ALTERNATIVE METHODS IN THE PRACTICE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITIES

The paper considers some issues related to the application of so-called alternative methods within the crime investigation activity. The relevance of the study is caused by the opportunities opened by the use of hypno-reproductive inquiry and some other alternative methods in the practice of law enforcement authorities. Thus, the author analyzes the issues related to determining the concept of the alternative methods of crime investigation and its correlation with some other terms: alternative forms of using specialized knowledge, quasi-scientific methods of crime uncovering, etc. The author draws special attention to the notion of paracriminalistics, which is complex and non-uniform in content. The author draws attention to the attributes of alternative methods of crime investigation: application singularity, application to solve rare, non-standard investigative situations, the uniqueness, and similar characteristics. Moreover, the paper considers the issue of listing these methods and variants of their classification. Thus, the author analyzes the possibility of dividing alternative methods of crime investigation depending on the degree of their recognition by the criminalists-scientists and law enforcement employees. As a result, the author proposes a possible variant of an integrated definition of a concept of alternative methods of crime investigation and highlights some methods, which currently anyhow can be considered alternative (offender or victim profiling, scent evidence analysis carried out through selection, the use of the polygraph, psychic powers of some people, and hypno-reproduction method). The author says about the impracticality to characterize the list of these methods as a complete one.