Peculiarities of conducting individual court examinations during the investigation of crimes of the past years

Abstract

This article is concerning on investigation of forensic and psychophysiological examination during the pre-trial investigation of crimes of the past years. The author pays special attention to issues related to forensic, forensic psychiatric and forensic psychological examination as well as to conducting psychophysiological examination using a polygraph.

Quite often in practice of pre-trial investigation and subsequent court proceedings of crimes of the past years it is necessary to deal with issues that cannot be solved by one specialist because they do not have relevant special knowledge. In this case, there is a need for forensics. Equally important is to establish new evidence and to verify the evidence collected during the pre-trial investigation of crimes of past years. The expertise conclusion is one of the most important pieces of evidence in pre-trial investigation of crimes. The grounds for conducting and procedure of appointment the expert examination in criminal proceedings are stipulated by the CPC of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine “On Judicial Expertise” and the Instruction on the Appointment and Conduct of Judicial Expertise and Expert Research, approved by the order of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.

Therefore, in pre-trial investigation of crimes of the past years it is important to conduct forensic and psychophysiological examination. They may be appointed in with regard to the detection of new traces and physical evidence of a crime by an investigator or due to a slander in committing it. However, it should be borne in mind that during this type of examination there are certain difficulties, because the objects under study may be changed over time and lose some of their properties and qualities. Despite this, an expert as a person who has special knowledge assists an investigator in establishing important facts and circumstances for the investigation of respective criminal proceedings.