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Legal Studies
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Formation of the psychology of a person committing official violent crimes (on the example of an employee of the internal affairs bodies): worldview and behavior

Galiautdinov Rushan Radikovich

ORCID: 0000-0002-1205-7608

PhD in Law

Associate Professor, Department of Criminology, Institute of Law, Ufa University of Science and Technology

450077, Russia, Republic of Bashkortostan, Ufa, Dostoevsky str., 131

rushan-94@mail.ru
Other publications by this author
 

 

DOI:

10.25136/2409-7136.2023.10.44088

EDN:

BBDRXQ

Received:

21-09-2023


Published:

06-11-2023


Abstract: Psychological features of the criminal's personality are important for the subjective side of the crime, and functional features determine the mechanism of the crime. Information about the official himself, as a criminal's personality, about his psychological traits and properties, including worldview and behavior, play a role in determining the subjective side of the crime from the target and motivational sphere, and the functional characteristic, in turn, determines the mechanism of committing an official violent crime, ways of concealing it, features of the mechanism of trace formation and others distinctive features of such crimes. This functional factor of official authority necessarily affects the structural and content specifics of the categorical system of personality and its dynamics. The novelty of the topic of the publication is due to the need to study the formation of the personality of a criminal official. The need to answer the question: "How was the personality of a person who commits official violent crimes formed?" led to the conduct of this study. The purpose of this publication is to determine the formation of the worldview and behavior of an official who commits violent crimes. On the basis of theory and law enforcement practice, the key directions of the worldview and behavior of the person are identified, the process of worldview is described and auxiliary questions are given in the article, the connection between professional deformation and worldview is established by the author and the key directions of behavior of an official are highlighted.


Keywords:

official violent crimes, worldview, law enforcement practice, behavior, professional deformation of personality, legal psychology, evidence of behavior, struggle of motives, victimhood, the accused

This article is automatically translated.

Introduction. The problem of studying the person committing crimes has long been studied in the forensic literature [1, p. 50-60]. However, the interest in the personality itself continues to be relevant because it is not just a reflection of social relations, but being in the structure of these relations and participating in their creation, it is the subject of the appropriation of these relations. The formation of a person's essence is the process of appropriating one's social and psychological essence, as a result of which this essence becomes personal [2, p. 43]. It is in the personality that ultimately accumulates interactions with the entire system of socio-economic and spiritual relations. Under the influence of these relations and with the active participation of the personality itself, the peculiarities of its attitudes, the nature of value orientations, self-awareness, worldview and behavior are formed. In this regard, it is essential to consider the features of mental processes, properties and states of personality that influenced the formation of worldview and behavior. This is especially true for officials: law enforcement officers. The identity of a criminal for official violent crimes is an integral element, including the age of the official, official position and psychological qualities [3, p. 10]. The commission of an official violent crime can be carried out only with the use of his status and certain powers. In practice, it is also noted that an official offense can be committed only "when exercising office." Thus, the judicial board for criminal cases of the St. Petersburg City Court reasonably recognized the erroneous qualification under Part 3 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation by one of the district courts of St. Petersburg of the actions of Ch., who, being a district police inspector and having the right to constantly carry weapons, threatened them with citizens of K-mu, K-o and C-oh, during the conflict with them, which arose on the basis of his personal hostile relations, and then with a shot from a pistol he killed his cohabitant K-y. The Judicial Board indicated that Ch. when committing these actions, he did not act as an official, "at the same time, without any connection with the official duties assigned to him, he used the service weapon entrusted to him for personal reasons and should be held responsible for what he did only as a private person."

Investigation of the worldview of the accused official. Studying the data on the official who has been charged, it is necessary to pay attention to his worldview – the system of views of the accused on the world around him, society, and himself, which has developed and determined his usual and illegal line of behavior. It is known from the scientific literature that the formation and change of a person's worldview is conditioned by his social being: the social environment, upbringing, household and other conditions [4, p. 87]. We believe that the professional deformation of the personality also affects the worldview of officials. In this understanding, the worldview begins to be distorted gradually, researchers of this phenomenon note that employees who have been serving in the internal affairs bodies for less than 5 years, the possibility of changing their worldview is unlikely, from 6 to 10 years – an average level of changes, and from 11 to 15 years – a high level of changes. It should be borne in mind that when studying the worldview of the accused, it is necessary to find out not only what ideological views he had and has at the time of the commission of an official violent crime and the time of his indictment, but also the process of their formation. The study and analysis of the accused's worldview in the dynamics of the formation of his views and beliefs better helps to uncover and understand the causes of the crime committed, contributes to the selection of the most effective tactics for conducting individual investigative actions and operational investigative measures.

The process of forming the worldview of the accused in this category of cases is accompanied by the appearance first of temporary, and then the formation of stable properties due to his moral attitudes. Therefore, examining the worldview of officials, it is necessary to simultaneously establish which of the properties, which are based on the moral qualities of the individual, belong to him. Of course, it is impossible to give an exhaustive list of such properties, since in modern times there are more than 700 words denoting moral traits.

In the study of moral and related properties, it is possible to cite certain questions, answering which, it is possible to conduct a study of the official's worldview:

1) The moral properties of the accused: what are they: humanity, humanism – inhumanity, egoism, egocentrism – altruism, truthfulness – falsehood, conscientiousness – shamelessness, arrogance, nobility, simplicity – arrogance, arrogance;

2) Ideological and moral properties of the accused: ideality – lack of ideas, principled – unscrupulousness, nihilism, loyalty-infidelity, loyalty or lack thereof;

3) Moral and business qualities of the accused: diligence - laziness, attitude to official duties;

4) Moral and economic characteristics of a person: thrift, greed, greed, waste, etc.

5) The moral and legal properties of the accused: legal nihilism, a sense of respect for the laws.

Investigation of the behavior of the accused official. The study of the behavior of the accused official, that is, the external manifestation of his actions, deeds, statements before the commission of the crime, during the preliminary investigation and judicial review of the case, not only gives the key to the study and explanation of his views and beliefs, but also provides a better understanding of his relationships with people around him (witnesses and victims in the future), largely ensures the validity of the nomination of versions, the success of various investigative actions. Of particular importance is the study and analysis of actions related to official violent crime. The results of such actions in the science of criminology have been called "evidence of behavior" [5, p. 55]. Without connection with the crime, the behavior of an official in itself has no evidentiary value. Therefore, it is impossible to recognize various kinds of emotional acts as evidence of the commission or non-commission of a crime by the accused official [6, p. 48]. Since such actions can be caused by various reasons of objective and subjective properties. The analysis of these and similar manifestations is mainly of forensic importance both in the selection of forensic versions and in the construction of investigative situations.

In cases where illegal views have a predominant influence on a person, socially useful needs give way to antisocial ones and manifest themselves in a person's strong-willed behavior. The peculiarities of a person's volitional behavior are determined by the consciousness of the purpose of their actions and its correlation with the motive. The psychological basis of any volitional act and its motive are needs, at the same time, not only they, but also views, beliefs, interests and other psychological factors. Among such psychological factors, an important place is occupied by antisocial attitudes of subjects, that is, psychological readiness to commit a crime. On this basis, subjects can be identified who have doubts about the possibility of committing official violent crimes (the so-called "struggle of motives" [7, p. 10]); who believe that in this situation, official violence is appropriate and necessary; who make decisions about official violence automatically, influenced by the experience of committing such acts in the past. For our study of the personality of an official, a key factor in the motive of a crime is of interest, which in different situations is: 1) aggression as a personality trait; 2) aggression towards the criminal world as a whole; 3) aggression towards a certain person in connection with the crime incriminated to him; 4) aggression towards a certain person in connection with the commission of a crime by him (personal hostility). These properties of the personality of the subjects are reflected in the content of the methods they implement for committing official violent crimes.

The processes occurring in the human psyche: experiences, emotions, mental states can also serve as motivating forces for the formation of a motive and volitional act, provided they are realized, and then manifested in a person's aspirations to perform certain actions. It should be noted that according to our research, 80% of committed official violent crimes were dominated by false official motives, that is, falsely understood interests of the service, and only in 20% of cases the commission of the crime in question was aimed at the personal enrichment of the official. The head of one of the colonies forced the convicts to build a dacha on their own plot, and in case of insubordination, physical force and various special means were used against the convicts. According to witness testimony, the methods of influence used against those who did not obey were extremely cruel: the convicts were suspended in the cells in the "swallow" pose – their hands were handcuffed behind their backs and hung from the bars of the cell, all this was accompanied by blows to the body with a bottle and sexual violence.

Conclusion. Proceeding from this, guilty behavior, like any act of a person, is based on an interacting system of psychological elements, called a psychological mechanism, worldview and behavior in this chain occupy an extremely important place. The initial element of the psychological process that determines human behavior is the need reflected in consciousness. The need acts as a subjective state that tends to regulate behavior and activity, determines the orientation and thinking of a person. When the need is relatively easily realized, a positive emotional attitude of the individual is provided for it, its approval in behavior occurs. On the basis of a need, a person has an interest and attraction to something. The formation of interest begins with a person's worldview. Worldview and behavior are only elements in the formation of the psychology of a person who commits official violent crimes. The study of these features of the official who committed the desired, in the aggregate part of the psychological characteristics will allow persons engaged in pre-trial and judicial proceedings in criminal cases to determine specific information that has evidentiary value, features and tactics of investigative measures aimed at establishing the fact of an official violent crime, predict the likely behavior of an official at all stages of the investigation.

References
1. Sechenov, I.M. (2000). Selected philosophical and psychological works. Monograph. Moscow: Unity-Dana.
2. Blonsky, P.P. (2000). General characteristics of the behavior of living beings. In the book: Selected psychological works. Moscow: Enlightenment.
3. Galyautdinov, R.R. (2022). Criminalistic aspects of preliminary investigation and judicial review of criminal cases of official violent crimes committed by law enforcement officers: abstract. dis. ... k-ta yurid. sciences. Rostov-on-Don.
4. Zuikov, G.N. (1997). Criminalistic teaching about the method of committing a crime. Textbook. Moscow: Legality.
5. Neznamov, A.I. (2014). Evidence of behavior in criminology. Samara: Samara University Publishing House.
6. Galyautdinov R.R. (2021). About some special elements of criminalistic characteristics of official violent crimes. In International Scientific and Practical Forum - round table dedicated to the memory of Koldin V.Ya.: materials of the All-Russian Scientific and Practical round table. Moscow.
7. Ilyin, E.P. (2002). Motivation and motives. Study guide. St. Petersburg: Peter.

First Peer Review

Peer reviewers' evaluations remain confidential and are not disclosed to the public. Only external reviews, authorized for publication by the article's author(s), are made public. Typically, these final reviews are conducted after the manuscript's revision. Adhering to our double-blind review policy, the reviewer's identity is kept confidential.
The list of publisher reviewers can be found here.

The subject of the study. The subject of the research of the reviewed article is the consideration of the characteristics of mental processes, properties and states of a person (committing official violent crimes) that influenced the formation of her worldview and behavior. Research methodology. The methodological apparatus consists of the following dialectical methods of scientific cognition: abstraction, induction, deduction, hypothesis, analogy, synthesis, historical, theoretical-prognostic, formal-legal, systemic-structural legal modeling. In addition, the use of typology, classification, systematization and generalization is noted. The use of modern methods made it possible to study the established approaches, views on the subject of research of this scientific article, and to make an attempt to develop an author's position. The article used a combination of theoretical and empirical information. The relevance of research. It is difficult to overestimate the importance and importance of preventing and combating malfeasance at the present stage. For this reason, any research on this issue that is of practical importance is very relevant. As the author of this article himself writes: "Worldview and behavior are only elements in the formation of the psychology of a person who commits official violent crimes. The study of these features of the official who committed the desired, together with part of the psychological characteristics, will allow persons engaged in pre-trial and judicial proceedings in criminal cases to identify specific information that has evidentiary value, features and tactics of investigative measures aimed at establishing the fact of an official violent crime, predict the likely behavior of an official at all stages of the investigation". It is difficult to disagree with this statement. Scientific novelty. It seems that the formulation of the problem (the formation of the psychology of a person committing official violent crimes: worldview and behavior) and the attempt to propose its solution has elements of scientific novelty. At the same time, the fact that the author of this article does not address this topic for the first time in the science of legal psychology is confirmed by existing publications. The author should be shown what the scientific novelty of his research is. Style, structure, content. In general, the author tries to adhere to the scientific style and use special terminology when writing an article. The author is not always consistent in presenting the material. The article is not without stylistic flaws and grammatical errors, typos (for example, "... as a result of which this essence becomes personal ..."). As a positive point, the author's efforts to structure the article (introduction, content and conclusion) can be noted. As a significant remark, I would like to note that the article is broader in title than in content. The author identifies only employees of the internal affairs bodies as officials who commit crimes of a violent nature. It may be necessary to adjust the title of the article to match the content of the article. Bibliography. According to the bibliographic list, it can be concluded that publications on this topic have not been studied enough, and besides, all the sources listed in the list are not new. If there are no new publications on this topic, then how can we talk about its relevance? In the bibliography list there is a link to "Galyautdinov R.R. Criminalistic aspects of the preliminary investigation and judicial review of criminal cases of official violent crimes committed by law enforcement officers: abstract. dis. ... to-that jurid. sciences'. Rostov-on-Don, 2022. - 29 c." It seems that this author should have publications in scientific journals. The volume of the abstract of the dissertation does not allow for a deep study of the position of the scientist. Perhaps you should refer to the scientific works of R.R. Galyautdinov, understand his position on this problem, and argue your own. Appeal to opponents. The work contains references to the points of view of other scientists. All borrowings are correct, decorated with footnotes to the source of publication. Conclusions, the interest of the readership. The article "Formation of the psychology of a person committing official violent crimes: worldview and behavior" needs to be finalized, namely, to bring its title and content into line, and the author should also study scientific publications on the subject he declared, update the bibliographic list. The topic of the article is relevant, has practical significance and may be of interest to scientists and practitioners.

Second Peer Review

Peer reviewers' evaluations remain confidential and are not disclosed to the public. Only external reviews, authorized for publication by the article's author(s), are made public. Typically, these final reviews are conducted after the manuscript's revision. Adhering to our double-blind review policy, the reviewer's identity is kept confidential.
The list of publisher reviewers can be found here.

A REVIEW of an article on the topic "Formation of the psychology of a person who commits official violent crimes (on the example of an employee of the internal affairs bodies): worldview and behavior". The subject of the study. The article proposed for review is devoted to topical issues of the formation of the psychology of a person who commits official violent crimes. The author of the article, using the example of an employee of the internal affairs bodies, examines the problems of worldview and behavior in the stated context. The subject of the study was, first of all, practical materials, empirical data, as well as the works of other scientists. Research methodology. The purpose of the study is not stated directly in the article. At the same time, it can be clearly understood from the title and content of the work. The purpose can be designated as the consideration and resolution of certain problematic aspects of the issue of the formation of the psychology of a person committing official violent crimes on the example of an employee of the internal affairs bodies. Based on the set goals and objectives, the author has chosen the methodological basis of the study. In particular, the author uses a set of general scientific methods of cognition: analysis, synthesis, analogy, deduction, induction, and others. In particular, the methods of analysis and synthesis made it possible to summarize and share the conclusions of various scientific approaches to the proposed topic, as well as draw specific conclusions from the materials of judicial practice. The possibilities of an empirical research method related to the study of judicial practice materials should be positively assessed. Note, for example, the following author's conclusion: "the judicial board for criminal cases of the St. Petersburg City Court reasonably recognized the erroneous qualification under Part 3 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation by one of the district courts of St. Petersburg of the actions of Ch., who, being a district police inspector and having the right to constantly carry weapons, threatened them to citizens-moo, K-oi and S-oi during a conflict with them that arose on the basis of personal hostility, and then shot his roommate K-oi with a pistol. The Judicial Board indicated that Ch. when committing these actions, he did not act as an official, "at the same time, without any connection with the official duties assigned to him, he used the service weapon entrusted to him for personal reasons and should be responsible for what he did only as a private person." Thus, the methodology chosen by the author is fully adequate to the purpose of the study, allows you to study all aspects of the topic in its entirety. Relevance. The relevance of the stated issues is beyond doubt. There are both theoretical and practical aspects of the significance of the proposed topic. From the point of view of theory, the topic is the formation of the psychology of a person who commits official violent crimes. To resolve it, it is necessary to analyze psychological, legal, social, and other aspects. It is difficult to argue with the author that "It is in the personality that ultimately there is an accumulation of interactions with the entire system of socio-economic and spiritual relations. Under the influence of these relationships and with the active participation of the personality itself, the peculiarities of its attitudes, the nature of value orientations, self-awareness, worldview and behavior are formed. In this regard, it is essential to consider the features of mental processes, properties and states of personality that influenced the formation of worldview and behavior. This is especially true for officials: law enforcement officers. The identity of the perpetrator of official violent crimes is an integral element, including the age of the official, official position and psychological qualities [3, p. 10]. The commission of an official violent crime can be carried out only with the use of his status and certain powers. In practice, it is also noted that an official offense can only be committed "while holding office." Thus, scientific research in the proposed field should only be welcomed. Scientific novelty. The scientific novelty of the proposed article is beyond doubt. Firstly, it is expressed in the author's specific conclusions. Among them, for example, is the following conclusion: "The initial element of the psychological process that determines human behavior is the need reflected in consciousness. The need acts as a subjective state that tends to regulate behavior and activity, determines the orientation and thinking of a person. When a need is relatively easily fulfilled, a positive emotional attitude towards it is provided by the personality, its approval in behavior occurs. On the basis of need, a person has an interest and attraction to something. The formation of interest begins with a person's worldview. Worldview and behavior are only elements in the formation of the psychology of a person who commits official violent crimes. The study of these features of the official who committed the desired, together with part of the psychological characteristics, will allow persons engaged in pre-trial and judicial proceedings in criminal cases to identify specific information that has evidentiary value, features and tactics of investigative measures aimed at establishing the fact of an official violent crime, predict the likely behavior of an official at all stages of the investigation". These and other theoretical conclusions can be used in further scientific research. Secondly, the author suggests ideas for generalizing judicial practice in the field under consideration, which may be useful for practicing lawyers. Thus, the materials of the article may be of particular interest to the scientific community in terms of contributing to the development of science. Style, structure, content. The subject of the article corresponds to the specialization of the journal "Legal Studies", as it is devoted to legal problems related to criminology issues. The content of the article fully corresponds to the title, as the author has considered the stated problems, and has generally achieved the purpose of the study. The quality of the presentation of the study and its results should be recognized as fully positive. The subject, objectives, methodology and main results of the study follow directly from the text of the article. The design of the work generally meets the requirements for this kind of work. No significant violations of these requirements were found. Bibliography. The quality of the literature used should be highly appreciated. The author actively uses the literature presented by authors from Russia (Sechenov I.M., Blonsky P.P., Galyautdinov R.R., Neznamov A.I. and others). Many of the cited scientists are recognized scientists in the field of criminology and criminology. I would like to note the author's use of a large number of materials of judicial practice, which made it possible to give the study a law enforcement orientation. Thus, the works of the above authors correspond to the research topic, have a sign of sufficiency, and contribute to the disclosure of various aspects of the topic. Appeal to opponents. The author conducted a serious analysis of the current state of the problem under study. All quotations of scientists are accompanied by author's comments. That is, the author shows different points of view on the problem and tries to argue for a more correct one in his opinion. Conclusions, the interest of the readership. The conclusions are fully logical, as they are obtained using a generally accepted methodology. The article may be of interest to the readership in terms of the presence in it of the author's systematized positions in relation to the formation of the psychology of a person committing official violent crimes. Based on the above, summing up all the positive and negative sides of the article, "I recommend publishing"