MATERIAL EVIDENCE IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS: SEPARATE ISSUES OF THEORY AND PRACTICE

Abstract

The scientific study carried out a systematic analysis of certain aspects of the institution of material evidence in the criminal process of Ukraine. On the basis of general scientific, special methods based on the theory of knowledge of socio-legal phenomena, some sources of law are studied in detail, the views of lawyers on a number of issues directly related to the topic of the study are analyzed. Attention is drawn to the fact that the legislative regulation of the list of material objects, which at various stages of the development of our state were considered tangible evidence, as well as the procedural order of their discovery, extraction, registration and storage was extremely inconsistent. It is emphasized that one of the first normative legal acts, which regulated the issues outlined above and extended its jurisdiction to part of the territory of Ukraine that was part of the Russian Empire, is the Statute of Criminal Justice of 1864. However, in the criminal procedural legislation that was in force on the territory of Western Ukrainian lands, an unambiguous approach before the use of the term “physical evidence” and the definition of the range of items belonging to their list, was not formed. The generalization of law enforcement activities indicates that in Ukraine there is no unity of approaches of investigators, investigators, prosecutors and scientists regarding the need to issue a resolution on the recognition and attachment of physical evidence to the materials of criminal proceedings. In view of the above, the author’s vision of solving this issue is presented. In view of the above, the author’s vision of solving this issue is presented. Attention is drawn to the fact that the legislator in the prescriptions of the current Code of Civil Procedure of Ukraine left out of consideration the issue of the procedure for recording in criminal proceedings by the victim and the defense party the signs of the identified material object in order for it to acquire the status of physical evidence. In view of the above, some suggestions for improving the provisions of the criminal procedural legislation were proposed.