Forensic technique of crime investigation

The criminalistic technique for investigating crimes is a complex of scientific concepts and recommendations formulated on their basis for law enforcement officials who disclose and suppress criminal offenses of a certain category. Let's consider it in more detail.

General provisions of the forensic technique

The recommendations developed on the basis of scientific concepts are concretized and applied in situations typical of certain groups of criminally punishable acts. The general forensic technique is thus implemented through certain techniques. It develops the most effective ways of using recommendations in accordance with the characteristics of acts of one type or another. The methodology is based on the provision that each crime is characterized by individual traits. At the same time, they do not exclude, but, on the contrary, suggest the presence of many unifying signs of the acts of one category. Accordingly, there are common approaches to the investigation of typical crimes.

Key areas

Specialists distinguish the following tasks of the forensic technique :

1. Providing assistance to law enforcement agencies in the disclosure and suppression of unlawful acts.
2. Analysis of the features of individual types of violations.
3. Studying and summarizing the experience of disclosing and combating crimes of various categories.
4. Development of evidence-based recommendations.

Sources

Forensics (forensic techniques in particular) is based on:

1. The law. Normative regulation is carried out primarily by the Constitution. As the industry acts are the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, which establish the signs of acts, limits, subject of proof , etc.
2. Science. The forensic technique uses the provisions of forensic psychology and medicine, technical, natural and other disciplines.
3. Best practices in the disclosure and suppression of acts.

Principles

The concept of forensic techniques reflects key aspects of the work of specialists. Their activities are based on:

1. Ensuring the legality of the disclosure of acts.
2. Specificity of recommendations with their typical nature.
3. The presence of private methods that correspond to various stages of work.
4. Multivariance of recommendations. They are developed taking into account typical cases of investigation.
5. Ensuring the safety of process participants and other persons.
6. The structural unity of private methods in relation to certain categories of acts.

Essential elements

The forensic system includes two key components. The first contains theoretical foundations, fundamental principles. The second includes private forensic techniques . They consist of recommendations intended for use in the disclosure of particular groups of acts.

Theoretical basis

They include the following components:

1. The concept of forensic techniques as a branch of science.
2. The history of the emergence and development of discipline.
3. Principles and functions.
4. The concept and classification of private methods.

All these elements act as a basis for the development of model recommendations.

Special items

The structure of the forensic technique includes sets of scientific concepts and recommendations for organizing and conducting the disclosure and prevention of certain categories of acts. They are sections of typed techniques that summarize all the materials inherent in most violations of a particular group.

Classification

Types of forensic techniques are distinguished by different criteria. According to the criminal law grounds, depending on the category of acts, they distinguish approaches to the disclosure of murders, thefts, sexual assaults, robberies, fraud and other violations, the composition of which is provided for by the Special Part of the Criminal Code. According to the subject composition, methods of investigation of acts committed by minors, mentally ill, recidivists, persons in places of punishment, and foreign citizens are distinguished. Depending on the time of the incident, approaches to disclosing events in hot pursuit of past years are distinguished. In accordance with the place and circumstances of the crime, methods of investigation of acts committed in extreme climatic or industrial and territorial conditions (at weather stations, in remote wintering, etc.), in rural areas, in transport, in the city, in resort areas are distinguished. According to the personality of the victim, approaches to disclosing attacks on foreigners, subjects suffering from mental disorders are distinguished. Depending on the number of groups of crimes covered, the signs of which are provided for by the Criminal Code, they identify specific methods used in the investigation of a certain type of act (for example, murders), and complex methods of two or more categories of related violations (for example, robberies and robberies). By their volume, approaches are divided into full and abbreviated. The former are focused on the entire process of disclosing the act, the latter are used at some stage.

Components of a private technique

Any approach used in the disclosure of a specific group of acts includes several mandatory elements. The forensic investigation technique contains:

1. A description of the type of assault and the circumstances that should be established.
2. The specifics of initiating production and planning the initial and subsequent stages of the investigation.
3. Features of the first and further investigative measures.
4. The specifics of employee interaction. In particular, this refers to the peculiarities of the relationship between the investigator, operational and other law enforcement officials.
5. The specifics of using the help of the media and the public.

Characteristic of attacks

The forensic methodology of the investigation is built depending on the characteristics inherent in a particular category of acts. Information about:

1. Subject.
2. Typical techniques and methods of hiding traces.
3. The identities of the “typical” intruder and the victim.
4. General circumstances of the act (setting, place, time).
5. Typical conditions that have become prerequisites for committing an assault.

The practical value of the characteristic is that information about the individual components of the act allows the employee to identify unknown elements with a high degree of probability, based on knowledge of the unifying features. In accordance with this, forensic tactics are chosen . The disclosure technique is based on the most reasonable typical versions for a particular event in this category.

Circumstances

The facts that are to be determined on specific groups of cases are determined in accordance with the characteristics of the compositions present in the Criminal Code, as well as scientific concepts on the extent and subject of evidence. The forensic technique of crime investigation is aimed at identifying:

1. Events. In particular, the method, time, place and other circumstances are established.
2. Guilty citizen of the assault, his motives.
3. Factors influencing the nature and degree of responsibility, other signs characterizing the identity of the suspect.
4. The circumstances that contributed to the commission of the act and the concealment of traces.
5. The size and nature of the damage.

Excitation of production and action planning

The methodology of forensic research involves determining the most rational and effective sequence of investigative, operational-search and other activities. This takes into account different typical situations and versions at each stage. At the initial stage, the general circumstances for most acts are:

1. The unknown is the identity of the perpetrator.
2. The detention of the suspect in the act.
3. The initiation of production according to information identified during the operational-search measures.
4. Committed confession.
5. The initiation of proceedings is based on official materials.

Initial and Further Actions

The forensic technique involves dividing the process of disclosing the act into certain stages. It, in turn, determines the sequence of investigative measures and the allocation of initial and further actions. All of them solve specific problems in the investigation. Initial actions contribute to:

1. Versioning the event.
2. Understanding the facts to be studied.
3. The collection and consolidation of evidence that for any reason could be lost.
4. Taking measures to apprehend a suspect.
5. The implementation of measures to compensate for damage caused by an unlawful act.

The actions that are carried out in the following stages are focused on the further collection, study, verification and evaluation of the evidence obtained.

Interagency Interaction

The forensic technique is effective when the work of the employees is agreed on the goals, strictly corresponds to the competence and is under the control of the management. The legal basis for interdepartmental cooperation is the Code of Criminal Procedure, Federal Law "On Operational Activities", "On the Prosecutor's Office", "On the FSB", "On the Federal Tax Service" and other federal laws, as well as instructions and orders of the Prosecutor General, departmental legal acts regulating the organization of investigative activities .

Employee Relationship Principles

Employees of various departments carry out their activities:

1. In strict accordance with the law.
2. Subject to competence, against the background of the leading role of the investigator in the process of organizing interaction and independent selection of funds by other participants.
3. According to plan.

The subjects of interaction are the bodies and employees of the inquiry, preliminary investigation, other law enforcement agencies, the prosecutor's office, the Federal Customs Service, the FSB, including the border service. In addition, specialized inspections may participate in the disclosure process. For example, it may be units of the traffic police, the State Service.

Forms of interaction

Any forensic technique involves certain procedural and non-procedural actions. The first include:

1. Fulfillment by investigators of instructions and instructions of the investigator on the implementation of search and other operational measures.
2. The participation of a specialist in the process.
3. Assisting the investigator with the inquiry body in carrying out certain activities.
4. Carrying out on behalf of an authorized employee forensic examination.

Non-procedural actions include:

1. Joint planning for the disclosure of an act as a whole or of specific activities.
2. Formation of operational groups and participation in their work.
3. Systematic exchange of information received by the subjects of interaction.
4. Discussion of the process and results of criminal proceedings.

Public participation

The forensic technique includes various recommendations regarding the process of disclosure of acts. In many cases, public assistance is used to increase the effectiveness of law enforcement agencies. These or other actions of the population are an additional tool that helps speed up the investigation. Various means are used to attract the public. The most popular include:

1. Speeches to citizens with information about the investigated act with a request to provide all the information known in the case. As a rule, information is provided at meetings of housing estates, rural gatherings, and enterprises.
2. Speeches in the media. In particular, local television and radio channels, print media are involved.
3. Displaying photographs or photobots of wanted citizens on television, putting up ads with information about external signs of individuals.

Nuances

When involving the public in the investigation, the investigator must be guided by certain principles:

1. The population provides assistance only voluntarily.
2. The investigator ensures the confidentiality of these preliminary events.
3. Representatives of the public involved in the disclosure of the act are guaranteed safety.
4. Citizens are not entitled to carry out independent actions without informing the investigator.

Revealing Kills

Intentional attacks on human life are considered serious crimes. They pose a great danger to society. This is especially true of the so-called contract killings. As one of the signs of the forensic characteristics of these crimes are information on the methods of their commission and concealment of traces. Receptions can be very diverse. For example, murders are committed with the use of weapons, by poisoning, strangulation, etc. At the same time, criminals try to destroy the traces by hiding the corpse or its parts, moving the body to another place, dismembering or disfiguring the victim, and so on.

The use of one or another method of committing an act causes the appearance of a complex of typical traces. They primarily include the corpse of the victim, the means and instruments of the assault, the traces of the attacker's presence at the scene of the murder, blood particles, etc. Usually such criminals are distinguished by licentiousness, audacity, and cynicism. They are prone to drinking alcohol. As for the victims, they often provoke an assault by their own actions. For example, citizens on the basis of drunkenness enter into fights with others, to one degree or another they are connected with the criminal world. Of course, a completely respectable person can also act as a victim. Information on the circumstances of the crime, in particular such as the place, conditions, time of the incident, allows us to formulate versions of the mechanism of encroachment as a whole, the culprit and its likely partners.

Key issues

In the process of investigating the killings, the investigator must establish a number of circumstances. In particular, he needs to answer the following questions:

1. Has there been a murder? What is the cause of death of a citizen?
2. Where, when, in what way and under what conditions was the assault committed?
3. Who is guilty of murder, what characteristics does an attacker have?
4. If a crime is committed by a group of persons, what is the role of each entity?
5. Are there circumstances that can mitigate or tighten criminal penalties?
6. Who is the victim? What characteristics does he have?
7. What are the signs and extent of the damage caused by the crime?
8. What motives and goals guided the killer? For example, it can be self-interest, revenge, jealousy.
9. What factors contributed to the commission of the crime?

Investigative actions

They are conducted in compliance with the tactical conditions and techniques discussed above. This takes into account the specifics of a particular act. The initial investigative steps taken to solve the killings are:

1. Inspection of the place.
2. Interrogation of witnesses / eyewitnesses.
3. Appointment of forensic research (examination).

As a rule, the initial action is to inspect the place of murder and the corpse. During the examination, signs can be identified that will answer such questions:

1. Is an event a crime?
2. Is the victim's location the scene of the murder? If not, then signs are established by which you can determine where it was committed.
3. Who was killed when?
4. How many intruders were present at the event? How did they get in and leave the crime scene?
5. By what means and method was the murder committed? What measures have been taken to cover up the traces?
6. What did the attacker leave at the scene? What traces can be left on his shoes, clothes, body, weapon of crime, vehicle?
7. What information indicates the identity of the attacker and his motives?
8. From what place could you hear or see what was happening?

An external examination of the corpse is carried out with the mandatory participation of a forensic expert. During the inspection, the time, place and method of causing death are established. The survey also allows you to determine whether the criminals moved the corpse or not.