Judicial expertise and technical-scientific or forensic medical assessments – means of specialized knowledge employing

Abstract

The respective scientific article is devoted to the analysis of the object, as well as the role and importance of judicial expertise and technical-scientific and forensic medical findings in establishing the truth within criminal proceedings. The judicial expert report, as well as the technical-scientific or forensic medical finding, according to Article 93 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Moldova, constitute means of evidence which, among other things, share certain common characteristics. For this reason, it is necessary to determine the common elements, as well as to identify the criteria that allow for the delimitation and differentiation of these two categories of evidentiary means. Thus, the tactics of carrying out technical-scientific or forensic medical findings, as well as judicial expert examinations, involve a set of activities carried out by the criminal investigation officer and the court of law, which include ordering the examination and assessing its results. An essential role in this process is played by the judicial expert or specialist, who directly applies specialized knowledge, conducts research in a specific field, and records the conclusions reached in an expert report or a finding report. The direct purpose of the present study is to examine the manner of ordering technical-scientific and forensic medical findings, as well as judicial expert examinations, the competent authorities empowered to order such findings and examinations, the procedure for conducting them, the differences between them, as well as their role and imminent importance in establishing the truth in criminal proceedings. The indirect purpose of the study is to highlight the importance of technical-scientific or forensic medical findings, as well as judicial expertise, viewed as forms of capitalization of specialized knowledge. The objectives of the present scientific paper consist in defining the concepts of technical-scientific finding, forensic medical finding, and judicial expertise; establishing both the importance and the role of technical-scientific and forensic medical findings and judicial expertise in achieving the purpose of criminal prosecution; describing the procedure for ordering and conducting technicalscientific and forensic medical findings and judicial expertise; identifying the essential differences between technical-scientific findings, forensic medical findings, and judicial expertise; and highlighting the impact of technical-scientific and forensic medical findings and judicial expertise on the achievement of the purpose of the criminal process as a whole. As a result of the present study, the research of scientific works by authors in the relevant field, as well as of the legislation in force, is undertaken, which in turn will contribute to understanding the importance of the object of judicial expertise and of technical-scientific or forensic medical findings in achieving the purpose of the criminal process.