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Journal of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine

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Criminalistics Theory of the Personality of a Criminal in an Interdisciplinary Dimension

Anatoly F. Volobuiev

Received 27.01.2026, Revised 27.02.2026, Accepted 31.03.2026

Abstract

The place of the criminal in the mechanism of committing criminal offenses is determined, which is a common object of study for criminal law, criminology, criminal process and forensics. The concept of «criminal» is considered in relation to a person who has persistent antisocial attitudes towards achieving personal goals. The purpose of the article is to determine the elements of the forensic doctrine of the criminal and its interdisciplinary connections. Based on the analysis of the current criminal and criminal procedural legislation of Ukraine and scientific publications, the criminal legal, criminological, criminal procedural and criminalistics aspects of studying the personality of a criminal and their relationship to each other have been identified. The methods of scientific research used are: dialectical, historical, systemic-structural, formal-legal and methods of formal logic (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, abstraction). It is proved that the criminalistics doctrine of the identity of the criminal is inextricably linked with the relevant provisions of criminal law, criminal procedure and criminology. The nature of such a connection is determined by the relationship between substantive and procedural law, in which the formulated tasks are designed to be solved by criminology and criminalistics. The information about the personality of a criminal of a biological and socio-psychological nature accumulated by criminology and criminalistics is used to solve similar, but different tasks. If the criminological doctrine of the personality of a criminal is focused on its use to eliminate or neutralize the determinants of criminal behavior, then the criminalistics doctrine has the following elements that determine the vectors of their practical application in criminal proceedings: 1) registration of convicted criminals in order to use accounting information to identify a person and the criminal-legal qualification of his actions, determine the type and degree of criminal punishment; 2) compilation of subjective portraits of unknown criminals (verbal, compositional, drawn, socio-psychological) for their search and identification; 3) determination of the natural connection of biological and socio-psychological features of criminals with other elements of the mechanism of criminal activity (choice of the type of crime, place and time of commission, victim, method, traces); 4) study of the suspect's personality during investigative (detective) actions and use of the information obtained to choose tactics for their conduct, making procedural decisions.

Keywords:

criminal-legal characteristics of a person; criminological characteristics of a person; criminalistics characteristics of a person; mechanism of criminal activity; criminal anthropology; criminal psychology

https://doi.org/10.31359/1993-0909-2026-33-1-358

Retrieved from Journal NALSU №1, 2026 year

Pages 358-369

References Suggested citation

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Suggested citation

Anatoly F. Volobuiev (2026). Criminalistics Theory of the Personality of a Criminal in an Interdisciplinary Dimension. Journal of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine, 33(1), 358-369. https://doi.org/10.31359/1993-0909-2026-33-1-358