FORENSIC CRIMINOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF TAKING THE HIGHEST POSITION IN THE CRIMINAL HIERARCHY

The paper deals with the issue of referring a person to the criminal hierarchy status leaders. While studying criminal subculture, the author specified criminological signs of the criminal ranking highest position, identified functional, status, and attributive signs of taking the highest position in the criminal hierarchy. The thief-in-law, the overseer, and the loyalist represent the status leaders of the criminal ranking. The author developed a general methodology for the new forensic and criminological examination of taking the highest position in the criminal hierarchy. Actual data concerning the behavior of a person inspected containing in the case materials is the object of the examination. The subject of this examination is formulated as a complex of functional, status, and attributive features of any criminal hierarchy leader. The task of the proposed expertise is to clear up if a person has the status of the leader of the criminal hierarchy or not. The paper describes the specifics of the stages of this examination. At the preparatory stage, an expert checks the reliability of the objects presented, identifying the signs of their falsification, destruction, and modification. The author recommends carrying out mandatory verification and supporting the expert initiative. At the stage of independent research, an expert establishes key behavioral characteristics of a person inspected. Provided that they are sufficient, the next stage implies comparing them with a set of signs and features which are typical for people taking the highest positions in the criminal hierarchy. The final stage examination contains the evaluation of coincidences and formulation of conclusions. The author gives the recommendations on the expertise relating the conditional forms of conclusions based on the results of the examination of taking the highest position in the criminal hierarchy; proposes validating general and specific methods of expertise of taking the hierarchy highest position in terms of scientific research.