LEADING QUESTIONS: CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE CONCEPT AND ADMISSIBILITY IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS
Authors: Koniushyn Yuliia 
Published: July 2023

The article questions those aspects of the modern doctrine in which the categorical influence and conditionality of the answer to the leading question is emphasized exclusively by the information contained in it; impossibility of receiving additional or new information from the addressee (the person to whom the question is asked); the hidden (non-obvious) form of the question (its veiledness), the content of which is embedded in advance in the structure of the future desired answer for the addressee (investigator (court)), which in turn is generated by suggestive influence (suggestion), etc. Therefore, the statement that a leading question should not contain certain primary (initial) information is false, because every, and not only leading, but verbally meaningful question (considering its logical and grammatical nature) also should naturally contain and does contain a certain initial information (foundation). That is why, according to the provisions of logic, each question is formed by two information blocks (elements): 1) what is known; 2) something that requires clarification. The person asking the question has the goal not only to fill gaps in acquiring certain information, but also inevitably to communicate some information to another person. Consequently, each question is formed by the so-called foundation (judgment (information), from which new knowledge is derived). Thanks to this, the transition from the unknown to the known is carried out. It is the foundation that contains information that to a certain extent can influence and, as a rule, influence the received answer. Therefore, it is somewhat simplified to believe that a question to a particular person (witness, victim, suspect, accused, expert) should not contain any primary (initial) information for the expected answer at all. In practice, it is almost impossible to formulate a question so neutrally that it does not affect the expected answer, to completely prevent the personal judgment of the person asking the question from appearing in the question. It is justified that the admissibility or inadmissibility of a leading question must be categorized not by ascertaining the presence of introductory information in it, but by its origin and the moment of its appearance in communication. In the context of a natural-scientific essence, it is justified to consider leading questions as a logical form of thinking within the communicative act, which in its content (intention) covers the initial (basic) reliable information coming from the addressee, with his unambiguous indication (suggestion) of their inadequacy for the purpose receiving new (additional, necessary, etc.) information in the form of a freely chosen answer of the addressee at the subconscious level. In the sense related to the legal aspect, leading questions are a manifestation of knowledge during an interrogation or another procedural action, within the content and tasks of which authorized subjects openly or covertly operate reliable or probable information, a part of it, an admissible indication of it for the purpose of receiving information in the form of an answer formed mainly at the subconscious level of the person who is asked this question.