Legal status of the Psychologist and the Teacher as Participants of Criminal Proceedings

The purpose of this article is to review issues related to the legal status of a psychologist and a teacher and the degree of their participation in criminal proceedings The author identified such problems as the formal use of data by the investigator and insufficient legal regulation of the process of attracting these specialists. Lack of understanding of the significance of the presence of teachers and psychologists in the subjects of criminal proceedings leads to the fact that specialists “play” a nominal role, and their legal status is reduced to minimal functions in the form of checking protocols, excluding the important assistance that they can actually provide.

Conclusions: The legal status of a teacher and a psychologist in the criminal proceedings of our country causes widespread discussion and is discussed by the country's leading legal scholars, since it is not legally defined. As a rule, the investigator, on the basis of his subjective opinion, determines which specialist will be involved. Since in our country there is no single database of specialists in this category, any specialist who formally meets the qualification requirements (presence of education or work experience) can be involved in the investigation. Unfortunately, these criteria can be very diverse, and a specialist acting in this status may not always meet it, which, in fact, is the main problem. A teacher with pedagogical experience, but no education, or a psychologist may have a certificate of retraining, and not professional education. In this connection, the participation of these specialists, in most cases, is noted as formal.

According to scientists, the teacher and the psychologist have the function of assisting all participants in the criminal process, not only the suspected (accused), but also the investigator, and therefore, the procedural status of the psychologist and teacher in the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation should be specified. Despite the important role of a psychologist and a teacher, the activities of these subjects in criminal proceedings are not without problems, including the following: specialists are formally involved in order to comply with the rule of law; the list of powers of psychologists and teachers in criminal proceedings is limited; the lack of understanding of the significance of the presence of teachers and psychologists among the subjects of criminal proceedings leads to the fact that specialists “play” a nominal role; low level of responsibility of the specialists themselves, as a result of the non-application of their own knowledge in practice; insufficient legal regulation of the process of attracting teachers and psychologists.