Criminalistic Study of the Personality of a Minor Eyewitness

The issue of minors’ participation in criminal proceedings remains relevant. In this regard, identifying patterns and developing tactical recommendations for investigative actions involving their participation is of particular importance. Identification parade, as a means of obtaining evidence, involves minor’s various mental processes and interpersonal interaction with the investigator. Its effective implementation is extremely difficult without studying the eyewitness’s personality. The purpose of this article is to identify the minor eyewitness’s individual personality traits and to substantiate the importance of studying them in order to improve the efficiency of identification parade. Research methods: The analysis method allows to identify the characteristic features of each element of the minor’s personality trait system; the synthesis method helps to outline the range of personality traits most significant for identification parade production; the systemic-structural method is used to consider individual elements of the criminalistic characteristics in their interrelation; the functional method contributes to substantiating the practical importance of activities related to the criminalistic study of a minor’s personality in solving identification parade tasks. The study concludes that the biological, socio-demographic, and moral characteristics of a minor eyewitness are significant for understanding the process of perception, imprinting, comparison, and transmission of information about the features of the identified object, as well as for enhancing the effectiveness of establishing psychological contact with the minor.