CERTAIN ISSUES OF ASSESSMENT AND USE OF THE EXPERT’S CONCLUSION IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS

Abstract

The article defines and illustrates with specific examples the modern practice of evaluating and using expert opinions in criminal proceedings. The authors prove that it is methodologically correct to define two levels of activity in evaluating forensic expertise as an independent form of using special knowledge in criminal proceedings, in particular: the forensic and investigative and expert levels. As for the forensic level, the tactical component of providing an expert opinion is subject to assessment. Based on these positions, the typicality of approaches to the assessment of expert opinions by the court is illustrated by the practice of judicial consideration of cases of road accidents. It is summarized that the expert’s conclusion, which was drawn up during the trial taking into account a wider range of initial data and, in terms of determining the moment of danger for the driver, was consistent with other sources of evidence, was taken as the basis for the proper evidence in the case. At the expert level, the substantive component of the expert’s conclusion is subject to evaluation, which is directly related to the structural organization of the document. In fact, the formal structuring of the conclusion does not ensure the reproduction of the entire logical sequence that the expert was guided by.In conclusion, the author emphasizes the need for algorithmization of the process of evaluating a forensic expert’s opinion. He believes that this process can be based on the structural division of the opinion into an introductory, research, and concluding part. When analyzing the introductory part of a forensic expert’s conclusion, the main attention should be paid to assessing the compliance of its design with the requirements of regulatory legal acts, as well as compliance with organizational, tactical and procedural requirements. Such an assessment of the tactical component of the conclusion covers the analysis of a wide range of conditions not only of the investigative, but also of the judicial situation. In the research part, the content is assessed for compliance with the methods of conducting certain forensic examinations, applied by the expert during the research, and other established requirements of legislation and judicial practice. The ability of a forensic expert to think critically and combine testing of the latest methods and means of working with evidence with their adaptation to the practice of their professional activities is a guarantee of recognizing the research part of the conclusion as scientifically sound. The assessment of the final part should include checking the compliance of the expert’s conclusions with the actual results of the study, as well as with the questions posed to the expert and the task of the examination.