CRIMINAL PROCEDURAL AND FORENSIC MEANS OF EVIDENCE DETECTION IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS

Abstract

This article is devoted to defining and characterizing criminal procedural and forensic means of detecting evidence in criminal proceedings. It emphasizes that the actions of authorized persons in the targeted search for sources (carriers) of evidentiary information are the subject of forensic recommendations. It is demonstrated that, in practice, the search for evidence is carried out through a combination of cognitive (mental, logical) and instrumental (practical) operations. According to the author, the cognitive component of the search relies on the authorized subject's processing of available evidentiary and orienting information, as well as data on the typical characteristics of a particular type of criminal offense. In turn, the instrumental approach to searching for evidentiary information includes a series of practical actions undertaken by the authorized subject, involving the use of a combination of criminal procedural, operational-search, forensic, and other means of locating its sources (carriers). The procedural instrumental means of evidence search include the methods of evidence collection provided for in the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, primarily procedural actions of a searchoriented nature (crime scene inspection, interrogation, search, certain covert investigative (search) actions, etc.). Forensic means of searching for evidentiary information (its sources and carriers) include technical tools and forensic techniques (both specifically search-oriented and general-purpose), searchoriented tactical techniques, combinations and operations, forensic methodological recommendations regarding the possibilities of searching for evidentiary data in proceedings related to certain categories of criminal offenses, as well as non-procedural tools of criminal (forensic) intelligence: operational-search activities, criminal analysis, the use of forensic information systems (records), open-source intelligence (OSINT), interaction with the media and the public, etc.