Chapter IV.

GENERAL PROVISIONS OF FORENSIC METHODOLOGY

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  • Questions for control
  • List of literature

    • I. Lecture material

  • 1. Concept, subject-matter and development trends of forensic methods (approaches)
  • 2. Classification and structure separate methods of crimes investigation
  • 3. Forensic characteristics of crimes

    • 1. Concept, subject-matter and development trends of forensic methods (approaches)

    Criminalistics) Forensics provides processing of some types of crimes which has always been one of the priority growth areas of forensics science. This is due to the fact if that is the forensic methodology, as a special section of this science, analyzes the accumulated experience of investigation and comes up the most efficient methods and ways of inquiry criminal proceedings by specific categories. Forensics recommendations developed by science become the most important tool of the investigation officer - a kind of operating procedures in typical investigative cases.

    As any objective phenomenon, the event of crime - is provide the individual and unique. There fore, it is also distinguished of knowledge by specific individual traits. However, each crime and methods of prejudicial inquiry bear repetitive evidences which, in turn the mainstay of the formation and development special investigation techniques, both in general and in regard to simple criminalistics characteristics of crimes.

    Crimes investigation - is a specific activity, cognitive and organizational-tactical essence of which due to determined by the specific traits of evidentiary information and the procedures laid down by the law for its obtaining and using. This is a knowledge of the events of the past for the remaining material and psycho-physiological traces which determined by such distinctions, as the lack of immediate event perception by the investigator, the effect of objective and subjective facilitations on the traces of the matter under inquired.

    However, the greatest threat to the preservation of the traces of the event is not the objective passage of time, but the conscious against of those who are seeking in distorting the investigation findings.

    That particular crimes investigation are distinctly different from all other site of cognitive activity. Vestigial traces of crime are concealment and destruction; that has testimonial misrepresentation of information; influence on participants in criminal proceedings (bribery, threats, extortion, etc.); impeding access the activities of public officials- a shortlist of those forms response that the investigator, prosecutor, judge and employees of the operational subdivisions exposed during the investigation criminal offenses.

    The provide necessitates for use such materials and methods of acquisition of information that are compensate or neutralize the negative conditions and difficulties of cognition. The fulfillment of this task is ensured by the use to full advantage of the scientific achievements of forensics methods, which is a whole new level of provisions implementation (recommendations) of forensic techniques and forensic tactics on the basis of comprehension and adaptation of these provisions to the particular characteristics of the detection, collection, examination, evaluation and application of evidentiary informations to specifics of commission and investigation of different types of crimes. Therefore, the term "forensic methodological recommendations" - covers the means of forensic techniques and tactics in case of certain types of crimes.

    The final chapter of forensic science provides "Forensic Methodology"- conditionally conveys the essence of meanings which conving the concept of "method". In the forensic technique, not only defined methods are developed and indicated for use in the investigation, but also provisions concerning: forensic characteristics corresponding category of crimes; typical investigative situations; typical lists of circumstances warrant determination; directions of interactions the investigator with other participants of the examination, etc.

    Such recommendations are represented facilities of investigative matter on the derivative a typical inquisitional situation and tasks that can-do approach assisted by operating procedures of the crime investigator, and thus acquire with technological attitude. Given the way of some investigation methods - are a specific technological standard in which of how to act investigator in those or other conditions.

    Forensic methodology (the final section of forensic science) - is a system of integrated scientific regulations and formed methodological recommendations on their basis, which provides the optimal organization of investigation and prevention of certain types of crimes.

    As a branch of science, forensic methodology is comprise of two parts: general provisions and separate methods of criminals investigation.

    Fore part includes the data of research and application the common patterns of organization and conduct of the investigation, conceptual framework, tasks and principles of forensic methodology, description the structure of individual investigative techniques, etc. The general provisions reflect and ensure the integrity of the constituent parts of the forensic methodology, individual investigative techniques, their scientific validity and interconnection.

    The second part of chapter consists investigation methods the certain types of crimes, which are developed on the basis of the general provisions of the forensic methodology in accordance with the requirements of the investigative practice.

    The forensic methodology, as a system of interconnected and interconnected investigative (search) actions, secret investigative actions and other measures.

    That are intended to provide for investigation and prevention of crimes, is built in accordance with certain principles:

    The sources of formation and development the forensic techniques - are law, judicial, investigative, operative-search and expert practice and the position of science. In this case, the determining role belongs to the criminal and criminal procedural law.

    The provisions of criminal law that establish the punishment of acts and the nature of circumstances that determine responsibility, it is the derivative of the development of separate (specific) methods of investigation and guidance to determine the subject of evidence for specific types of crimes. Thus, the emergence of new types of crimes (first in real life, and then in the form of specific norms of the criminal law) put the task of forensic science to develop appropriate separate techniques.

    The rules of Crown law, which regulate the procedure for criminal proceedings, affect the content of certain criminalistic methods. Adoption of the new Ukraine Code of Criminal Procedure, significant changes in measures of inquiry (search), the appearance of secret investigative (search) actions affect the development and perfection of forensic techniques.

    Particularly, the conduct of procedural actions in the via videoconferencing ensures the efficiency of litigation proceedings, the security of persons - participants in criminal proceedings, etc., which is reflected in the recommendations and structure of individual investigative techniques.

    The data of advanced investigative practices serve as the basis knowledge of criminal activity, patterns the criminal manifestations, as well as experience in investigating crimes; checks of developed forensic recommendations; act as a customer for the development and improvement of certain methods of investigation of crimes; can offer new, born in practice, tools, techniques and techniques for their scientific synthesis and research.

    An important source of development methodological recommendations - is the new progressive scientific developments. This, first of all, relates to branches of knowledge - legal psychology, forensic medicine, military ballistics, court entomology, information technologies, etc.

    This process is characterized by the mutual influence of the constituent parts of criminology, which manifests itself in two main forms: first, the creation of new techno-forensic and tactical and forensic means and methods necessitates the development (or refinement) of methodological recommendations for their application in the course of investigation of certain types of crimes , secondly, the need for investigative practices (the emergence of new ways of committing and concealing crimes, etc.) determine the need to improve existing or develop new forensic means, hints and tips.

    Thus, the forensic method widely uses the achievements of other sciences (psychology, science of management, physics, chemistry, cybernetics, etc.) to ensure the effectiveness of their recommendations. In this case, certain provisions are used in practice without changes, while others are applied after their adaptation to the objectives and purposes of forensic provision of criminal proceedings.


    2. Classification and structure separate methods of crimes investigation

    The essence of forensic methodology - is disclosed in the recommendations for investigating criminal offenses. In the most general sense, these are recommendations for identifying traces of actions or inactivity, their analysis and legal assessment. Since various types (groups) of crimes are committed using a specific set of means and methods for achieving a criminal purpose, according to each type of crime will be characterized by its specific traces and the resulting means and methods for their detection, extraction, research and use. This determines the need to develop separate methods of investigation of certain types (groups) of crimes.

    A prerequisite for the successful formation of new and modernization of available forensic methodological recommendations is the definition of conceptual approaches to the technology of creating the methods themselves. The solution to this problem depends, first of all, on the existence of a single, universally recognized and consistent classification of methods for investigating crimes, since various technological levels of such methods may offer different technological approaches to their creation.

    In this regard, the basis for forensic classification of crimes is:

    The best, in our opinion, today is a four-level classification of forensic techniques, which distinguishes the following levels:

    1. Specific forensic methods (according to types of crimes clearly defined in the relevant sections of the special part of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, for example, the method of investigation of fraud);

    2. Inner-form forensic methods (subtypes or varieties isolated from among the crimes of the same species for forensic-significant features, for example, in such a crime as a deliberate killing, distinguish the following intrinsic techniques, such as the methodology for investigating murders (a) related to (b) commissioned, (c) the mother of their newborn child, (d) committed on a religious basis, etc. In this sense, the forensic classification is characterized by a more differentiated approach than the criminal- legal, which brings it closer to the requirements of practice);

    3. Interstate (or group, complex) forensic methods of investigation of crimes, which reflect recommendations for investigating complexes of interrelated criminal acts united on the basis of simultaneous consideration of criminal-law and forensic criteria for the classification of crimes. The commonality of these criminal manifestations is due to the fact that they are covered by the sole intent of the organizers, instigators, accomplices and performers, the common purpose and motives, the general mechanism for the implementation of the criminal plan, etc.

    It is about a single chain of criminal behavior, in particular about the technology of criminal enrichment or criminal activity, for example, the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime. Investigation of the complexes of criminal acts determines the specifics of nomination and verification of investigative versions, planning, tactics of conducting separate investigatory (search) actions, secret investigative (search) actions and operational-search measures, peculiarities of carrying out tactical operations (combinations), etc.

    4. Forensic methods. At the same time, the process of differentiation of techniques began to unfold the process of peculiar integration, when began to form techniques that have received a sufficiently broad reflection in forensic literature, for example, the method of investigation of crimes committed by minors; the method of investigation of undisclosed crimes of past years; methodology for investigating crimes committed by and against foreigners, etc. The basis of these methods is the peculiarities of the subject of the crime, the influence of the time factor, the specifics of the means of committing crimes, etc.

    So, for crimes committed by minors, the age-old peculiarities of their psychology are very peculiarly expressed both in unlawful activities (the motives and purpose of committing crimes, the choice and relation to the subject of the attack, the specificity of the trace situation, etc.) and in the process of conducting an investigation (underestimation of the consequences of the investigation, propensity to the false concept of a partnership, etc.).

    In the investigation of undisclosed crimes of the past years, the main specific points related to the measures to mask the traces of the crime and the peculiarities of the organization of work to identify and eliminate the shortcomings admitted at the initial stage of the investigation (taking into account the effect of the time factor, the search for unused opportunities, etc.). Due to such features-features, one group combines very different types of crimes: murder, robbery, rape, theft, etc., to investigate which new opportunities arise.

    The proposed classification allows not only to clearly distinguish forensic methods by the degree of generalization, the level of concretization of methodological recommendations, but also to determine different approaches to the technology of their creation. Thus, intrinsic forensic methods are most closely approximated to the needs of the practice, since they are developed on the basis of the results of the generalization of forensic practice and are therefore considered to be the most optimal and effective, since it is at this level that it is possible to formulate specific research tasks and construct an algorithm for their solution.

    With all the diversity of individual techniques, they have certain typical elements. The typical structure of a separate forensic methodology, as a rule, consists of the following interrelated parts:

    The distinguished typical structural elements of individual methods in general correspond to the current state of development of this section of criminology, the needs of investigative practice, create a certain benchmark for the formation of new separate criminalistic methods, but do not exclude the introduction of substantiated criminalistic peculiarities of types and groups of crimes of changes and additions.


    3. Forensic characteristics of crimes

    The emergence and development of forensic methodology in general and particular investigative techniques in particular are inextricably linked with purposeful system collection, research and synthesis of materials of investigative practices - the main source of the development of methodological guidelines and recommendations. As a result of the synthesis of practical and scientific activity, different characteristics of crimes that contain a description of the logical features of a crime are created in their subject matter. There are the following characteristics: criminal law, forensic, criminological, and others like that.

    Criminal characteristics - description of the features that distinguish crime from misconduct, the classification of crimes by species, degree of danger, etc. Criminological characteristic - description of the genesis of the crime, its causes, conditions of commission, frequency of repetition, distribution of crimes on other grounds, for example, age, time, etc. Forensic characteristics are interconnected with elements of other characteristics and uses them. In particular, the subject of direct encroachment includes the criminal-legal characteristics of the subject, and the description of the person of the offender in most techniques is bordered with the criminological characteristic. Forensic characteristics are a description of the properties and features that are important for the disclosure of the mechanism of the crime, the nature of the remaining traces, the conditions for the commission of the crime and the characteristics of the offender.

    The forensic description of crimes has defined as:

    The practical significance of these data is that during the investigation of a particular crime, the comparison of available data (which, where, when, in what manner, under what circumstances, etc.) with the system of summary information (scientific data) on the crimes of this type allows to identify similar in forensic- Significant signs of crime and on this basis, put forward probable versions, take into account forensic recommendations for further investigation plan, etc. The most commonly known is the general description of the method of committing a crime. And then, on the basis of generalized data on who previously committed such crimes in a similar way, it is possible to establish a rather specific direction for the search of the perpetrator. Of course, this will not be data on the specific person of the offender, but the characteristics of a certain (narrow or broad) group of people (convicted, minors, etc.), among which a suspect should be searched.

    The practical application of a separate forensic description is clearly illustrated by the following example. In the course of an investigation into the brutal murder of a woman with subsequent mistreatment of the victim's body, five suspects were found who immediately confessed to the perpetrator and tried to "speed up" the investigation. This surprised the investigator and he appealed to the materials of the generalization of the practice of investigation of the killings L.G. Vidonov; while establishing that in this way murders are usually committed by mentally ill persons or repeatedly convicted. There were no such detained suspects, so he studied their environment in detail: he did not install mentally ill persons, but there were several repeated convictions. One of them turned out to be the sixth and most active participant in the crime - the initiator of the assassination.

    Forensic description of crimes is a system of generalized data on the most typical signs of a certain type (group of) crimes manifested in the method and mechanism of the act, the circumstances of its commission, the person of the subject of the crime, and other circumstances, the logical relationship of which serves as the basis of scientific and practical solving the investigation tasks.

    Taking into account the criminalistics described in the crime description, it is necessary to clearly distinguish between:

    Of course, the aggregated data of the type (group) of crimes cannot act as a universal one hundred percent method for investigating crimes, since they represent a typical one, and each committed crime can be so individual that in some cases it may not have analogues in the past. However, it is still a lot more typical and because of this, there is the forensic method itself. Therefore, data of forensic characteristics are called and help in most cases to investigate specific crimes.

    One of the most controversial in the theory of forensic characteristics of crimes is the question of the quantitative and qualitative composition of elements, that is, forensic-significant features, which should form the core of forensic characteristics.

    The main elements of the forensic characterization of a certain type (group of) crimes should include only those elements that are distinguished by a clear search-and-search direction, and they include:

    It should be noted that these elements cannot be considered as a single and unchanging system for all types of crimes. This is the most typical set of forensic-significant features, designed to provide an applied function of forensic characteristics. With regard to certain types of crimes, this set may change - to reduce and expand. Thus, in the case of murder, rape will not be the subject of an offensive in "pure form", and that the crime associated with the victim will be reflected in the description of the method of committing a crime or in describing the person of the victim (victim). When forming a methodology for investigating murders by order, the following element of forensic characteristics will be important: the motive and purpose of committing a crime. It is this element that allows you to identify the customer of a crime by studying the issue - "Who needed a crime to be profitable?".

    Thus, forensic characteristics are a working tool of investigation in the form of a systematic synthesis of the data of investigation of a significant amount of criminal proceedings in respect of each specific category of crimes, with the definition of the interconnection of all forensic-significant features of these types of crimes.