Combating Crime With the Help of Criminalistics

• Author: E. Smakhtin - R. Sharapov
• Position: Tyumen State University (Tyumen, Russia) - St. Petersburg Law Institute (Branch) of the Federal Establishment of Higher Education University of the Office of the Prosecutor of the Russian Federation (St. Petersburg, Russia)
• Pages: 155-174

BRICS LAW JOURNAL Volume V (2018) Issue 4

CoMBaTInG CRIME wITH THE HELP oF CRIMInaLISTICS

EVGENY SMAKHTIN,

Tyumen State University (Tyumen, Russia)

ROMAN SHARAPOV,

St. Petersburg Law Institute (Branch) of the Federal Establishment

of Higher Education University of the Oce of the Prosecutor of the Russian Federation

(St. Petersburg, Russia)

DOI: 10.21684/2412-2343-2018-5-4-155-174

This comparative study examines the issue of combating crime with criminalistic methods.

It focuses on the role and signicance of criminalistics in the system of substantive and

criminal procedural law as a science standing at the forefront of the ght against crime.

The criminals and their oenses as well as the investigation of criminal cases and judicial

proceedings are the objects of the analysis. The correlation between the criminal sciences

and general trends in the development of a number of European and BRICS countries (with

China as an example) has been emphasized. Joint research into the most pressing problems

of combating crime is believed to improve the eciency of law enforcement activities. From

this perspective, there is a need to develop a universal framework of categories and concepts

which will help to create a unied forensic area in Europe and the BRICS countries.

Keywords: criminal law; criminal proceedings; criminalistics; crime; oender; characte-

ristics; trace.

Recommended citation: Evgeny Smakhtin & Roman Sharapov, Combating Crime

with the Help of Criminalistics, 5(4) BRICS Law Journal 155–174 (2018).

Introduction

The globalization of the world economy and joint projects conducted by dierent

countries in a number of spheres including the ght against crime necessitate an

BRICS LAW JOURNAL Volume V (2018) Issue 4 156

understanding of counter-crime methods and means. There are several dierent

mechanisms with which to combat international crime. Traditionally, the most signicant

tools in this ght are the instruments in the elds of criminal substantive law, criminal

procedure and criminalistics. However, the approaches to the denition of the same

concepts, both in science and in practice, dier throughout the world. For example, the

countries with the Anglo-Saxon legal system make use of the term “forensic science,”

which is dened as the application of scientic methods to legal matters, civil and

criminal cases.1 In France, Belgium and some other European countries, the terms

“scientic police,” “police techniques” and “technical police” are used; they relate to a set

of methods and techniques for detecting and xing traces left at a crime scene.2

In addition, European countries have also developed a broader concept of

“police science” which covers the full spectrum of police matters,3 including crime

investigation. Germany and countries of Eastern Europe use the term “criminalistics” to

dene the doctrine of methods and means of combating certain crimes and crime in

general through preventive and repressive measures.4 At the turn of the 20th century,

Russian scientists were greatly inuenced by their German colleagues, thus the rst

books on criminalistics in Russia were translated from German into Russian5 and the

term “criminalistics” became widely accepted, both in theory and in practice.

In the East, for example in the People’s Republic of China, the use of special knowledge

in the course of criminal case investigation and hearings is also widespread.6 Finding

promising areas in the study of crime in China7 that are systematic and comprehensive8

is of increasing interest to scientists and practitioners.

1 Suzanne Bell, Encyclopedia of Forensic Science 162 (Revised ed., New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2008).

2 Хаткевич Е.П. Сравнительная характеристика представлений о судебной науке, криминалистике

и смежных понятий в странах Европы // Криминалистика и судебная экспертология: наука,

обучение, практика [Еlena P. Khatkevich, Perception of Forensic S cience, Criminalistics and Related

Concepts in European Countries: Comparative Analysis in Criminalistics and Judicial Expertology: Science,

Training and Practice] 93–94 (Vilnius: Nicolo Ramiros University, 2013).

3 Hans-Gerd Jaschke et al., Perspectives of Police Science in Europe: Final Report, CEPOL (April 2007), at

23–24 (Nov. 2, 2018), available at https://www.cepol.europa.eu/sites/default/les/website/Research_

Science/PGEAPS_Final_Report.pdf.

4 Hinrich de Vries, Ist die Kriminalistik eine Wissenschaft, 3 SIAK-Journal − Zeitschrift für Polizeiwissenschaft

und polizeiliche Praxis 27, 28 (2010).

5 Вейнгарт А. Уголовная тактика. Руководство к расследованию преступлений [Albert Weingart, Criminal

Tactics. A Guide to Investigating Crimes] 272 (V.I. Lebedev (ed.), St. Petersburg: Bulletin of Police, 1912).

6 Лэй Т. Судебная экспертиза в уголовном процессе КНР и СССР (опыт сравнительного исследования):

Автореф. дис. … канд. юрид. наук [Tan Lei, Forensic Examination in Criminal Proceedings of the PRC and

USSR (Experience of Comparative Research): Synopsis of a Thesis for a Candidate Degree in Law Sciences]

20 (Voronezh, 1991).

7 Lin Liu & Jessica C.M. Li, Progress and Future Directions of Crime Research in China with Selected Case

Studies, 4(1) Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 213 (2017).

8 Kam C. Wong, The Study of Criminology in China: Historical Development: Part I, 44(3) China Report 213 (2008).