Forensic aspects of the study of ballistic characteristics and damaging properties of low-speed kinetic projectiles

Abstract

During unauthorized rallies, mass gatherings and riots with their extremist escalation into a confrontation with law enforcement agencies, the opposing side of the conflict, in order to remotely contain law enforcement officers and inflict maximum damage on them, actively uses improvised means and widespread objects (stones, fragments of building structures and materials, individual parts of various equipment, etc.), which can be put into free flight with the help of human muscle power or with the help of special throwing devices (slings, slingshots, etc.). Despite their relatively low muzzle velocity, such kinetic projectiles are capable of causing fairly severe bodily injury due to their mass. Since there are no methodological recommendations for determining the ballistic characteristics of these low-velocity kinetic projectiles in modern expert practice in weapons research, the authors conducted experimental studies to determine the data that can be used to calculate their trajectory parameters, as well as to determine their damaging properties.