FEATURES OF THE USE OF POSTHUMOUS FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINATION IN THE INVESTIGATION OF EVIDENCE OF SUICIDE

Abstract

The article examines the peculiarities of using special knowledge in the field of forensic psychology during the investigation of criminal offences related to driving a person to suicide. The main focus is on the methodological and practical aspects of conducting a post-mortem forensic psychological examination as a specific tool for understanding the mental state of the victim before committing suicide. The significance of this examination in establishing psychological cause- and-effect relationships between the victim’s behaviour, their emotional and volitional states, and external influences from other persons that could have provoked or contributed to suicide is revealed.Attention is focused on the complexity of reconstructing the mental state of the deceased, which requires a systematic analysis of their personal characteristics, social environment, communicative connections, as well as an assessment of information from digital media (correspondence, social networks, etc.).It is noted that effective use of the results of posthumous forensic psychological examination is possible only under conditions of close cooperation between the investigator, expert psychologist, forensic medical expert, and other specialists. Typical difficulties that arise during the assessment of psychological factors of suicidal behaviour are analysed, in particular the influence of manipulation, psychological pressure, blackmail, humiliation and systematic moral violence.The work emphasises the need to standardise methodological approaches to conducting post- mortem forensic psychological examinations and to integrate modern psychodiagnostic and digital technologies for a more complete reconstruction of the victim’s inner world. It concludes that post-mortem forensic psychological examination is an integral part of the evidence base in cases of suicide, as its results make it possible to establish not only the fact of external influence, but also its psychological intensity and the individual susceptibility of the victim.