The effect of emotional state of a victim on his evidence

Abstract

Emotions as components of the state of a victim affect the formation of his evidence in criminal proceedings. Providing evidence by a victim in criminal proceedings repeatedly returns him to his emotional state that took place during criminal events. Factors and conditions that contributed to the commission of a crime, as well as the mechanism of its action and consequences, influence the process of evidence formation and the mechanism of reproducing the accident circumstances. The emotional state of a victim consists of a set of emotions, feelings, and related experiences.

In general, the emotional state of a victim is a mental process of impulsive regulation based on sensory reflection of external and internal factors, forming a subjective attitude toward the environment. The key components of the emotional state of a victim are emotions, which vary according to several criteria: duration, schematicism, attitude to action of supply, needs, and other factors. The article points out the distinction between the concepts of “emotion”, “feeling”, “affect”, “mood”, and “experience”.

The article presents the classification of emotions according to different criteria. It also presents the formula of the emotional state of a party to criminal proceedings, based on the self-esteem formula of W. James and the emotions formula of P. V. Simonov.

The process of formation of a victim’s testimony occurs in a critical situation of criminal actions committed against him, which causes negative emotional reactions. In this context, specific features of the emotional state of a victim are defined. It is noted that during interrogation, the investigator should find out under the influence of what emotions the evidence was formed. Knowing the characteristics of the external manifestations of emotions makes this task manageable, as this goal can be achieved by questioning a victim about what he felt at the time of the crime. This information may be used in selecting tactical interrogation methods, as well as in the subsequent verification and criminalistic analysis of the evidence in order to assess its reliability.

Recommendations are given regarding possible actions of the investigator at the initial stage of criminal proceedings to obtain the most reliable and undistorted information from a victim.