Military forensic psychological examination as a separate field of forensic research

Abstract

The article examines the theoretical and applied foundations for the formation of military forensic psychological examination as a distinct area of forensic expert research. The relevance of the topic is due to the fact that, under conditions of armed aggression and the growing number of criminal proceedings, disciplinary cases, and service-related disputes involving military personnel, there is an increasing need for specialized psychological knowledge that makes it possible to properly assess a person’s behavior in combat or combat-service settings. The purpose of the article is to provide a theoretical justification for military psychological expertise as a distinct branch of forensic examination and to determine its significance in ensuring the right to defense in cases related to military service and combat activities. It has been established that forensic psychological examination is primarily focused on the study of general individual psychological characteristics of a person, their emotional states, motivation, communicative activity, moral suffering, and psychologically traumatic situations. However, in cases related to military service and combat activity, such an approach is insufficient, since it does not fully take into account the military-professional, organizational, regulatory, and combat context. The study analyzes contemporary scientific and methodological materials on forensic psychological examination, military psychology, the psychology of combat stress, post-traumatic stress disorder, post-concussion syndrome, sleep disturbances, group dynamics, and the resilience of military personnel. It is shown that in cases concerning the actions of military personnel, legal significance is attached not only to the individual psychological characteristics of the person, but also to the influence of combat stress, psychologically traumatic situations, exhaustion, threat to life, subordination, execution of orders, command climate, leadership, group dynamics within the unit, and psychological readiness to perform a combat task. In military methodology, the moral and psychological state of personnel is regarded as a multilevel, multicomponent, multifactorial, and dynamic construct associated with combat capability, managerial decision-making, and mission performance. The subject matter, object, main tasks, and an approximate list of questions for military forensic psychological examination are formulated. The study concludes that there is a need for the methodological development of military forensic psychological examination as an independent or complex direction of forensic expert research.