CRIMINALISTICS SUBJECT: STAGES OF FORMATION AND MODERN APPROACHES

Abstract

Currently transformation of criminalistics subject is determined due to reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the prosecutor's office, courts and other bodies of criminal justice authorities of Ukraine, change of status, powers of operational units, bodies of pre-trial investigation , expert institutions, and their organizational and structural reformations. Concepts regarding the initial stage of development criminalistics subject has been improved. This stage defined the period 1893–1914 years, when the data on the criminalistics subject reflected in writings, mainly Western European criminalists (H. Gross, R. Reiss, A. Nicheforo, etc.).  Five stages of development approaches to the criminalistics subject are proposed: first (1893–1914) – physical evidence research, the behavior of criminals and the activities of participants in criminal process; second (1915 – until the 1930s) – technical support for crime investigation; third (1930s to 1967) – disclosure, investigation and prevention of crimes; fourth (1967 to the end of the 20th century) – research on patterns of information emergence about the crime and those based on cognition of these patterns, forensic means and methods of disclosure, investigation and prevention of crimes; fifth (beginning of the 19th century until the present) – criminalistics is defined as a science studying criminal activity patterns, genesis of information about a crime or any phenomenon in society and which is used in a number of types of legal proceedings and related social relations. The author has proved that in such new approach to the definition of criminalistics subject it is necessary to take into account the scope of criminalistic knowledge application, conceptual approaches to crime investigation provided by criminal procedural law, modern legal terminology.