Regarding the Optimization of the Legal Regulation of the Use of Special Knowledge in the Form of the Involvement of a Specialist in Criminal Proceedings

The article analyzes the following forms (directions) of a specialist's participation in criminal proceedings, such as the provision of: 1) consulting assistance; 2) direct technical assistance; 3) conclusions during the pre-trial investigation of criminal misdemeanors, which in accordance with Art. 298-1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is an independent type of evidence according to the procedural source of confirmation. In particular, with the characteristics of consulting assistance, the opinion is expressed that defined in Part 1 of Art. 71 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, the powers of a specialist (providing consultations, explanations, certificates and conclusions during pre-trial investigation and trial) are essentially different forms of providing such assistance. It was determined that the results of the specialist's consulting activity can be important for solving both organizational and tactical tasks and procedural tasks (that is, have orientation and evidential value), which in turn affects the issue of the order of their fixation in the proceedings materials: if they contribute to the solution of organizational – tactical tasks, then there is no need for their procedural fixation (although it can also take place), if they help to solve procedural tasks, such fixation is mandatory. The consulting activity of a specialist in the form of oral explanations during investigative (search) or other procedural actions does not have independent evidentiary value, but is the content of such a document (as a procedural source of evidence) as the protocol of a certain investigative (search) action, to which they are entered. On the other hand, written consultations of a specialist on issues brought to his discretion by an investigator or a court (in the form of written explanations, certificates and conclusions of a specialist) must be attached to the materials of criminal proceedings, acquiring the independent status of such a procedural source of evidence as a document, since they meet the requirements of part 1 of Article . 99 of the CCP. In connection with this understanding of the essence of the specialist's consulting activity and the significance of its results, the proposal to amend Part 2 of Art. 99 of the CCP on supplementing the list of types of documents with a new item with certain editorial changes, but the proposal to amend Part 4 of Art. 71 of the Criminal Procedure Code (on supplementing the rights of a specialist), as such, which is only a specification of the consultation form for the involvement of a specialist in criminal proceedings, does not apply to all possible objects of consultation and applies only to the pre-trial investigation stage, and not to the entire criminal proceedings. According to the results of the characterization of the third form (direction) of involving a specialist in criminal proceedings, the opinion was expressed about the inadmissibility of the proposal to supplement Part 3 of Art. 214 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a provision that will provide for the possibility to conduct not only an inspection of the scene of the incident, but also such actions as obtaining certificates and a specialist's opinion, not only in relation to a criminal misdemeanor, but also in relation to a crime, as it contradicts one from the main conceptual ideas of the Criminal Code of Ukraine of 2012 about the need to initiate criminal proceedings regarding any information about a criminal offense without first verifying it. The materials of the article represent both theoretical and practical value. They can be used for further scientific research on the legal regulation of the use of special knowledge in the form of the involvement of a specialist in criminal proceedings, as well as for the proper understanding and implementation of law enforcement criminal procedural activities.

criminal proceedings, criminal procedural evidence, evidence, criminal misdemeanors, crimes, special knowledge, involvement of a specialist, a document as a type of evidence, consulting assistance of a specialist, technical assistance of a specialist, opinion of a specialist, the Unified State Register of Pretrial Investigations.