Theoretical and methodologigal aspects of forensic commodity examination in today’s conditions: basic principles, revevance

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of theoretical and methodological approaches to conducting a forensic commodity examination in today’s conditions. The relevance of the article lies in the fact that forensic commodity examinations remain significant among other types of examinations, because the number of registered criminal proceedings based on crimes related to theft, fraud, and robbery is increasing every year. Statistical data (of a specific organization) indicate an average 10% increase in the assignment of commodity studies, which stimulates the development of commodity studies to a new level: this is the training and retraining of employees (increasing their professional level), this is international cooperation and the acquisition of practical experience. this is also the improvement of the regulatory and legal framework itself, etc. The article analyzes the scientific literature with the interpretation of different opinions of scientists and specialists regarding the issue of conducting a forensic commodity examination. It has been established that the forensic examination is one of the unique ways of obtaining evidentiary information, and its conclusions are an important source of evidence contributing to the establishment of the truth in the case. Based on this, the expert’s opinion significantly expands the cognitive capabilities of the court, makes it possible to use the entire arsenal of modern possibilities of science and technical development during pre-trial and judicial review of cases. However, the current state of expert activity requires improvement of the regulatory and legal framework. It is substantiated that the process of conducting any expert research, including commodity research, the result of which is drawing up conclusions, is an algorithm of actions of a forensic expert with the aim of providing substantiated answers to the questions posed. A characteristic feature and specificity of expert activity is the availability of experience, professional skills and special knowledge. Also given is an approximate list of questions that relate to a forensic expert-commodity expert and tasks that can be solved when conducting this type of research.