Zaviazkina N. Clinical and psychological diagnosis in forensic expertology of diminished responsibility and diminished capacity

The paper generalizes and proposes a new solution to the problem of diminished responsibility and diminished capacity; the essence of the investigated phenomena, the specifics and psychological laws of their functioning in the conditions of mental pathology are revealed; psychodiagnostic approaches were developed; psychological models of limited responsibility and limited ability were built and verified. Proved the possibility of a wider use of psychological knowledge in the performance of examinations not only in criminal but also in civil proceedings. It is proved that psychodiagnostic activity of an expert is the basis of a forensic psychological examination. Psychological assessment, which gives a judicial expert psychologist, is understood as a multi-stage process of systematic accumulation of information about an individual, in which all methods are used: objective, subjective and design. An in-depth understanding of the role of conducting forensic examinations and expert research with the involvement of a psychologist at the present stage of development of psychological science. It is proved that the intellectual and volitional components of the legal (psychological) criterion of diminished responsibility and diminished capacity should be presented more structured, through a statistically proven psychodiagnostic approach, and include a link of interrelated signs. Psychological models of diminished responsibility and diminished capacity have been developed that meet the needs of expert practice to substantiate the legal criterion of various legal norms and demonstrate a combination of factors that are important for the formation of an expert opinion.