Scientific Journal of the National Academy of Internal Affairs

Some essential problems of professional crime latency level determining are envisaged in this article. Content of main sociological and specific legal means of professional crime perception has been disclosed in it. By their analyzing it was defined that professional crime’s latency level (as well as specific crimes latency level) is established by means of sociology and criminology sciences. That’s why these means are divided into two groups – sociological and specific legal (or operative-investigative). There are such means as examination, quiz, sociometric techniques, document study, scientific assessment, media content analysis and statistic figures comparison in the first group. The second group consists of means which are generally used in operative, investigative and supervision law enforcement activity. There are victimization survey, specific types of crimes dynamic statistical array analysis (in compare with the law enforcement activity data during survey), and criminological experiment. It should be remembered that this professional crime latency survey disjunction onto sociological and specific legal (or operative-investigative) means is nominal. It is stated that further law enforcement activity improvement is impossible without defining of its latency objective level. Such quantitative index defining is promoting professional crime prevention, detection and investigation. Professional crime latency couldn’t be defined without using the scientific means which are described in this article. Their further development is perspective field of research in the Ukrainian law enforcement bodies system.