| Abstract [eng] |
The criminalistic investigation of materials and items is an investigation regulated by process rules and performed by experts or specialists seeking to examine criminal acts and material evidence which requires science, technique, art or other special knowledge and which results are formalized in an expert act or specialist opinion. Criminalistic investigation of materials and items is combined out of a wide range of independent expertise (object investigation) types which are distinguished by the object criteria. It includes fibres, soil, oil, alcoholic liquids, dies and other expertise (object investigation). There are various tasks being formulated for the investigation of materials and items, which are grouped into identificational and non-identificational tasks (the previous group includes both diagnostically and classification tasks). The awareness of what are the main tasks for every independent investigation allows perceiving what the expertise possibilities are: what facts can be approved or denied by the investigation. The legal background of the imposition of expertise (object investigation) is the necessity to perform a special investigation which requires the special knowledge being used in order to determine the circumstances of the criminal act. The qualified arrangement of the investigative material is an essential premise of the execution of the investigation. The investigative objects can be found in both ways, by performing the search of them or by detecting them. It is essentially important to obey the special rules of taking, packing and keeping the investigative objects. These rules are detailed in the methodical recommendations established by the Lithuanian court expertise center and in other publications. The exploration of every possible avenue or the reduction of expertise possibilities will depend on how precisely these rules are being obeyed. There are many practical problems being issued by the poor theoretical and practical preparation of the pretrial investigation officers who arrange the investigative material. Therefore it is important to take certain actions to raise their qualification effectively, organise trainings and structure their motivation program. In the process of the investigation of materials and items, scientifically proven methods are being applied. Every investigation has its own type of investigative method, which is selected according to the formulated questions. However, due to a wide adaptability in practice, some methods are applied to few types of investigation (for instance, FT-IR spectroscopy, gass chromatography – mass spectrometry and other). Because of a rapid evolution of science and the constant appliance of the effective investigative methods in the expertise practice field, it is essential not to get behind in the forensic possibilities. Although the methods applied in Lithuanian expertise institutions are widely acknowledged and scientifically proven, the possibilities of getting behind is realistic. There are widely applied new investigative methods in the economically strong countries, for example, fibers taping 1:1, Raman spectroscopy, DNR method for the animal and plant origin objects identification and others. Therefore it is important to support the approval of new investigative methods, to capacitate experts (specialists) to be acquainted with the forensic possibilities, finance the scientific investigative projects. It should be also noted the advantages of the development of various computerized databases (automobile covering database and other), the procurement of new investigative facilities and the constantly organised internships, trainings for experts (specialists). The investigation of materials and items IS evaluated upon the evaluative backgrounds of the general evidence: expertise act‘s (specialist opinion‘s) admissibility, relativeness, reliance and the importance for the criminal case. |
