Chasing Yesterday: Struggle for Digitalization in Serial Violent Crimes Investigation in Russia

Abstract

Mirroring the public administration digitalization trend, most Russian law enforcement agencies have either started or intensified digitalisation of their governance, criminal procedure, and operational-investigative activities. However, while setting certain rather ambitious goals, the agents of such changes at times lack, on the one hand, technical and scholar methodological issues and, on the other hand, do not pay the necessary attention to hiring skilled personnel for the divisions concerned. Those issues are especially relevant as Russian science and practice are falling behind already rather obsolete technical means in the field of quantitative analysis of data on serial violent crimes, prevention and countering of which have long been a ‘sore point’ of Russian law enforcement agencies. The author uses phenomenological approaches to the analysis of developmental patterns and digitalization of serial violent crimes investigation. Besides, the historical method and systemic approach to the analysis of regulatory acts, as well as specialised sources containing valuable information about the progress of quantitative research methodology in Russia and abroad, are used. Criminal anthropology approaches to the assessment of relevant behavioural characteristics of serial violent offenders, essential for the dataset creation process, were followed during the analysis of the methodological aspects of data collection and analysis. The records of interviews with attorneys, investigators, and employees of law enforcement higher educational institutions, conducted by the author, were also assessed. Methodological deficiency of databases containing criminological significant information about serial violent crimes, as well as the issue of the divisions responsible for detecting such crimes being under-equipped, were examined in detail in the article. The author is convinced that the system of criminal statistics in Russia is incapable of collecting and analysing quantitative data about crimes. Under such circumstances, it is justifiably questionable whether the introduction of not only artificial intelligence but also quantitative data analysis as a whole in the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Public Prosecutor’s Office, and Investigative Committee of Russia will be productive.