The article addresses the importance and basic preconditions for the forming a new direction of forensic activity in the system of forensic institutions of the Russian Ministry of Justice a new direction of forensic activity - molecular-genetic analysis of the objects of biological origin. The authors present the advantages of DNA analysis - one of the most modern and efficient methods in investigating criminal cases. The article also demonstrates the potential of different methods of DNA-analysis for forensic investigations. The history of forensic DNA-analysis development in Russia and its features when examining the human, animal, and plant biomaterials are briefly discussed. The authors propose the definitions for the molecular-genetic examinations’ object and subject, formulate the model tasks, and suggest a list of sample questions for this study.

Forensic experts’ primary and additional professional education does not include such a subject as logic. At the same time, knowledge of logic is crucial at all stages of the examination process. Filling this gap, the authors of this article reveal the content of the fundamental laws of logic and demonstrate their role in the cognitive activity of knowledgeable persons who implement their specialized (primarily construction and technical) knowledge in court proceedings. This paper deals successively with such laws of logic as the law of identity, the law of contradiction, the law of the excluded middle, the law of sufficient reason, the law of double negation, Clavius’s law, the law of contraposition, and laws of division (the dichotomy of logic) concerning various investigative and forensic situations. The projection of these laws of logic on the intellectual operations performed by experts will allow, from the authors’ point of view, to give the process of forensic examinations greater clarity and consistency, which, ultimately, should ensure an increase in its efficiency and quality of results. Logically verified approaches to work will also reduce time and financial costs.

Concepts are an integral part of a forensic activity forming a specific terminological system, determining forensic science’s metalanguage, distinguishing it from the related legal sciences: criminalistics and procedural law. The article aims to review the conceptual system of forensic science. The authors point out the heterogeneity of its terminological and conceptual systems, which results from the synthetic nature of this science. Based on the existing classifications of concepts and terms of the general theory of forensic science, a new classification is proposed, including not only traditionally recognized terms such as general and specific scientific, legal notions and special concepts of forensic expertology language, but also the so-called expert concepts: interdisciplinary, intermediate notions, obtained as a result of the transformation of basic sciences’s data. Interdisciplinary notions form the theoretical and conceptual framework for some kinds of forensic examinations, first of all, complex forensic psychological and psychiatric and forensic psychological examinations, which traditionally refer to them as ‘’expert’’. When used in quotation marks, the word ‘’expert’’ indicates the terms’ conditional character, indicating the scope of application and functioning of the concepts, contrasting them to the legal concepts of the same name and basic sciences’ categories.

The article substantiates the need for a comprehensive forensic examination of phaleristic items – orders, medals, and other badges of distinction involved in the sphere of legal proceedings on criminal, civil, arbitration cases, and cases of administrative offenses. The article notes the features of forensic research of state awards of the RSFSR, the USSR, and the Russian Federation, which result from their specific legal status and normatively fixed manufacturing enterprises.
The legitimacy of using the concept of “authenticity” in forensic experts’ conclusions concerning state awards and other subjects of phaleristics has been substantiated. The question of authenticity is crucial and, at the same time, one of the most challenging questions in the research of phaleristic items. Its solution requires assessing all the item’s basic properties and, in many cases, the study of a significant amount of reference and historical material.
The features of the use of specialized knowledge of history, forensic traceology, forensic examination of materials, substances, and products, forensic merchandising examination, forensic technical examination of documents in the course of phaleristic objects’ forensic study are analyzed. The author provides methodological recommendations for determining the sequence of conducting various types of research, formulating conclusions based on the results of a comprehensive study, and drawing up expert opinions.

The article examines the influence of spatial and temporal factors on forming a subtheory of forensic forecasting. The historical analysis of the formation of scientific knowledge about spatial and temporal connections and relationships in the light of the development of the general theory of forensic examination has been carried out. In this regard, the author proposed the term “time correlation of anticipated events” and introduced it into the general time system (from the past to the future) of the time intervals for the occurrence of certain adverse events or phenomena, the so-called precursor events, which by their appearance warn of upcoming events. The author highlights the considerable importance of technological forecasting in organizing human activity since this activity presupposes the future development of various kinds of technologies.

The globalization processes in Europe have allowed international crime to become more global and diversified. The appliance of various forms of forensic knowledge and expertise plays an essential role in current judicial proceedings. Among multiple European cooperation formats, the Council of Europe holds a special place as an international organization that promotes cooperation among its members in standards of the rule of law, human rights, democratic development, and cultural interaction. The year 2021 marks a quarter of a century since the Russian Federation’s participation in the Council of Europe. The authors perceive this date’s significance through the interaction of Russian and European forensic organizations within the framework of the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes (ENFSI). It was Russia’s membership in the Council of Europe that allowed the lead forensic institutions of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs and Ministry of Justice to join ENFSI and actively participate in its work for many years. The article observes the chronology of the key ENFSI events highlighting its evolvement as the lead pan-European forensic expert organization, the basic principles of which were predetermined by the Council of Europe. As an illustrative example of previous cooperation in solving challenging expert problems is proposed the international program initiated by the Russian party and implemented by ENFSI in 2005–2008 to validate complex methods to identify the products containing platinum group metals produced by mining and metallurgical companies. Subsequently, the consolidated position of European and Russian forensic experts at the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum venue in 2013–2015 served as a powerful impetus for practical development of standardization and accreditation issues in forensic science in Russia. Current problematics of cooperation is mainly devoted to the issues of ensuring the quality of forensic examination, reliability of its conclusions, consolidation of expert databases. The authors also note some interaction problems between forensic organizations resulting from different legal systems, cultural traditions, and scientific schools.

The article presents the results of summarizing expert practice on the examination of the features of digital video and sound recordings, which make it possible to determine the time of file creation and date of the recorded events. The author introduces the concept of “time marker” and proposes the classification of time markers in the file name, time attributes, and metadata by form and source of origin. The basic principles of time representation by various file systems are stated. The relationships between different time markers for original records and records made in other ways are analyzed. The article provides examples of using time markers to diagnose the method of making a record.
Various types of time markers that are part of the recorded signal are considered. It is shown which of the recorded events can act as time markers. The author also analyses the possibility of dating using astronomical events. Differences between absolute and relative dating are considered concerning the study of audio and video files. Conclusions are drawn about the significance of the study of time markers for diagnosing the method of making a signalogram, performing relative or absolute dating of recorded events, or technological processes of making a signalogram.

A significant decrease in bank deposits’ profitability forces citizens to look for more profitable investment options, including purchasing various financial products. One such product is an investment life insurance contract. However, investors’ expectations are not always fully met since dealing with financial instruments, such as options, requires a certain of financial literacy, understanding of the futures stock market’s organization and functioning. Arising disputes are often resolved in court. To obtain answers to economical questions, a forensic examination is appointed and carried out.
Forensic analysis on this topic has some features that are discussed in the article. The paper gives a list of objects for expert research and their brief characteristics. The main sources of reference information on quotations of financial instruments are provided. Some concepts and economic categories related to the stock market and derivatives are considered. The Russian and English terms used by the experts during the study are presented and explained.
Using an example from expert practice, the authors explain the logic of the analysis of an option contract and show the sequence of actions that makes it possible to calculate the investment income amount. The article justifies the conditions that restrict the experts when carrying out calculations and should be taken into account when forming and studying the expert opinions.

The relevance of the study of the prosodic structure of speech acts of abuse is due to the tasks faced by an expert linguist in the study of oral discourse. The present study is experimental; in its course, for the first time, a set of universal and individual prosodic means used when pronouncing a conflict statement with signs of verbal aggression is considered. The purpose of the article is to identify the prosodic characteristics of abuse as an illocutionary act and study the features of suprasegmental units of speech containing invective elements, including those in the structure of utterances not limited by the semantics and pragmatics of abuse. An interdisciplinary approach is applied to analyzing spoken texts based on the appeal to acoustic, auditory, and linguistic analysis methods. The study’s object was unique, authentic utterances: spontaneous sounding speech qualified by the preliminary investigation authorities as a public abuse to a government official. As a result of the study, we identified suprasegmental units that characterize the speakers’ invective speech. The prosodic components of the speech act of abuse within the framework of the utterance include the ascending-descending nature of the frequency of the main tone and increased dynamic characteristics of speech. Statements containing signs of abuse are often carriers of other goals. Prosodic accents in such utterances vary and depend on the leading speech purpose of the utterance. Together with their addresser’s speech goal, the analyzed utterances’ propositional content is manifested by a particular prosodic structure. The intonational model of such statements when solving diagnostic expert problems acts as one of the indicators of a subjective negative assessment, which contributes to identifying a speech act as an abuse.

The article addresses some typical situations arising in the course of a forensic psychological examination of footage when it is necessary to establish the following factual data: signs of the credibility of the information reported, spontaneity and preparedness of an interrogated person’s speech, external influence on the given testimony, the emotional state of the interrogated person and his/her psychological characteristics. The author analyses the situations that arise when examining the footage showing informal communication. The article also determines the range of tasks to solve which, the expert needs various specialized knowledge, primarily in the fields of forensic psychology and linguistics. Expert tasks occurring in forensic analysis of the footage of procedural and non-procedural actions depend on the case’s category, significance and procedural status of the footage in the evidentiary framework on the case, and some other factors. The author pays particular attention to the scope of expert competence for different specialties, including on the issues that cannot be solved by expert means at the current stage of scientific development.

The article addresses the issues related to stationary video recorders: their types, purpose, principles of functioning, design characteristics, key components installed in these devices. The author analyses the procedure for using the video recordings from the surveillance cameras in court proceedings. He also justifies the need for comprehensive examinations when investigating stationary video recorders and points out the cases when the appointment of an examination is necessary and when a specialist inspection is enough. The paper presents a research sequence for a stationary video recorder as a computer forensics’ object. Possible questions to the expert, methods, and approaches are listed; difficulties arising during the examination are considered. The author analyzes a case study of a stationary video recorder examination from the expert practice of the laboratory of computer forensics of the Russian Federal Centre of Forensic Science of the Russian Ministry of Justice.

The article addresses the existing points of view on the term “the language of forensic expertise”. The author draws attention to the fact that many forensic expert terms comprise a synthesis of legal and scientific concepts. The legal concepts contained in Chapter 26 “Environmental crimes” of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and the definitions of some of them are analyzed. It is pointed out that a range of expert notions necessary for forensic purposes is defined by the GOST R 58081-2018 “Forensic environmental expertise. Terms and definitions”, including the concepts of “environmental harm”, “damage caused to an environmental object”. They should be gradually implemented into the practice of conducting forensic environmental investigations.

The article consistently analyzes the features of forensic expert activities’ emergence and development. It also shows the substantive features of these activities, the reasons, and circumstances of the manifestation of interdepartmental contradictions in the approaches to their organization. The author concludes that it is necessary to form a nationwide (supra-departmental) system of scientific and technical support for criminal proceedings, including forensic expert activities and computer forensics.

Basing on the analysis of historical events and achievements in forensic science, the author proposes a periodization for the building of knowledge on the standardization in forensic activities in Russia. The author also shows that implementation of the standardization in forensic activities and the development of appropriate practical procedures were critically influenced by the isolation of the Soviet system and subsequent stable scientific and practical international contacts; improvement of the regulatory framework of forensic activities, standardization, and technical regulation in the Russian Federation; continuity of the domestic Soviet science and practice in forensic expertise. For a holistic understanding of the functioning of all the tools and mechanisms of standardization at different stages of the evolution of forensic expertise, the author proposes to develop a model of a subtheory of standartization for forensic expert activity and implement it.