On Development of Methodology of Establishing an Individual Belonging to the Upper Criminal Hierarchy Based on a Pictographic Criminal Writing

The article proves the special role of the linguistic examination of tattoos in the process of proving a person's involvement in the organization and management of criminal groups. A semiotic classification of tattoos used by so-called code-bound criminals is proposed. In the course of expert practice, the author was able to establish that in the criminal world, tattoos represent a logical system of postulates and criminal ideas. Therefore, the main thing for an expert linguist should be knowledge of the subculture of the criminal world: thieves' rules of conduct, argot, proverbs and sayings of the criminal community, prison songs, nicknames, the meaning of criminal symbols. It is important to keep in mind that tattooing is a gradual process and reflects the acquired criminal experience.