Fedyaev, O.N. Topicality of use of external characteristics of a person in order to identify a suspect

Abstract: The article is devoted to the topical issues of identification of suspects in the process of investigation and solving of crimes, as well as in investigative activities. Identifying a criminal is an element of the process of investigation, so the measures for his identification should be tactically and logically substantiated. The author states that identifying a criminal is based upon the analysis of the event of crime based upon the combination of circumstances and traces of a crime used in order to establish the external characteristics of a criminal. It is of foremost importance for the forensic identification of a suspect to gather and analyze various information on the suspect in order to identify him based on various characteristics, such as anatomic, general physical, functional elements. When writing the article the author used the methods and methodology of forensic identification of a person based on external characteristics. The methodological basis for the article was found in the classical works on forensic studies and criminal law, polling of the staff of the law-enforcement bodies on relevant issues. Additionally, the author studied scientific works and articles on general theory of forensic studies and forensic tactics. The scientific novelty is due to the fact that a number of theoretical provisions regarding identification of a criminal is being developed in forensic studies and other legal sciences. However, they are not sufficient for the needs of fighting crime at the current stage of society development. The method of description of appearance of a person with words is convenient for the purposes of its distribution among the police officials, since it does not require any special technical appliances. It is undoubted that high rate of results in the sphere of intercepting a criminal may be achieved when the appearance of a criminal is described correctly, since a non-systemic description of the appearance shall not have any positive results. It is undoubted that solving a crime in “hot pursuit” is one of most successful and efficient options.

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