System of Forensic Investigation of Documents: Foreign Experience

Abstract

This article is devoted to the study of system of forensic investigation of documents as a branch of forensic technology. It is indisputable that illegal actions committed with the use of documents or those in which documents are material evidence constitute a significant percentage of the system of criminal offenses committed in Ukraine. The article uses crime statistics for 2020, summarized by the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine. An analysis of similar data for previous periods suggests that over the past five years, crimes with the use of documents have increased. In the paper, we substantiated that such an increase is the result of natural scientific and technological progress, the emergence of new types of information and its carriers. That is why, during the investigation of crimes, not only the document is examined as a material carrier of significant information, but also the information itself, expressed in letters, numbers, symbols or other signs. This article defines the essence of the subject of forensic investigation of documents as the activity of authorized bodies and persons to conduct a comprehensive investigation of documents and information that is important for the investigation of a crime or for its prevention. It is pointed out that in the system of domestic forensic investigation of documents are three parts - forensic authorship, handwriting investigation and technical and forensic investigation of documents. At the same time, it was established that the system for examining documents that have criminalistic significance in foreign countries does not contain any evidence of the existence of a division of this type of examination into separate subspecies. As a rule, in foreign countries, the investigation of documents is covered by the concept of forensic examination, but which is carried out by specialized bodies created precisely for this purpose and which have the appropriate powers throughout the country. Sometimes the investigation of documents and information that they contain is the only functional competence of the created bodies or their structural divisions. The article also identifies the forms of international cooperation in the field of forensic documentation and identifies promising directions for the development of this legal institution of forensic science both for science and for the practical activities of law enforcement agencies.