Forensic Activities Research Articles

On the Need to Unify the Conceptual Apparatus in Forensic Activities

The article deals with issues related to the unification of concepts and terms in forensic activities and industry procedural codes. The need to revise the conceptual apparatus is caused, not only by different interpretations of certain terms and concepts, but also in some cases by their contradictions. Bringing them to a uniform understanding will contribute to the correct appointment of forensic examinations, adequate perception of commission and complex examinations, and evaluation of expert opinions by the bodies that appointed them.

On the Issue of Evidentiary Value of Expert Opinion

The paper discusses the issues of using expert opinions, which are ambiguously interpreted in the theory of criminal procedural evidence. Particular attention is given to the study of the circumstances influencing the formation of the expert’s conclusions. It is shown that the existing legal mechanisms do not sufficiently regulate certain issues of forensic expert activity. Analyzing forensic practice, the authors draw attention to the observance of the conditions under which the expert opinion acquires evidentiary value. It was revealed that the irrefutability of expert conclusions is influenced not only by the competence of a forensic expert, but also by the scientific and methodological support of forensic expert activity. The authors criticize the position according to which an expert can involve a specialist when formulating the conclusions of the examination. The paper proposes some ways for improving the comprehensiveness and objectivity of the expert research, ensuring the completeness, as well as the validity and reliability of the conclusions made by the expert. Taking into account the modern achievements of forensic examination, the necessity of applying a unified approach to the training of forensic experts of different specializations, as well as the methodological support of this field of activity, is substantiated.

Innovative Approaches to Criminalistics

In this scientific study, the authors made attempts to consider the current problems of criminalistics caused by the features of modern crime and highlighted modern innovative approaches to the detection and investigation of crimes. There is a trend in the evolution of crime, which determines the need for new modern criminalistics innovations, as well as new approaches to training investigative officers. Тhe article uses proven methods of scientific analysis. The authors analyse the views of leading experts on the main areas and trends of innovative development of Russian criminalistics. Тhe authors justify the need for simultaneous development of material innovations (new technologies), ideal innovations (new theories, concepts, recommendations) and the most innovation-oriented subject of law enforcement. The results of the research can be used in research and forensic activities, as well as in teaching criminalistics and related courses in higher and secondary specialized educational institutions of legal profile

Building of Knowledge on Standardization of Forensic Expert Activities in Russia

Basing on the analysis of historical events and achievements in forensic science, the author proposes a periodization for the building of knowledge on the standardization in forensic activities in Russia. The author also shows that implementation of the standardization in forensic activities and the development of appropriate practical procedures were critically influenced by the isolation of the Soviet system and subsequent stable scientific and practical international contacts; improvement of the regulatory framework of forensic activities, standardization, and technical regulation in the Russian Federation; continuity of the domestic Soviet science and practice in forensic expertise. For a holistic understanding of the functioning of all the tools and mechanisms of standardization at different stages of the evolution of forensic expertise, the author proposes to develop a model of a subtheory of standartization for forensic expert activity and implement it.

The Need for a State System of Scientific and Technical Support for Criminal Procedure

The article consistently analyzes the features of forensic expert activities’ emergence and development. It also shows the substantive features of these activities, the reasons, and circumstances of the manifestation of interdepartmental contradictions in the approaches to their organization. The author concludes that it is necessary to form a nationwide (supra-departmental) system of scientific and technical support for criminal proceedings, including forensic expert activities and computer forensics.

Forensic Molecular-Genetic Analysis of Objects of Biological Origin – a New Direction of Forensic Activity of the Russian Ministry of Justice

The article addresses the importance and basic preconditions for the forming a new direction of forensic activity in the system of forensic institutions of the Russian Ministry of Justice a new direction of forensic activity - molecular-genetic analysis of the objects of biological origin. The authors present the advantages of DNA analysis - one of the most modern and efficient methods in investigating criminal cases. The article also demonstrates the potential of different methods of DNA-analysis for forensic investigations. The history of forensic DNA-analysis development in Russia and its features when examining the human, animal, and plant biomaterials are briefly discussed. The authors propose the definitions for the molecular-genetic examinations’ object and subject, formulate the model tasks, and suggest a list of sample questions for this study.

The System of Concepts As a Metalanguage of Forensic Science

Concepts are an integral part of a forensic activity forming a specific terminological system, determining forensic science’s metalanguage, distinguishing it from the related legal sciences: criminalistics and procedural law. The article aims to review the conceptual system of forensic science. The authors point out the heterogeneity of its terminological and conceptual systems, which results from the synthetic nature of this science. Based on the existing classifications of concepts and terms of the general theory of forensic science, a new classification is proposed, including not only traditionally recognized terms such as general and specific scientific, legal notions and special concepts of forensic expertology language, but also the so-called expert concepts: interdisciplinary, intermediate notions, obtained as a result of the transformation of basic sciences’s data. Interdisciplinary notions form the theoretical and conceptual framework for some kinds of forensic examinations, first of all, complex forensic psychological and psychiatric and forensic psychological examinations, which traditionally refer to them as ‘’expert’’. When used in quotation marks, the word ‘’expert’’ indicates the terms’ conditional character, indicating the scope of application and functioning of the concepts, contrasting them to the legal concepts of the same name and basic sciences’ categories.

Information Technology of Big Data in Crime Detection, Investigation, and Prevention. Theoretical and Applied Analysis of Individual Prospects and Application Problems

The article discusses various aspects of the use of Big Data technology in forensic activities. Based on the analysis of legislation, the provisions of the legal doctrine, and the existing experience of using various forms of artificial intelligence in human life, the authors indicate possible directions for their implementation in forensic practice (first of all, in the work of an expert), and identify dialectically related risks and problems of a conceptual and legal nature. The necessity of developing and issuing several legal measures aimed at preventing the negative consequences of the spread of Big Data technology, in particular, a general legislative ban on the adoption of legally significant decisions by law enforcement entities based solely on the conclusions obtained by program methods, is substantiated.

Innovative principles of forensic support of law enforcement activity: issues of concept formation

Theoretical and methodological principles of development and formation of concept of innovative bases of forensic support of law enforcement activity are still insufficiently studied. The main tasks, prospects of implementation and further directions of research of this concept are defined. It is substantiated that innovative bases of forensic support of law enforcement activities should be considered, on the one hand, as creating conditions for effective application of new forensic knowledge and means (technical, tactical, methodological and forensic ones), on the other hand, as a specific type of innovative forensic activity, carried out in order to optimize, improve efficiency and quality of the process of investigation of criminal offenses, hearings and law enforcement in general.
 Possibilities and prospects for a significant expansion of boundaries of forensic support, outlining the innovative foundations of forensic support in various areas of law enforcement (in particular, in pre-trial investigation and hearings; in criminal and civil proceedings; administrative proceedings; in prosecutors, lawyers and notaries). It is noted that innovations in forensic support of law enforcement agencies should be identified both as a whole and by individual entities. With regard to the subjects whose activities need forensic support, certain levels and directions of such activities are identified. New scientific approaches to the solution of the researched discussion questions are substantiated and perspective directions of their research are defined.

Тactical and Forensic Bases of Judicial Activity

The purpose of the work is to determine the essential content and structure of the information model of tactical and forensic activities of the court in the modern realities of the functioning of adversarial criminal proceedings. The main tasks implemented to achieve the objectives of the study: 1) analysis of the determinants of the court»s tactical and criminalistic activity; 2) development of a system of tactical and criminalistic postulates that characterize the basis of the tactical and criminalistic component of judicial activity. In the process of work, methods of analysis and synthesis were used, system, formal legal and other methods were used. The result of the research is the formation of a modern conceptual information model of tactical and forensic activities of the court.

Comparing footwear impressions that are close non-matches using correlation-based approaches.

Forensic activities related to footwear evidence may be broadly classified into the following two categories: (1) intelligence gathering and (2) evidential value assessment. Intelligence gathering provides additional leads for investigators. Assessment of evidential value, as practiced in the United States, involves a trained footwear examiner evaluating the degree of similarity between a known shoe of interest (together with its test impressions) and footwear impressions obtained from a crime scene, by performing side-by-side visual comparisons. However, the need for developing quantitative approaches for expressing similarities during such comparisons is being increasingly recognized by the forensic science community. In this paper, we explore the ability of similarity metrics to discriminate between impressions made by a shoe of interest and impressions made by close non-matching shoes. Close non-matching shoes largely share the same design and size. Therefore, the ability to effectively discriminate between them requires considering, either explicitly or implicitly, not only design and size, but also wear patterns and, to some extent, individual characteristics. This type of discrimination is necessary for assessment of evidential value. The similarity metrics examined in this paper are correlation-based metrics, including normalized cross-correlation, phase-only correlation, AvNCC, and AvPOC. The latter two metrics are based on features obtained from a convolutional neural network. Experiments are performed using Everspry impressions, FBI boot impressions, and the West Virginia University footwear impression collection. The results show that phase-only correlation performs as well as or better than the other metrics in all cases for the datasets we considered.

“This is who I am and this is what I’m carrying”: examining self-disclosure in forensics

The forensic activity provides an opportunity for students to tackle a variety of topics and subjects. Many topics, specifically in individual events, can provide an outlet for competitors to self-disclose information to audience members. For this qualitative study, we interviewed 13 participants to understand how forensic competitors use self-disclosure within forensics. Our findings suggest that competitors use forensic competitions to implicitly and explicitly self-disclose private information. Additionally, competitors noted using negative experiences with disclosure and general forensic norms to develop privacy boundary rules when determining whether to self-disclose. Most importantly, the study results provide descriptions of and explanations for the types of communication strategies competitors incorporated when considering self-disclosures in forensics. We discuss implications for communication privacy management theory and for competitors, forensic practitioners, and communication scholars.

THE RATIO OF VOLUNTARY AND MANDATORY USE OF STANDARDS IN FORENSIC ACTIVITIES

The purpose of this paper is to study the legislation on standardization in the Russian Federation, the provisions of international and national standards to consider the categories of «voluntary» and «mandatory» application of standards in various aspects in relation to forensic activities. An important issue for the study is to determine the conditions for the transition of a voluntary standard to the status of mandatory for a specific accredited forensic expert organization, as well as the levels of obligation within the applicable international standard GOST ISO/IEC 17025-2019 «General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories». In the course of the study, the following conclusions were formulated. The mandatory application of standards is directly implemented through legislative approval. However, with the initial voluntary application, their provisions may become mandatory for a particular forensic laboratory, provided that it passes the accreditation procedure or in accordance with the terms of the contract with the forensic organization.

A Prototype of Portable Digital Forensics Imaging Tools using Raspberry Device

One of the digital forensics activities has the goal to prove a cybercrime. There are several stages in digital forensics when doing an investigation. Each stage has its suitable hardware and software that is used while investigating a case. Standalone forensics hardware is a suitable media in the process of investigation. It can do an acquisition and imaging process at the same time as the investigation process. Nowadays, standalone forensics hardware for imaging devices has a very high price. This paper gives a solution to develop low budget portable imaging forensics devices using a raspberry device. The device enables us to do an acquisition to a hard disk or flash drive. The output has a raw format file type i.e.dd. This device includes a logging file consisting of detailed information related to the digital evidence also hashing to provide file integrity. The result of this paper describes how to construct a prototype low budget portable device for digital forensics acquisition using a raspberry device and how to operate it in GUI. The prototype was successfully created and tested in several scenarios. The performance test of this device has a result of that transfer rate of 1,85 MB/s.

Information Support For Forensic Expert Activities Of Forensic Institutions: Current Problems Of Theory And Practice

The article examines the process of informatization of the professional activity of forensic experts, the main directions of using computer technology in the informatization of the practical activities of experts, it studies a number of problems in the field of information support of forensic expert activity and in this regard, it is proposed to supplement Article 27 of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On forensic examination”.

Peculiarities of expert researches of the special technical means for covert audio or video control and observation over the person, thing or place

The article is devoted to the development of methodological support for forensic expert activity. The article discusses the issues of expert research of special technical means for covert audio and video control, and also examines the issues of their improvement in order to ensure the objectivity of expert opinions on classifying technical means as special technical means for covert obtaining of information. The indicators of technical means are analyzed, which are sufficient to classify them as special technical means for covert obtaining of information. On the basis of the analysis of scientific research in the field of forensic expertise activity, directions for improving expert methods and assessing its effectiveness are proposed. It is argued that the expert opinion is based on an expert assessment of research results, establishing the sufficiency of functionality, technical characteristics and design features of a technical means for classifying technical means as a special technical means of covert obtaining of information. The article provides an example of constructing an algorithm for solving typical problems during forensic expertise of special technical means for covert obtaining of information. In the context of the methodology of scientific knowledge, prospective directions for the improvement of expert methods are analyzed. Based on the analysis results of the special technical means for covert audio and video control features, approaches are proposed to ensure the effectiveness of the methodology, as well as the objectivity of expert opinions in order to the classification of a technical means as special technical means for covert obtaining of information.

Part 2: The Phase-oriented Advice and Review Structure (PARS) for digital forensic investigations

This work forms the second part of a two part series providing the necessary scaffolding for the digital forensic discipline to conduct effective peer review in their laboratories and units. The first part articulated the need for a structured approach to peer review in digital forensic investigations (Horsman and Sunde, 2020). Here in part two, the Phase-oriented Advice and Review Structure (PARS) for digital forensic investigations is offered. PARS is the first documented peer review methodology for the digital forensics field, a six staged approach designed to formally support organisations and their staff in their goal of facilitating effective peer review of DF work, from investigative tasks to forensic activities and forensic analysis processes (Pollitt et al., 2018). This article discusses how the PARS methodology can be implemented, and the available options and mechanisms available to ease the interpretation of this model into existing practices. Both the early ‘Advisor’ and later ‘Reviewer’ roles in PARS are discussed and their requirements and expectations are defined. Three template documents are provided and explained: The PARS Advisors template, the PARS Advisor Brief template and the PARS Peer Review Hierarchy template, for direct use by organisations seeking to adopt the PARS methodology.

Use of Detection Dogs in Forensic Investigations: The Italian Scenario

This paper describes the latest advancements of forensic odorology, a technique that uses canine units to detect forensic evidence at a crime scene. For a long time, dogs’ olfaction has been used to find missing persons, dead bodies, and explosive substances. These dog skills have been further de-veloped to identify olfactory fingerprints at crime scenes. Currently, forensic odorology plays an important role in pyromania and arson investigations, computer and electronic material searches, fugitive location, currency, tobacco and weapon recovery, as well as poaching fighting. During the Scent Detection activity, the dog is trained to detect the smell of a previously imprinted substance (substance odor imprinting). When the dog sniffs traces of a specific substance, it focuses on the track and follows itn to identify the odor source. Thus, the dog will reproduce a previously ac-quired behavioral response to signal the handler the presence of the substance. In this review, we touch upon canine forensic odorology, highlight the most innovative forensic activities carried out with dogs, and discuss how these investigative tools can be used in criminal trials.

CURRENT PROBLEMS OF LEGAL REGULATION FORENSIC ACTIVITY IN CONTEXT OF AMENDMENTS TO LEGISLATION

The article deals with legislative amendments in the regulation of forensic examinations and expert research. Its practical application in forensic activity and the use of research results in forensic practice is analyzed. A brief analysis of judicial practice has been carried out for the courts to assess the conclusions of experts, taking into account the amendments made to the legislation on forensic activity, and its recognition as appropriate evidence in the case. The problematic of this article is related to the need to properly regulate the issue of conducting forensic examinations and expert research, due to the presence of a number of contradictions in such regulation now. In particular, regarding a clear definition and regulation of the legal and procedural status of an expert opinion and expert research, as well as special knowledge. The application of the requirements of the law on forensic activities, as amended, with regard to the provision of expert advice to other persons on request prior to the commencement of proceedings in a case, is critically evaluated in practice, as the relevant conclusions may not be taken into account by the courts (as not having an appropriate procedural status). The legislation on forensic activity requires the elimination of gaps and the introduction of appropriate changes, bringing the regulatory legal acts in accordance. In particular, to agree on the requirements of Articles 1 and 71 of the Law of Ukraine “On Forensic Examination” regarding the grounds (its presence or absence). For conducting forensic examinations on the appeal of other persons out of court proceedings, as well as clause 1.8 of the Instruction on the appointment and conduct of forensic examinations and forensic investigations approved by order of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine dated 08.10.1998 No. 53/5. With the Resolution of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court, dated 18.12.2019 No. 522/1029/18 regarding the indication in the expert opinion regarding the expert’s knowledge of criminal liability for a knowingly false conclusion, and that such a conclusion was prepared for submission to court.

International Expert Cooperation in Forensic Activities

International Expert Cooperation in Forensic Activities