Building a Team of Quality, Effective Investigators and Investigation Officers

Working with children is also a necessary professional skill. Therefore, it is thought that the Vietnamese law on criminal procedure needs to stipulate the standards for defenders when participating in resolving criminal cases committed by people under 18 years old to ensure consistency in legislation and compliance with UN standards and norms. Accordingly, the law on criminal procedure needs to stipulate that defenders for people under 18 years old must meet the following conditions: " must be people who have been trained or have experience in resolving cases related to people under 18 years old, have the necessary knowledge of psychology and educational science for people under 18 years old".

3.2.2. Building a team of quality and effective Investigators and Investigation Officers

In addition to amending and supplementing the legal basis to build a friendly criminal procedure system for people under 18 years old, the human factor in conducting procedural activities at the investigation stage is also a core issue. In order to effectively apply the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law on investigating criminal cases conducted by people under 18 years old in practice, it is necessary to first focus on training and coaching to avoid mistakes in the way of conducting investigation activities. Through training and coaching, investigators and investigation officers have the necessary knowledge and skills in investigating people under 18 years old. In addition, raising awareness for investigators and investigation officers is also something that the State needs to pay special attention to. Because the causes leading to mistakes by investigators and investigation officers are not only lack of knowledge but also due to not properly recognizing this special procedural procedure. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen training, in-depth training and it is necessary to draft specific content for this training process. Based on the UN's guidance, the training program can include contents such as: principles and requirements set by the UN for the justice system for people with disabilities, guidelines; objectives

The purpose of Vietnamese criminal procedure law in resolving cases related to this subject; the psychological characteristics of children and especially professional skills such as interrogation and taking statements [12], ... Those training courses need to focus on issues such as social causes and other causes leading to criminal behavior of people under 18 years old; psychological development as well as other aspects affecting the development of people under 18 years old; special attention to people under 18 years old who are female or people under 18 years old who are ethnic minorities and indigenous people; about the culture and trends of young people in the world; measures to handle people under 18 years old who commit crimes, especially measures that do not require TTHS procedures. Training will help investigators and investigation officers clearly distinguish investigation procedures for people under 18 years old from other subjects to accurately apply the provisions of the law. Whether the investigation process is carried out properly or not depends largely on the awareness of the Investigator and the Investigation Officer because there are many investigation activities that require the conditions of necessity and rationality. In addition, raising the awareness of the Investigator and the Investigation Officer will prevent these people from making subjective assessments, wrongful actions, and harming the rights and interests of people under 18 years old because of their personal views and interests.

Due to the conditions of facilities and human resources, organizing a team of specialized officers to serve the investigation of people under 18 years old is not feasible and not yet implemented in practice. However, to overcome this limitation, instead of assigning a few officers to be in charge of cases related to people under 18 years old, the Investigation Police Agency of Bien Hoa City Police will establish a "part-time" team. In which, these Investigators and Investigation Officers are trained and coached in the investigation of people under 18 years old according to the provisions of law, will be in charge of solving these types of cases, but at the same time still ensure participation in the legal proceedings for those cases.

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other subjects. This will solve the problem of human resource shortage at the Investigation Agency. At the same time, the team of Investigators and Investigation Officers need to raise awareness and determine that the investigation procedure for people under 18 years old not only requires attention to proving the crime but also requires sympathy and understanding of the circumstances and psychology to help the investigation procedure take place in accordance with the law.

In addition, the State also needs to strengthen the inspection and supervision of investigation procedures, in which the Procuracy strengthens its responsibility in the investigation and prosecution work. Strengthening the inspection of judicial activities helps to quickly detect violations, if any, and protect the rights and legitimate interests of people under 18 who commit crimes and those who participate. One of the issues that also needs to be mentioned is to pay attention to and increase the number of female investigators, investigation officers, and inspectors to ensure a friendly criminal procedure for VAHS with people under 18 years old, especially procedural activities that cause fear and psychological agitation for people under 18 years old such as interrogation, taking statements, or other investigative measures such as body searches, examining traces on the body.

In addition, the Public Security, People's Procuracy, and People's Court need to coordinate well in the fight against crime, the settlement of VAHS, and especially pay due attention to VAHS committed by people under 18 years old. Leaders of agencies and units must regularly disseminate regulations and instructions from superiors, pay close attention to and promote the sense of responsibility of civil servants in their units. Minimize shortcomings and disagreements in the settlement and handling of cases, and avoid harming the rights and interests of people under 18 years old who commit crimes. Strengthen the management, direction, and inspection of superiors over subordinates and subordinate units.

Follow the instructions and leadership of superiors, fully and promptly report any difficulties and problems for professional guidance and resolution.

3.2.3. Strengthening facilities and technical equipment to serve professional work

In recent years, our Party and State have implemented the policy of judicial reform, so they have paid attention to investing in technical means and working equipment for judicial officers because in addition to the human factor, technical facilities are also one of the important factors contributing to improving the quality and effectiveness in the fight against and prevention of crime. Compared to the current situation, the conditions of technical facilities and equipment to properly implement the investigation process are generally very limited, not suitable for the requirements of the task in the new situation. In the current economic conditions along with the scarcity of resources, it is very difficult for the Investigation Agency to prepare separate interrogation and testimony rooms for people under 18 years old according to the investigation room model. However, letting children undergo the investigation process in conditions similar to adults will cause mental trauma, adversely affecting the still immature psychology of this subject. Therefore, the Investigation Police need to have alternative solutions to the "friendly investigation room" such as:

- Prioritize choosing interrogation rooms that are located in brighter, more airy places to reduce the "fear" of these rooms for children;

- The investigation agency should redecorate the investigation room, aiming for bright colors to replace the dark colors such as black and gray used in most interrogation rooms today.

- One of the least expensive and simplest solutions to prepare an investigation room suitable for people under 18 years old is to change the arrangement of tables and chairs to suit the child's growth, and arrange them so that the interrogation is not too heavy and serious so that the child feels like

are engaged in a conversation, no longer feel afraid and are therefore more likely to cooperate in the investigation process.

In addition, a factor related to facilities that also needs attention and improvement is detention conditions. Currently, people under 18 years old who are detained or imprisoned must still stay in cells for people over 18 years old without any difference. Although it is shorter than that of adults, if during the detention period for investigation, people under 18 years old have to live in detention facilities for a long time, it can have a negative impact on their psychology, causing psychological trauma or even physical injuries to people under 18 years old. Therefore, it is necessary to improve detention conditions, each investigation agency should reserve at least 1 detention room to serve the detention process of people under 18 years old. This room must be decorated with bright colors to avoid creating a feeling of anxiety. The furniture inside the room should be prepared to meet the needs of the children's age. In addition to essential items, if they are detained for a long time, they should be allowed to bring personal entertainment items such as toys and books into the cell after being checked by the investigating agency.

3.2.4. Improve education, propaganda and legal awareness for people under 18 years old

In recent times, our Party and State have regularly disseminated and propagated the law to the people in many different forms to raise people's legal awareness and bring the law into social life. However, the level and awareness of the law of our people in general and people under 18 years old in particular are still limited and have not really reached every citizen in society. To ensure their legitimate rights and interests, the State needs to focus on education and propaganda. To do that, it is necessary to further strengthen the implementation of propaganda and dissemination of policies and guidelines of the State.

Party, State laws. In a broader perspective, this propaganda and education must be carried out for the whole society, including families, schools and all people. Families and schools are two particularly important subjects in educating these minors. However, everyone needs to know in order to respect the rights that people under 18 years old must enjoy according to UN guidelines and Vietnamese law.

First of all, the target of this awareness raising is those who directly handle the case as mentioned in the recommendation on training of staff. Because their activities will directly decide whether the rights of people under 18 years old are guaranteed or not.

In addition, an important subject that needs to be concerned in propaganda is people under 18 years old. They themselves must be aware of what rights they enjoy, those who have the authority to resolve cases are not allowed to violate those rights and the measures they can take to combat violations. When disseminating knowledge about children's rights and friendly procedural procedures for people under 18 years old, the State needs to use easy-to-understand, clear words, and should only focus on key contents to avoid causing confusion and difficulty for people to absorb. In order for the propaganda to be effective, the authorities need to use all mass media channels such as television, newspapers, radio, internet, mock trials, legal advice, legal support for people... to disseminate the law to the people, especially focusing on remote areas, ethnic minority areas, places where people's awareness is limited, poor residential areas, and limited means of communication. In particular, when explaining to people under 18 years old, the State can consider forms that are closer to them than the usual speaking or writing. Specifically,

Instead of forcing children to read pages with lots of dry words, the government can issue picture books to illustrate the content that needs to be disseminated, and insert that content into a film that children or young people love. Only then can propaganda and education activities truly be effective.

3.2.5. Improve the quality of interim and final review work

The work of summarizing and drawing lessons from experience is a regular activity of the Investigation Police Agency of Bien Hoa City Police, and is one of the important tasks contributing to improving the quality and effectiveness of investigating cases committed by people under 18 years old. Because through the work of summarizing, summarizing and drawing lessons from experience, Investigators and Investigation Officers will recognize the difficulties, obstacles and causes leading to the difficulties and obstacles, thereby proposing solutions to overcome them for themselves and their colleagues. On the contrary, if the work of summarizing and drawing lessons is not given due attention and is not organized regularly, it will not be able to point out the reality of the difficulties and obstacles and will also not be able to propose the right measures to solve the above difficulties and obstacles.

Therefore, to improve the effectiveness of the preliminary, summary and experience-drawing work, the prosecution agencies in general and the Investigation Agency in particular need to organize extensively and qualitatively. Before organizing, it is necessary to consult relevant agencies on difficulties and obstacles to synthesize and provide specific guidance on issues that are not yet unified in resolving cases committed by people under 18 years old. Periodically every quarter, 6 months and year, the interdisciplinary prosecution agencies should summarize the difficulties, obstacles, viewpoints and handling methods that are not yet unified in the process of resolving VAHS committed by people under 18 years old. After having summarized, summarized, drawn experience and provided specific guidance, it is necessary to regularly check and report on the application of instructions from superiors in implementation. Document

The experience summary of the superior for the subordinate needs to be promptly disseminated to all agencies in the industry system for information and unified implementation.

The work of summarizing, concluding, and drawing lessons from practice, if carried out regularly, fully, objectively, and carefully, will help the superiors to provide professional guidance to subordinates in an objective and accurate manner. This will not only help the agencies conducting the proceedings to resolve limitations and difficulties, but also ensure that the investigation of VAHS conducted by people under 18 years of age is consistent.

End of chapter 3

The process of applying legal provisions into practice always encounters certain difficulties and obstacles. Therefore, in the process of applying the Law on Criminal Procedure on investigating VAHS committed by people under 18 years old in Bien Hoa city, Dong Nai province, it is inevitable that this general trend will be avoided. In this Chapter 3, through actual statistics, we have summarized the situation of crimes committed by people under 18 years old in Bien Hoa city, as well as evaluated the results achieved and the limitations and shortcomings when directly applying the provisions of the law into practical life such as inconsistent regulations, shortcomings of the Criminal Procedure Code, lack of facilities and human resources as well as legal awareness of the staff directly investigating the cases, etc.

Through comparing with the analysis of the inadequacies of the provisions of the Vietnamese criminal procedure law in Chapter 2, the model of criminal procedure according to the UN's guidelines in Chapter 1 and the practice of investigating VAHS by people under 18 years old in Bien Hoa city, the author proposes solutions to further improve the effectiveness of this provision, as a basis for legal researchers to refer to in the work of perfecting the system of criminal procedure law in our country in the coming time.

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