FOREIGN EXPERIENCE IN INVESTIGATING CRIMINAL OFFENSES IN THE FORM OF INQUIRY

Abstract

The relevance of the article lies in the fact that inquiry is a form of pre-trial investigation, which is provided for by the legal systems of countries of both the Romano-Germanic and Anglo-Saxon legal families. However, the investigation of criminal offenses in the form of an inquiry has significant differences in different countries and can combine elements of criminal procedural activity, as well as operative-investigative or administrative activities. Discovery as a criminal procedural activity also has different forms. After all, inquiry can be both the initial stage of a pre-trial investigation and an independent, differentiated form of simplified criminal proceedings. In the article, a comparative analysis of the procedural form of the pre-trial investigation of criminal offenses in the form of inquiry in France, Germany, the USA and Ukraine is carried out. It has been established that inquiries in foreign countries are the main form of investigation, which combines elements of both criminal procedural and operational investigative activities. It was determined that according to the French criminal procedural legislation, the inquiry is both the initial stage of the preliminary investigation and a simplified form of pre-trial proceedings for obvious criminal acts. With the simplified form, the judicial police officer has the right to conduct all investigative actions, each of which is drawn up in a protocol that has evidentiary value. Investigation in Ukraine is a simplified form of pre-trial investigation of certain categories of criminal offenses (misdemeanors), and not a separate initial stage of pre-trial investigation. According to the criminal procedural legislation of Germany, inquiry is the only form of pre-trial investigation. Investigations are carried out by the prosecutor or the police under the direction of the prosecutor. The judicial investigator in such an investigation takes part only in making the most important decisions or solving the issue of legalization of evidence. It is noted that US legislation has a differentiated form of criminal proceedings depending on the gravity of the committed act. According to the degree of public danger, criminal acts are divided into the following types: treason, felony, misdemeanor. It is substantiated that for countries with both Romano-Germanic and Anglo- Saxon legal systems, there is an inherent tendency to differentiate the criminal procedural form and introduce accelerated (simplified) pre-trial proceedings.