Types of forensic psychological examinations

The list of tasks (issues) of forensic psychological examination is indicative. The outlined issues are not mandatory to the extent stated below.

Type of psychological examination	Issues (tasks) to be addressed by forensic psychology experts
Forensic psychological examination of the suspects/accused of intended bodily injury/murder in terms of emotional conditions (e.g. socially dangerous offenses provided in Articles 115-119, 121, 122, 124, 128 of the Criminal Code)	Did the person have an emotional condition that affected his/her behavior at the time of committing offenses? If so, what are the features of that emotional condition? Can that emotional condition be considered as psychological grounds for strong emotional excitement?
Forensic psychological examination of the suspects/accused of offenses committed by a group of persons	What is the role of the person in the criminal group, taking into account his/her psychological features?
Forensic psychological examination of the victims in criminal proceedings	Is the situation considered in the trial psycho-traumatic for the person? Does the person have any changes in his/her psycho-emotional condition, social life, or welfare as a result of the committed offense?
Postmortem forensic psychological examination of the victims in criminal proceedings for death (e.g. socially dangerous offenses provided in Articles 115, 120 of the Criminal Code)	Was the person before his/her death in a psycho-emotional condition that could lead to the intention to die? What caused that condition?
Forensic psychological examination of minor victims of crimes against sexual freedom and sexual inviolability (e.g. socially dangerous offenses provided in Articles 152, 153, 155, 156 of the Criminal Code)	Could a minor, given his/her age and psychological features, correctly understand the acts committed against him/her, and could he/she psychologically resist?
Forensic psychological examination of minors (evaluation of the ability to testify)	Can the person, taking into account his/her age, correctly perceive the circumstances relative to the proceedings, and can he/she give any adequate evidence? (NB: the evaluation of the veracity of evidence is out of the experts’ competence!)
Forensic psychological examination of minors who committed offenses	Does the psychological development of the minor correspond to his/her age? Does the minor have any deviations in his/her mental development that are not indications of any mental illness? If so, how does it manifest itself?
Forensic psychological examination based on video recording, investigative acts involving a person	What psychological features does the process of communication activity of the person have when reproducing the circumstances of the incident? Does the person have any psychological features in his/her behavior that are characteristic of his/her independent (dependent) reproduction of certain events during the investigative actions with his/her involvement? Does the video record show any sign of psychological influence on the person by people involved in the investigative action?
Forensic psychological examination based on video recording, investigative acts involving a minor	What psychological and age features of the person are dominant, and could they significantly affect his/her communication behavior (communication) during (date) the investigative action with his/her involvement (indicate the investigative action) using video recording?
Forensic psychological examination in the trials on compensating moral damage caused by an offense	Does the person have any changes in his/her psycho-emotional condition, social life, or welfare as a result of the specific situation (indicate the circumstances of the offense or situation)? Is the situation considered in the trial psycho-traumatic for the person, and was the person made to suffer (moral damage)? If so, what is an estimated compensation?
Forensic psychological examination in the trials on identifying the place of residence of a child	What are the psychological features of the child? How do the family situation, psychological features of parents (or one of the parents), and the bringing-up style affect the emotional condition and well-being of the child? How does the bringing-up behavior of the father (or mother) affect the psychological development and psycho-emotional condition of the child? What is the nature of the child-parent relationship of the child to his/her father/mother? Is there observed any influence of adults on the child’s assessment of the family situation?
Forensic psychological examination in the trials on recognizing the deal invalid	What was the psycho-emotional condition of the person at the time of entering into the deal? How did this condition affect his/her behavior during entering into the deal? Was the person able to forecast the consequences of his/her acts and exercise his acts when entering into the deal?

Regardless of the type of proceedings and the procedure status of the person subject to the examination, the experts may address the issues as follows:

What are the psychological features of the person? How did the psychological features of the person affect his/her behavior during the examined period (indicate the situation, legally significant period)?
How did the psychological and age features of the minor affect his/her behavior during the examined period (indicate the situation, legally significant period)?

Related areas:

Issues (tasks) to be addressed by forensic psychiatry experts

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