class to class, what subjects he preferred and in which he experienced difficulties, what interests and inclinations he discovered, how did the relationship with his comrades develop in school and teachers, with whom he communicated outside of school and on what basis these relationships were built, data: about the main features of behavior, why he left school (in the event that he did not graduate from school), what he did after leaving school.

5. Adult period: where and when he worked, how often he changed jobs, what guided him when choosing a profession, how he treated his duties. Family relationships. Interests, inclinations, hobbies, habits. The circle of people with whom he prefers to spend his free time.

The above scheme, as it is easy to see, can be supplemented with many more points and sections. We draw attention to the need to clarify only the basic circumstances that, with appropriate analysis, are capable of giving an idea of ​​the psychic appearance of the subject and the dynamics of the formation of his personality.

Experiment as a general research method opens the way to obtaining very extensive and in many cases irreplaceable information about the individual psychological characteristics of the subject. We will focus on a brief description and characteristics of some specific methods developed in psychology for the study of children and adults. Experience shows that they are suitable for the purposes of forensic psychological examination. A detailed presentation of the content of the methods, the procedure for experimental research and processing of the results can be the subject of a special manual. The scope of this work only allows us to point out individual techniques.

A. Methods of personality research

TAT (Thematic Apperception Test) belongs to the so-called projective techniques used to study the properties and characteristics of a person. The subject is presented with a series of pictures (from 6 to 30) with an indefinite plot and the task is set to describe in a free story what happens in the depicted situation, what preceded its occurrence, what its further development will be, what the characters feel, what they think about. Like all projective techniques, TAT does not imply receiving from the subject a strictly regulated answer that could be considered correct or incorrect. The subject is given great freedom in the construction of the story. Due to this, in the story of the subject, according to the creators of the test, a number of his personality traits appear in a latent form. To analyze the material obtained, such categories are used as “departures”, “position of characters”, “solidarity”, “deviations from the storyline”, “errors of perception”, “amount of details”, “total story time”. The presence in the subject's story of signs belonging to each of these categories, testifies, according to the authors of the methodology, to the subject's personality traits. For example, if the subject in the story puts himself, as it were, out of the situation, in the position of an outside observer, equally relating to all possible outcomes of the actions of the characters in the picture, these signs of the story correspond to the category "position of the characters" and indicate the contemplative position of the subject, "deviations from the storyline" in the direction of memories of incidents from one's own life, one's own actions, testify to the self-centeredness of the subject, etc.

Rorschach test, like TAT, is a projective technique. As conceived by its creator, the technique allows, as a result of the analysis of the specific features of a person's creative activity, to identify individual personality traits. The subject is sequentially presented with 10 cards with the image of symmetrical, indefinite colored spots and is asked to answer the questions about each spot: “What is this? What is it like?" The posing of these questions leads to the fact that when perceiving spots, a person carries out creative activity to form images of specific pictures. How this process is carried out and what is the content of the pictures created by the subject, his individuality is manifested. The responses received by the subjects are assessed according to formal and substantive criteria. Formal assessments reflect the characteristics of the subject's handling of objects of perception and orientation in space, the selectivity of perception, the sequence of reactions to various features of the object, the dynamism or static nature of the arising images. When evaluating the content of the images that appear in the subject, they are assigned to one of four categories: people, animals, objects, fantastic images. The totality of assessments allows the experimenter to make a judgment about the personality traits of the subject. For example, the subject's persistent tendency to create images of animals may indicate stereotypical and standard thinking, a constant tendency to perceive spots as images of objects indicates a certain autism of the subject, etc. 2.

The MMPI test, developed in the United States, is used by psychologists and psychiatrists in many countries to study personality. With the help of this technique, it is possible not only to identify stable, relatively constant personality traits, but also to subtly capture changes in the subject's state. In the Soviet special literature, there are works devoted to the issues of the technique of conducting an examination with the MMPI test for processing experimental material and interpreting the results obtained. We refer the reader to these works.

In addition to these tests, in the practice of forensic psychological examination, the questionnaires of Eysenck, Cattel and other techniques may also be useful.

Turning to a very short and therefore incomplete description of the methods of studying cognitive activity, we would like to emphasize that the use of these methods is especially necessary when conducting a forensic psychological examination of accused minors who have signs of mental retardation not related to mental illness, minors and juvenile witnesses, and victims. Therefore, we devote the main place to the description of methods suitable for experimental psychological examination of children and adolescents 4.

B. Methods for the study of thinking

Picture story- this is the simplest way to study thinking, which consists in the fact that the child, based on the picture, which depicts an event, should compose a plot story. The content of the pictures should be different for different ages.

When analyzing the story, one should pay attention, first of all, to the child's ability to highlight the most significant in the depicted scene, to keep within the framework of what is really shown in the picture, not to be distracted from the main thread of his story.

Already in the elementary school student, the indicated skills of mental activity should be formed.

Unfolding plot pictures. This technique is in many ways close to the previous one, but it also has its own characteristics. The child is offered a series of pictures depicting various stages in the development of an event, and the task is given - to decompose the pictures in a logical sequence, and then tell about the depicted (incident.

For younger children (7-11 years old), a series should consist of 3-4 pictures, and for older children - 5-6 pictures.

This technique reveals how correctly the child understands the content of each of the pictures separately, whether he is able to grasp the internal connection between them, that is, the logic of the event imprinted on them. If the child has difficulties in work, you can ask him to reason out loud, then the experimenter receives rich material about what exactly serves as an obstacle in the work, how the child compares pictures, how deeply he delves into their content.

These two methods are extremely simple, and if the child is not able to recover with them, this allows us to make an assumption about some lag in mental development.

Link's cube. This technique is aimed primarily at studying the development of combinatorial abilities in humans. The subject is given 27 cubes, the faces of which are painted in different colors (for example, red, blue and green). It is proposed to fold one large cube (3x3x3) out of them so that all its side faces are red. Separate cubes are colored so that red faces are enough only for "facing" the sides of a large cube (6 cubes with one red face, 12 - with two, 8 - with three, 1 - not having red faces); therefore, during work, the subject must ensure that not a single red edge falls into the interior of the large cube. When giving instructions, one can point out this circumstance.

The experimenter must pay attention to the way in which the subject goes to the goal. There are several qualitatively different ways to accomplish this task.

The most primitive of them is the trial and error method, when the subject chooses cubes without any system, which indicates the weak development of his abstract logical thinking. As a rule, it is not possible to solve the problem in this way.

A more perfect way of working is the sequential selection of cubes to the mentally marked place. An indicator of an even higher level of development of abstract-logical thinking should be considered the ability to immediately place the taken cube in the place that it should occupy. This means that the subject has created a mental image of the result of his work, keeps it in consciousness and correlates his real actions with it. Working with this method indicates a relatively high development of the ability for analytical and synthetic activity.

An important material (not so much about thinking, but about certain personality traits) can be provided by observing the behavior of the subject during the performance of the described task.

Link's cube is one of the techniques that cause excitement in most healthy subjects, especially if they are warned that the time spent on work is being recorded, and a stopwatch is lying next to the subject. Emotionally unstable adolescents often show a violent reaction when they fail: they demonstratively refuse to continue working, begin to be rude to the experimenter, noticing an error at the last stage of the work, destroy the already almost completed cube, etc.

Comparison of concepts. The subject is asked to point out the similarities and differences between the two concepts. When composing questions, it is necessary to take into account the age of the subjects. For younger children, it is better to give specific concepts such as birch and pine for comparison, pencil and pen, glass and cup, etc. Older children may be offered more complex pairs: river and lake, rain and snow, deception and error, etc. NS.

In order to correctly compare concepts, the subject must be able to analyze them, correlate them with each other, mentally isolate the constituent parts, and separate the main from the secondary. Frequent mistakes when comparing concepts can be an indicator of insufficient development of analytical capabilities.

Exclusion method. For children of primary school age, the exclusion of subjects is recommended, for older children, the exclusion of concepts.

The method of excluding objects consists in the fact that the child is sequentially presented with cards, each of which depicts four objects, three of which can be summarized into a single group. The fourth subject does not fall into this group, since it does not have a corresponding important feature and is mentally excluded. The method of eliminating concepts is similarly constructed, only instead of pictures, five glories are written on the card. Four of them can be combined, and the fifth should be excluded.

The technique reveals the child's ability to generalize on the basis of isolating the most essential features in objects and concepts. The cards should be presented in the order of increasing difficulty of the tasks, which allows you to accurately determine where the child starts to make mistakes.

Samples of the content of cards to exclude concepts: 1) paper, ruler, pencil, glass, ink; 2) bitter, hot, sour, salty, sweet; 3) small towns, football, lamp, chess, tennis; 4) eyes, heart, ears, nose, tongue; 5) justice, courage, honesty, envy, kindness; 6) fear, anxiety, concern, cleanliness, doubt. Classification of objects. This technique is one of the most commonly used in the study of thinking. It allows you to determine the level of development in the subject of the ability to generalize - one of the most important components of mental activity.

The task consists in the fact that the subject is asked to divide 75 cards (for young children 45-50 cards), which depict various objects (people, domestic and wild animals, various plants, furniture, clothes, etc.), into several groups in according to the chosen principle. The subject receives a "deaf" instruction: to lay out the cards so that the pictures fit together. As a result of such instruction, the subject is forced to independently choose the principle of classification.

For children of primary school age, it is normal to distribute cards according to a situational characteristic, for example, combining all the items that may be in the room, or all the items needed to prepare lunch, etc.

For older children, this level of generalization is insufficient; during normal mental development, they use more significant signs for generalization, distinguish groups of animals, birds, trees, flowers, etc. Often they use even more generalized signs, then there is a selection of such groups as living beings, plants, tools, etc. . NS.

The experiment clearly reveals whether the subject is able to establish generalized connections between objects and a number of other features of thinking.

An experienced experimenter, skillfully using the described technique, can obtain, as a result of the experiment, data on the characteristics of the subject's personality.

Method of pictograms. This technique allows you to explore primarily the possibilities of generalization and distraction. In addition, it provides valuable material for studying the characteristics of the subject's memory.

The subject is asked to memorize 10-15 words, while making a drawing for each word to help memorize. The quality of the drawing does not matter. The subject has the impression that his memory is being tested, therefore he becomes more natural and the peculiarities of his thinking are manifested especially clearly.

The set of words varies depending on the age of the subjects, but it should include both concepts related to a completely specific subject, and more abstract ones. For example, the following concepts can be used: 1) a cheerful holiday; 2) delicious dinner; 3) a blind boy; 4) a hungry person; 5) strict teacher; 6) hard work; 7) sadness; 8) doubt; 9) development; 10) dark night; 11) war; 12) the girl is cold, etc.

Children and adolescents with well-developed abstract thinking, as a rule, do not have difficulties in choosing mediating images that are of a generalized nature. The drawings of such subjects are simple, do not abound in minor details, are quite symbolic (but not divorced from the content of the concept).

With underdeveloped abstract thinking, children strive to correlate each concept with a specific situation; therefore, their drawings are multi-figured, excessively detailed, and entire scenes are depicted on them.

An analysis of the explanations for the subjects of the reasons for creating a particular drawing also provides important material.

For the study of thinking, other methods well known in psychology can be recommended: definition of concepts, establishment of simple and complex analogies, various variants of the associative experiment, the Vygotsky-Sakharov method, etc.

All the methods given by the methods are not subject to quantitative processing, but presuppose a qualitative analysis of the data obtained, requiring special skills and professional qualifications from the experimenter.

B. Methods of research of memory

Memory research plays an important role in creating a general picture of the intellectual development of a child or adolescent. It is of no less importance for the solution of some particular, specific issues related to the study of the testimony of witnesses and victims. The main processes of memory are memorization, reproduction and recognition; all these processes can be investigated experimentally.

Age differences in the development of memory are very significant. In its most general form, the process of developing a child's memory can be characterized as a gradual transition from the simplest visual-figurative memory to verbal-logical memory; the older the child is, the greater the role thinking should play in the activity of his memory.

Memorizing words. Using this technique, verbal mechanical memory is investigated.

The subject is asked to memorize 10 words that are not related in meaning (house, forest, bread, window, tree stump, table, needle, bridge, flag, honey).

After the first reading, none of the subjects, with very rare exceptions, can repeat all the words. Therefore, the reading of words is repeated several times, until the subject has reproduced at least 9 words. With a normally developed mechanical memory, a child of 10-12 years old reproduces at least 9 words after 3-4 repetitions.

An hour later, the child is asked to repeat the memorized words again. Thus, the strength of memorization is investigated. Within normal limits, the child reproduces at least 5 words.

There are quite a few variants of this very simple and convenient technique.

Research methodology for the process of visual recognition. You must have 36 pictures depicting people, animals, plants, tools, etc. (pictures of classifying objects can be used). The 12 pictures for the main experience should be numbered.

The subject is invited to consider these 12 pictures and memorize them, after which the main pictures are mixed with additional ones, and all 36 pictures are laid out in front of the subject. The child must find the pictures that he has already seen. To check the accuracy of memory, you can ask the recognized pictures to arrange in the order in which they were presented at the beginning of the experiment.

For children of primary school age, a sufficient number of recognized pictures can be considered 5-7, for older children - 6-9. At the age of 14-15, the number of errors should be minimal, that is, no more than 2-3.

Method of indirect memorization. This method is intended for the study of logical memory.

The subject reads a series of words, for memorizing each of which he must choose one of the pictures laid out on the table. Pictures are selected that have one or another logical connection with the presented word.

There are two versions of this technique - for the younger and for the older age.

For the younger age, the following words are suggested: lunch, garden, road, field, light, clothing, night, bug, birds, learning, chair, forest, milk, horse, mouse. They correspond to pictures depicting: bread, apple, sleigh, lamp, shirt, rake, bed, tree, book, cup, bicycle, cart, knife, school building, strawberry, pencil, car, plane, sofa, wardrobe, cow , clock, cat, house.

For older people, the following words are suggested: rain, meeting, fire, morning, fight, response, theater, strength, meeting, grief, holiday, neighbor, squad, play, work. Free images: washbasin, feathers, watering can, smoke from the pipe, glass, pencil, mirror, horse, telephone, letter, lodge, tram, flower, chair, notebook, key, shovel, table, plane, ax, electric lamp, wood , hat, rake, picture in the frame.

Choosing pictures during the experiment, children should explain to the experimenter why they stop at this particular picture. After some time (about an hour), the child is asked to recall each of the presented words with the help of the pictures he has selected.

According to A. N. Leontyev, who developed the method of indirect memorization, children of primary school age (7-10 years old) with a normally developed logical memory correctly reproduce 11-12 words, older children, respectively: 10-12 years-12-13 words , 12 - 16 years old - 13 - 14 words.

Suggestibility research methodology(in the field of memory). The given methodology allows, in the most general form, to detect the child's tendency to suggestibility. For this purpose, a picture with a simple plot and not too many depicted objects is selected and presented to the subject within one minute. Then the picture is removed, and the subject is asked questions about what he saw in the picture. Among these questions should be those that relate to items that were not in the picture. Such questions need to be formulated so that they can have an inspiring influence on the child, that is, you can ask not just whether, for example, the child saw a tree in the picture (if in fact it did not exist), but what the tree looked like.

It should be borne in mind that some children are characterized by increased suggestibility.

The analysis of the data obtained using the described technique must be carried out taking into account the age of the child under study.

A method for detecting visual eidetism. Sometimes children's testimonies are striking in their accuracy and abundance of reproducible details. In such cases, doubts may arise about the reliability of the testimony of a child or adolescent. However, the exceptional accuracy and completeness of reproduction can be explained by the presence of visual eidetism in the child, that is, the ability for a long time to keep in the visual analyzer a trace of ended excitation in the form of a clear image.

The simplest experience for detecting visual eidetism is as follows.

For 25-30 seconds, the subject is presented with a small, brightly colored picture with a lot of details on a dark background. After the exposure time has elapsed, the painting is removed and the subject is instructed to continue looking at the dark background. If at the same time the child continues to see the missing picture (this can be verified by asking questions about the details of the picture), then he has an eidetic ability.

D. Techniques for researching imagination

Imagination, like memory, is closely related to thinking and the basic properties of a person's personality. Therefore, many features of the imagination of a particular subject inevitably manifest themselves in the study of other types and forms of mental activity. Sometimes it is necessary to establish an approximate level of development of the child's imagination, especially the presence or absence of a tendency to fantasizing uncontrollably, not controlled by thinking.

The technique of unfinished drawings. The subject is shown several unfinished drawings of varying complexity (examples of such drawings are given in many textbooks on psychology) and asked to determine what is depicted on them. The better the child's imagination is, the faster and easier he recognizes the objects in the drawings. Sometimes the child "recognizes" a completely different object that is depicted in reality, or the whole scene, in which case it is necessary to listen to how the child explains his "recognition", while it may turn out that he is very weakly based on the pictorial material that is contained in the figure.

Composing a story for given words. The subject is asked to compose a story that would contain certain words. The number of words should be small - 3-4 (for example: fun, cloud, girl). Rapidly composing a vivid, detailed story based on such poor source material is possible only with a well-developed imagination.

After composing one story, you can ask to compose a second story with the same words, a third, etc. With an increased tendency to fantasize, the content of the stories does not dwindle, but becomes more vivid and complex.

Retelling of the read. The child is invited to retell the content of the book he liked or a separate story. The experimenter should pay main attention to the nature of errors when the child reproduces the plot of a literary work. The child may not remember well the content of the book he has read; in this case, in its transmission, separate scenes will fall out of the narrative or some disruption of the sequence will occur. Children inclined to fantasizing, instead of forgotten ones, invent others that are not in the book, enrich the plot with additional details, sometimes enough. complex, "interfere" with the fate of the heroes, they can completely change the outcome of the work, turning it from sad to happy, and so on.

E. Methods for the study of perception and attention

The course of the processes of perception and attention in children is very different from the analogous mental activity in adults. In addition to age characteristics, there may be significant individual differences that must be established in order to verify the true capabilities of the subject.

Study of the perception of the shape of objects. The child is presented sequentially with pictures with geometric figures of varying complexity depicted on them. After each presentation, it is proposed to reproduce the given figure. The abundance of errors, especially when reproducing relatively simple figures, may indicate a poorly developed perception of the shape of objects in the studied minor.

Study of the perception of the position of an object in space. For this purpose, quite a few techniques can be used. For example, the subject is presented with a sheet of paper with an image of a geometric figure or drawing. Then, on the same sheet of paper, the subject must indicate with the greatest possible accuracy where and how the presented drawing or figure was located. If there were several figures presented, the subject must indicate their location relative to each other.

Study of the scope of attention. To carry out this study, at least the simplest tachistoscope is required. In the slot or on the screen of the tachistoscope for a very short time (0.20-0.25 sec.), Cards are presented with letters written on them that do not make up a word, or numbers. After each presentation, the subject reproduces the seen objects. At least 10-15 cards are presented sequentially, after which the average number of perceived letters or numbers is calculated. Perception by a child from 11 to 12 years old on average less than 3-4 letters indicates the presence of a narrowing of the scope of attention.

For the study of attention, the Bourdon method, which has become classical in psychology, can also be used, the counting according to Kraepelin, etc.

1 3. M. Sokolovskiy, Questions of the expert's use of the case materials, Kharkov, 1964, p. 7.

2 For projective techniques, see "Workshop on Psychology", ed. A. N. Leontyev and Yu. B. Gippenreiter, M., 1972; Yu. S. Savenko, On the substantiation of some techniques for the study of personality, collection of articles. "Problems of personality", M., 1969; N. N. Stanishevskaya, On the methods of personality research in forensic psychological examination, collection of articles. "Questions of forensic psychology", M., 1971; S. V. Tsuladze, On the place and significance of projection methods in the study of personality, collection of articles. "Problems of personality", M., 1969.

3 See FB Berezin, MP Miroshnikov, Russian modified version of the psychological test MMPI and its application in psychiatric practice, collection of articles. "Problems of Psychoneurology", M., 1969; G. X. Efremova, Study of the legal consciousness of youth, "Questions of the fight against crime", No. 19, M., 1973; L.N.Sobchik, Manual on the application of the psychological methodology MMPI, M., 1971, etc.

4 For more details about this, see MP Kononov, Guide to psychological research of mentally ill children of school age, M., 1963; S. Ya. Rubinstein, Experimental methods of pathopsychology, M., 1970.