Comprehensive University Study Notes on Criminalistics and Forensic Science

General Provisions of Criminalistics: Concept, System, Subject, and Sources

Criminalistics is defined as the science investigating the patterns and regularities of the mechanism of a criminal offense, the emergence of information regarding the crime and its participants, and the regularities involved in the collection, research, evaluation, and use of evidence. Based on these regularities, it develops specialized tools and methods for pre-trial investigation, judicial consideration, and the prevention of offenses. Conceptually, it represents a system of knowledge regarding the management of information suitable for establishing any facts or events relevant to legal proceedings.

The system of criminalistics traditionally consists of four interconnected sections. First, the General Theory of Criminalistics serves as the methodological foundation, encompassing basic principles, concepts, categories, and methods for the development of the science. Second, Criminalistic Technique (Forensic Technology) provides the system of scientific provisions and technical means or techniques used for evidence collection and research, essentially forming the technical arsenal of the investigator. Third, Criminalistic Tactics includes scientific provisions and practical recommendations for the organization and planning of investigations, determining the investigator's line of conduct, and the tactics for conducting specific procedural actions. Finally, Criminalistic Methodology is the concluding section that offers complexes of methodical recommendations for investigating specific types or groups of crimes.

The subject of criminalistics consists of the mechanism of the crime and the processes of collection (detection, fixation, extraction, preservation), research, evaluation, and utilization of evidence. Its sources include Criminal Law, Criminal Procedural Law, Criminology, achievements in forensic medicine and forensic psychiatry, and departmental normative acts, most notably the Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) No. $575$.

Criminalistic Identification and Diagnostics: Concept, Types, and Forms

Criminalistic identification is a comparative study of objects related to a criminal offense with the goal of establishing the identity of a specific material object by distinguishing it from a certain set based on a unique complex of features. There are two primary forms of feature reflection. Materially-fixed reflection is the objective fixation in material objects, such as handprints, footprints, weapon marks, vehicle marks, photographs, descriptions, or registration cards. Ideally-fixed (psychophysiological) reflection is the subjective reflection of an imaginary image of an object in the memory of a specific person, where identification is carried out by the individual who remembered the image.

Identification types are categorized by the nature of the reflection: by materially-fixed reflections of external structure; by signs of common origin (identifying a whole from its parts, such as glass shards or button fragments); by signs in human memory; and by the description of signs (using verbal portraits or records).

Criminalistic diagnostics involves the study of the properties and state of an object or situation to establish changes that have occurred, determine the causes of these changes, and their relationship to the offense. The types of diagnostics include the diagnostics of people (establishing characteristics like gender, age, race, profession, or skills based on handwriting, speech, papillary patterns, blood, or odor) and the diagnostics of material objects (determining group or generic affiliation of items like car paint or microfibers on clothing to locate their source). Diagnostics can be carried out in expert form (during examinations), operational-investigative form (during experiments), and accounting-registration form (based on criminalistic registration data).

Forensic Photography and Videography

Forensic photography is a system of scientific provisions and photographic methods, tools, and techniques developed for use in collecting and researching evidence, investigating crimes, and searching for/exposing criminals. Criminalistic video recording is defined as the system of scientific provisions, technical means, and methods used in the production, demonstration, and storage of videos for the purpose of investigating and preventing offenses.

The system of forensic photography includes three components: methods (rules for choosing tools and image processing), shooting techniques (rules for choosing points, direction, and distance), and photographic tools (hardware, software, and materials).

Methods are divided by their sphere of application into Forensically-Operational photography and Forensically-Research photography. Forensically-Operational photography is used directly during investigative (search) actions for the figurative fixation of the scene, traces, physical evidence, and appearance features, serving as visual material for the official protocol. Forensically-Research photography is used in expert activities with specialized equipment (microscopes, image intensifiers) to detect hidden or faint micro-signs, handwriting details, or forgery strokes.

Methods and Techniques of Photography During Scene Examination

During the examination of a crime scene, photography follows a specific methodological sequence. Orienting photography captures the scene along with the surrounding environment, fixing its relationship to the terrain, streets, neighboring buildings, or roads. Overview photography involves fixing the entire territory of the scene (a room or a forest area) to reflect the mutual arrangement of objects, traces, and physical evidence; in rooms, this is done from opposite corners or walls. Nodal photography involves photographing the most important individual areas or groups of objects where traces are concentrated (such as a broken door or an open safe) in connection with part of the surrounding environment. Detailed photography is the isolated shooting of a specific trace or object (a shell casing or a handprint) on a large scale to accurately fix its shape, structure, and features.

Specific methods used during inspection include Panoramic photography, which increases the frame length and can be linear (along a line of objects), circular (from one point with camera rotation), tiered/stepped (at different levels), or spherical. Measuring (metric) photography allows establishing true sizes and distances and includes linear scales (a ruler next to the object), depth scales (a tape extending into the frame), and square scales (sized $50 \times 50\,cm$ or $1 \times 1\,m$). Other methods include Identification (signaletic) photography for fixing appearance, Reproduction photography for copying documents, and research methods such as macro, contrasting, color-separating, ultraviolet, and infrared methods. For example, Infrared rays can penetrate layers of paper or blood stains to reveal graphite or soot.

Criminalistic Study of Traces (Traceology): Concept and Classification

Traceology is the branch of criminalistic technique that studies the theoretical foundations of trace formation, the patterns of the emergence of various types of traces reflecting the crime mechanism, and develops methods for their collection and research. In the narrow (traceological) sense, a trace is a reflection-trace formed during the direct contact or interaction of at least two objects, representing a materially fixed reflection of the external structure of one object on another (e.g., a shoe print on soil or a screwdriver mark on a lock).

Traces are classified based on the trace-forming objects. Anthropogenic traces (human) include handprints (papillary patterns), glove marks, footprints (bare or in shoes), tooth marks, nail marks, body area prints (lips, ears, forehead, nose), and clothing marks. Transport traces include wheel marks of trackless vehicles, crawler chain marks, and marks from protruding parts during collisions. Tool and mechanism traces include burglary tool marks (crowbars, axes), marks on locks, marks on control seals, and industrial equipment marks on products. Animal traces include footprints (paws, horseshoes) and branding marks.

Dactyloscopy: Papillary Patterns and Investigative Value

Dactyloscopy is a sub-branch of traceology (from Greek daktilos – finger, skopeo – look) that studies the mechanism of trace formation and the structure of papillary patterns on human skin to identify individuals. Patterns are distinguished by the structure of the central zone of the nail phalanges:

1. Arch (delta-less) patterns: Approximately $5\%$ of patterns. These consist of one stream of papillary lines starting at one edge of the finger and going to the other, forming bends of varying steepness in the center. These are the simplest in structure.
2. Loop patterns: Approximately $65\%$ of patterns. These are formed by three streams of lines (distal, central, and basal) and have one delta. Lines start on one edge, go up to the center, bend sharply (forming loops), and return to the same edge. The bent part is the head, and the other part is the legs of the loop.
3. Whorl patterns: Approximately $30\%$ of patterns. These consist of three streams and have two or more deltas. The internal pattern is formed by lines bent into circles, ovals, spirals, or overlapping loops.
4. Indefinite patterns: Patterns where the central structure is unclear or combines elements of different types, causing difficulties in classification.

Dactyloscopy is highly effective for investigation because hand contact typically involves the palmar surface, where sweat and grease secretions leave layer traces. It allows for the identification of the person at the scene, narrowing the circle of suspects, establishing crime circumstances (how a weapon was held or a fence climbed), identifying deceased persons through databases like "Daktylo2000," and providing solid evidence for court.

Forensic Weaponology: Ballistics and Traces

Forensic weaponology includes forensic ballistics, the study of cold weapons, and explosive technology. Forensic ballistics studies small arms, cartridges, their components, traces of their action, and the regularities of info reflection, developing methods for their collection and research.

Traces on shell casings are formed as dynamic and static reflections of micro-irregularities of weapon parts (magazine, bolt, extractor, firing pin, ejector, etc.). They are classified by the time of formation into three groups. First, traces formed during loading (from magazine lips, bolt pusher, chamber walls, extractor hook). Second, traces formed at the moment of the shot (from the firing pin on the primer, from the front cut of the bolt on the bottom of the casing, and from chamber walls under gas pressure). Third, traces formed during extraction (from the extractor hook and the ejector).

Traces on obstacles are divided into primary traces (holes) and secondary traces (the "minus-tissue" effect, singeing, soot, unburned powder particles, muzzle imprint or stanzmarka, and lubrication).

Cold Weapons and Their Classification

Cold weapons are items and devices structurally designed and suitable for inflicting repeated serious or fatal bodily injuries, whose action is based on human muscular strength and which have no direct production or household purpose. The sub-branch of cold weapon research studies these items and their traces.

Classification of cold weapons by construction and mode of injury:

1. Direct action: Bladed (knives, daggers, sabers); Non-bladed/impact-crushing (brass knuckles, nunchucks, maces, flails); Combined (knuckle-knives).
2. Indirect action (throwing): Simple (throwing knives, shurikens); Mechanical (bows, crossbows).

Classification by purpose includes combat, hunting, sports, and criminal (home-made/handcrafted with no combat analogs). By manufacturing method, they are factory-made, handcrafted (by masters without industrial standards), or home-made. By the principle of bladed weapons, they are chopping (sabers), stabbing (dirks, stilettos), stabbing-chopping (swords), or stabbing-cutting (knives, daggers). Traces are classified by the mechanism of action into stabbed, cut, stabbed-cut, chopped, dissected, and bruised/crushed injuries.

Forensic Document Examination: Concepts and Forgery

Forensic document examination (Documentology) studies the patterns of information emergence in documents and develops methods for detecting forgery and identifying authors. The system has three directions:

1. Technical-Criminalistic Study of Documents (TCSD): Studying materials (paper, ink), forms, seals, stamps, protective elements, and identifying partial or total forgery (erasure, etching, addition).
2. Forensic Handwriting Analysis: Studying handwritten texts and signatures to identify the specific performer, their gender, age, or psychological state (intoxication, excitement).
3. Forensic Authorship Analysis: Studying the individual written language and style to establish the author.

There are two main types of forgery. Material forgery involves changing physical parameters or details of a document. It can be total (creating a fake from scratch) or partial (erasing, etching, adding text, or replacing photos in a real document). Methods include microscopy, ultraviolet/infrared rays, and physical-chemical analysis of dyes. Intellectual forgery involves a document that is technically genuine (real form, seal, and signature) but contains information that is partially or completely false (e.g., a certificate with an inflated income figure). This is detected through investigative actions like interrogations, contradictions with other evidence, and audits.

Habitoscopy: Identification of Persons by Appearance

Habitoscopy is the branch of criminalistic technique studying the patterns of fixing and reflecting human appearance signs to identify living persons or unidentified corpses. It is based on the stability, individuality, and comparability of anatomical, functional, and accompanying signs. Ways to use habitoscopy include: creating a verbal portrait (systematic scientific description of anatomical features); producing subjective portraits (composites/photofits) via computer programs based on witness testimony; conducting presentation for identification (line-ups); forensic portrait examination (comparing photos/videos or skulls); and checking registration records (photo and video libraries).

Micro-objects: Classification and Research

Micro-objects are small material objects (particles of substances or microorganisms) whose dimensions in any dimension do not exceed $1-2\,mm$, or which require specialized optical tools for detection due to their microscopic volume. They are classified by state of matter (solid particles like glass; liquid micro-drops like blood; or gaseous odor traces); by origin (organic like hair or skin scales; or inorganic like sand or gunpowder); and by the nature of the connection with the carrier (micro-particles which are detached pieces, or micro-traces which are layers of substance on a surface). Modern methods like electron microscopy and chromatography allow these to prove contact between clothing or link a suspect to a specific location.

Criminalistic Registration

Criminalistic registration is a system for collecting, accumulating, and systematizing information about objects of forensic significance. The system includes Operational-reference records (alphabetical-dactyloscopic data on convicted persons); Criminalistic records (modus operandi, unidentified corpses, missing persons, stolen values); and Expert-criminalistic collections (bullet and shell casings, counterfeit money, handwriting samples). Investigators use these by sending official requests to databases like the Integrated Information and Telecommunication System of the MIA to identify detainees, weapons, or stolen property.

Criminalistic Tactics, Versions, and Planning

Criminalistic tactics is a system of recommendations and techniques aimed at the effective organization of investigation and planning. It includes general provisions (tactical risk, tactical decisions) and the tactics of specific investigative actions (search, interrogation, experiment). Its sources are the Constitution of Ukraine, the Criminal Procedural Code (CPC), and investigative practice.

A criminalistic version is a justified assumption regarding the essence of the event or its circumstances based on primary data. Versions are classified by subject (investigative, judicial, expert); by scope (general regarding the whole event or specific regarding elements like time or motive); and by degree of certainty (typical for early stages or specific for the case). Planning is the mental process of determining the paths, means, terms, and sequence of actions to verify all versions.

Tactics of Scene Examination and Movement Methods

Scene examination is a search action involving the direct perception and fixation of the appearance and state of material objects to identify traces. It consists of the preparatory stage, the working (research) stage, and the concluding stage. The working stage is divided into the static stage (fixation without moving anything, using orienting and overview photography) and the dynamic stage (active movement of objects, nodal and detailed photography, and evidence extraction).

Movement methods define the trajectory: Concentric (spiral from periphery to center, often used in closed rooms); Eccentric (spiral from center to periphery, used if the center is fragile); and Frontal/Linear (line movement across large open spaces). Fixation methods include verbal (protocol), graphical (plans/sketches), visual-figurative (photography/video), and objective (extraction or casts/molds).

Osviduvannya (Examination of a Living Person)

Osviduvannya is a type of examination involving the inspection of a living person (suspect, witness, or victim) to detect traces of a crime or special marks without a full forensic medical exam. It aims to find crime traces (bruises, blood, soot) and special marks (tattoos, scars). Ethics require that if the examination involves stripping, the investigator must be of the same gender as the person. If not, a doctor or specialist conducts the exam under the investigator's control. Photography at this stage requires voluntary written consent, and all findings are confidential.

Tactics of Search (Obshuk)

A search is an urgent investigative action involving the forced inspection of premises, housing, or persons to find evidence, weapons, or people. Tactics include suddenness, planning, and use of technology (metal detectors). The process involves a preparatory stage (obtaining a court order, gathering the group), a working stage (dividing the area into zones and searching using concentric or frontal methods), and a concluding stage (protocol, packaging, and giving a copy of the protocol to the searched person). Tactical combinations may include "sequential search" to observe the subject's psychological reaction when the investigator nears a hiding place. Objects of search include tools of crime, stolen values, items removed from civil circulation (drugs, illegal weapons), and documents.

Tactics of Interrogation and Questioning

Interrogation is the procedural obtaining of oral or written testimony. It is classified by status (witness, suspect, expert), by age, by sequence (primary, additional, repeated), and by tactical situation (conflict or non-conflict). The working stage consists of four stages: Establishing psychological contact, Free narrative, Questioning (detail and clarification without leading questions), and Acquainting the person with the protocol.

Simultaneous interrogation of two or more persons (formerly called a confrontation) is conducted when there are significant contradictions in their testimonies regarding the same facts. The goal is to eliminate contradictions and establish the truth through visual contact.

Questioning (Opytuvannya) differs from interrogation because it is voluntary, does not have the same procedural status as evidence in court (it serves as a lead/orientation), and the participant bears no criminal responsibility for refusing to speak. It is regulated by the Law of Ukraine "On the National Police" and the Law "On Operational-Investigative Activity."

Practice of Presentation for Identification and Investigative Experiment

Presentation for identification involves an identifier comparing an object (person, thing, corpse, or animal) to an image in their memory. The object must be presented among at least three similar objects. If identifying a person, they must be allowed to choose their place among the stand-ins. Sometimes one-way glass is used for safety.

An investigative experiment involves recreating the conditions of a past event to check the possibility of perception (could they see it?), the possibility of performance (could they lift it?), or the mechanism of trace formation. Tactical requirements include maximum similarity to real conditions (time, weather, lighting), multiple repetitions to exclude chance, and conducting the experiment in stages. The investigator must not perform the actions themselves; they are performed by participants or stand-ins (statists).

Special Knowledge and Forensic Expertise

Special knowledge refers to professional skills in science, technology, arts, or crafts that are not common knowledge. Its use is procedural (specialists or experts) or non-procedural (consultations). Forensic experts provide conclusions that are independent sources of evidence.

Experts need samples for comparison, which are categorized as:

1. Free samples: Created before the crime and unrelated to it (e.g., old letters).
2. Conditionally-free samples: Created after the crime started but not specifically for the expert (e.g., signatures on protocols).
3. Experimental samples: Created specifically for the examination by an investigator’s order (e.g., fingerprints on a card).

Criminalistic Methodology and Specific Crimes

Criminalistic methodology is the final section of the science, offering algorithms for investigating specific crime groups. The structure of a specific methodology includes the criminalistic characteristic of the crime, the legal basis, typical investigative situations/versions, tactics for specific actions, use of special knowledge, and preventive measures.

The Criminalistic Characteristic is a system of typical information regarding the method of commission/concealment, typical traces, the subject/target, the persona of the criminal and victim, and the setting. For murder investigations, the method (weapons, poisons) and traces (blood, micro-objects) are key. For property crimes, the target (money, gadgets) and the method of entry (picking locks) are central. For sexual violence, biological traces and psychological tact are paramount.

Investigation of War Crimes

War crimes are violations of the laws and customs of war (Article $438$ of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) and international acts like the Rome Statute. They include mistreatment of prisoners, destruction of civilian objects, and use of forbidden weapons. In Ukraine, they are primarily investigated by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), though inter-agency groups are common.

Criminalistic characteristics of war crimes include the use of heavy weaponry, massive destruction, and subjects who are military personnel or mercenaries of the aggressor. Traces include craters, shell fragments, and digital traces (drone videos, satellite images, phone intercepts). Scene examination can only occur after demining by the State Emergency Service (SES). 3D scanning and quadcopters are essential technical tools. Digital evidence must be verified for authenticity to exclude deepfakes or photo manipulations.