The article explores the issues of feasibility of conducting forensic examinations of materials and objects submitted to federal forensic science organizations of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation if these materials and objects were obtained in the course of search operations. An introduction to the notion of search operations includes a list of agents involved in this type of law enforcement activity, as well as definition of the procedural status of the document produced as a result of such operations. Discussion covers the legal grounds for undertaking forensic examinations consistent with the scope of the core operations of forensic science organizations of the Russian Ministry of Justice. The author proposes pathways for interaction between forensic science organizations of the Russian Ministry of Justice and law enforcement authorities conducting search operations when requested examinations cannot be sponsored by the federal budget.

Various problems of law enforcement practice, e.g. ensuring an adequate scientific level of forensic assistance in criminal proceedings, regulations governing forensic practice, and methodological support for forensic examinations, are examined from the perspective of basic constitutional principles. The authors propose ways to improve current legislation on forensic practice in the Russian Federation.

The paper outlines the organizational framework of forensic expert training in the system of forensic science organizations of the Russian Ministry of Justice, developed and implemented by the Educational Methodology Department of the RFCFS of the Russian Ministry of Justice. Problematic organizational and methodological issues of the training process are highlighted, and possible solutions are examined.

The paper reports on the work of the dissertation board jointly run by two organizations – the Russian Federal Center of Forensic Science of the Russian Ministry of Justice and Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia. Included is an overview of dissertations defended in the year 2016 and early 2017. Conclusions are drawn regarding the role of the dissertation board in advancing forensic science and improving the quality of scientific manpower development.

Adversariality of the parties of prosecution and defense in criminal proceedings offers the defense lawyer an opportunity to apply their special knowledge. The article presents the author's view of the problem of the use of special knowledge by the defense lawyer in the context of an adversarial criminal trial.

The paper looks at computer forensic investigations in terms of the actions of the defense when such services need to be requested and provided in the course of a cyber crime inquiry; special considerations regarding requests submitted by the court or investigator; expert errors and their prevention; the use of procedural and non-procedural forms of special knowledge; problems relating to integrated approaches to forensic investigation.

The paper clarifies some of the provisions of the «Methodology for matching objects to specific firearms» that lend themselves to varying interpretations or lack explicit requirements regarding examination conditions. A newly proposed algorithm is easy to apply in forensic practice and can be recommended as a supplement to the methodology in question.

The paper examines conditions for the ignition of high fire point combustible liquids on extended surface materials (e.g. textiles or insulating materials) prone to the so-called «wick effect». It is demonstrated that such liquids may ignite at lower temperatures than their standard fire points. The «wick effect» has to be taken into account when determining the nature of the liquid used to set fire to a person and/or property. The implications of this effect for the spontaneous combustion of liquids and meltable solid organic substances on porous materials is also discussed.

ERRATUM

An error was discovered in the article. The reference to GOST R 51355-99 on page 47 was incorrect and should have read as follows: Alekseyev S.G., Barbin N.M., Avdeyev A.S., Pishchal’nikov A.V. Explosion and Fire Hazards of Vodka. Fire and Explosion Safety. 2009, vol. 18, No 2, pp. 20–23.

The error was corrected on April 6, 2018.

The analytical review examines the issues of forensic investigation into the circumstances of production of digital video and audio recordings. The paper presents the organization and lines of inquiry in forensic analysis of video and audio evidence, computer forensics, forensic linguistics, and psychological evaluation established in the system of forensic science organizations of the Russian Ministry of Justice by 2013–2016. The analysis covers the issues of independent or integrated application of the listed types of special knowledge in order to meet the discipline-specific and comprehensive objectives of determining the circumstances of video/audio production. General strategies and types of forensic diagnostics of production circumstances are discussed without too much emphasis on the methodological minutiae of every stage of the investigation.

The paper examines the particulars of individual and comparative analysis of video images portraying the physical appearance of human subjects, when conducted for the purposes of forensic facial recognition. It details the specifics of the expert's actions at these stages of the investigation. Presented guidelines on the use of recommended methods of forensic video analysis are based on a review of forensic practice. The author points out that when studying elements of human appearance, the expert should as a matter of priority take into account those factors that affect the display of features in the video.

The article discusses problematic issues related to expert errors in forensic ballistics. The causes of procedural and implementation errors committed by investigators and forensic practitioners are examined, and ways to prevent and eliminate such errors are suggested.

The author examines current applications of infrared spectroscopy in forensic practice and in various areas of science and technology. The paper includes an overview of objects that warrant the use of this forensic analytical technique. It is pointed out that not all capabilities of the method are currently put to use by forensic practitioners. It is also noted that methods based on infrared spectroscopy can be used for quantitative analysis, as well as the study of far and near infrared absorption spectra for forensic purposes.

The paper analyzes several expert reports to illustrate the principal sources of errors that lead to unreliable conclusions when the examiner attempts to determine the age (date) of a handwritten entry using unvalidated techniques. This work is meant to aid forensic examiners in responding to queries about the validity of document examinations conducted by private service providers

The paper discusses the phenomenon of offense to religious beliefs and its social and cultural context from the perspective of religious studies. It corroborates the idea that public acts that demonstrate obvious disrespect towards a religion, and “premeditated public desecration” of religious objects lead to distortion of the meaning of religious notions and beliefs, rather than offending religious sensibilities as such. A forensic expert working on cases involving offense to religious beliefs and sensibilities needs to be competent in the field of religious studies in order to address three objectives: to investigate the religious meaning of desecrated objects; to determine the intentional nature of the resulting transformation of religious ideas; and to describe the religious and cultural context and the direction of the transformation, which in turn helps to define the social implications of such transformation.

This section presents translated abstracts of selected papers that appeared in the following periodicals: Journal of Forensic Sciences (JFS), Volume 61, Issues 4, 2016 (American Academy of Forensic Sciences – AAFS), published by Wiley (USA), [available online at: www. onlinelibrary.wiley.com]; Science & Justice, Volume 56, Issue 2–4, 2016 (journal of the Chartered Society of Forensic Scientists), published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd [contents lists available at: www.sciencedirect.com; journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scijus].

The article outlines the program of the VI International Science & Practice Conference “The Theory and Practice of Forensic Science under Current Conditions”, dedicated to the memory of Distinguished Lawyer of the Russian Federation Professor Yurii Kuz'mich Orlov. The conference was held January 19–20, 2017 at Kutafin University in Moscow.

The paper presents the outcomes of the Round Table "Current Problems in the Organization and Implementation of Continuing Professional Education in the System of Forensic Science Organizations of the Russian Ministry of Justice" hosted December 7th, 2016 by the Ministry of Justice in Moscow.

The paper presents outcomes of the International Conference of the European Document Experts Working Group (EDEWG) held on November 15–18, 2016 in Frankfurt am Main (Germany).