Autonomy of the head of the investigative body: concept and aspects of realization

Relevance. The effectiveness of the preliminary investigation is largely due to the quality management of the relevant bodies. This is guaranteed by clearly delineated criminal procedural and managerial powers of the head of the investigative body, fixed in normative legal acts. At the same time, the professional status of this subject of criminal procedural relations has been repeatedly subjected to transformations, some of which have changed it quite significantly. At first glance, all transformations have led to the formation of an independent figure among the participants of criminal proceedings, but so far the doctrine has not formulated the concept and limits of independence of the head of the investigative body. The ambiguity of approaches to the content of the term under study became the basis for the emergence of the author's research interest.

The purpose of the study is to provide the content of the concept of ‘independence of the head of the investigative body’ and to determine its limits.

Objectives. The research objectives include the study of the concepts of ‘autonomy’ and ‘procedural autonomy’, analysis of scientific views on the manifestations of autonomy of persons conducting preliminary investigation and the head of the investigative body, proposing the author's vision of the definition of the concept of ‘autonomy of the head of the investigative body’.

Methodology. The dialectical method was taken as the methodological basis of the study, which allowed to discover the interrelationships of the term under study with related concepts of criminal procedure doctrine. The use of general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction provided an opportunity to construct the author's definition of the sought concept and determine its boundaries.

Results. Independence as a property of the legal status of the head of the investigative body should not be considered as identical to the similar characteristic of the investigator.

Conclusion. The autonomy of the head of the investigative body is manifested in both criminal procedure and organisational aspects. The first of them implies the right to determine at his discretion the course of investigation and to state the achievement of the limits of proof, the second is manifested through the independent decision of management issues within the subordinate body of preliminary investigation.

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