The Forensic Service (the Case Study of the Sverdlovsk Region in the 1920s–1940s)

Abstract

The paper describes the process of formation and functioning of a specialized forensic service in the Urals in order to successfully combat crime during a diffi-cult unstable transition period for the country. The authors put museum information resources and archival documents as the substantive foundation of the paper. It is emphasized that the formation of the service begins with the relocation of specialists who organize this work to Sverdlovsk from Ufa. It is noted that in the 1920s there was an urgent need for personnel training for this type of activity, in connection with which courses for the training of forensic and technical experts at the Criminal Investigation Department of the NKVD were actively developing. Attention is focused on the importance of the issue of methodological support. In the 1920s the first textbook on forensic expertise appeared in Russia. During the study period, along with the need to work with traditional traces found at the scene, there was a need to detect and remove traces and objects during research that required the use of physico‑chemical methods in laboratories, in connection with which physicists and chemical experts appeared. Thus, the use of special research methods for objects seized from accident sites began in the late 1920s. In their conclusions, the authors note that the formation of an expert forensic service was carried out on the basis of scientific justification and methodological support of methods to combat unsolved crimes.