Problems of Conceptual Apparatus and Legal Regulation of the Form of Expert Opinion in Criminal Proceedings

Abstract

The regularity of inclusion in the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation of conclusions and testimonies of an expert and a specialist as sources of evidence is due to the rapidly developing field of special knowledge, achievements of science, technology, crafts, digital technologies. It is impossible to imagine a modern criminal process without the participation of such participants in criminal proceedings as an expert and a specialist. At the same time, if the legal status of the expert, as well as the form of his participation in a criminal case in the legislation, is more complete, then according to many researchers, the legal status of the specialist and the form of his/her participation is difficult to recognize completed. The author of the article conducted a study of the norms of the current criminal procedure legislation regarding the sufficiency of the volume of legal regulation of the legal status of a specialist and issues of the forms of his/her participation in criminal proceedings and determined his insufficiency. The most problematic issue, according to the author, is the problem of determining the form of the expert's opinion, since the legislator bypasses the issues of legal regulation of the form of the expert's opinion. In turn, this causes problems of application in practice, and, as a result, reduces the effectiveness and potential of applying special knowledge in the form of involving a specialist. Based on the study, the author proposes the concept and structure of the specialist's opinion form as a possible option for improving the form of his/her participation in criminal proceedings.