Russian Federal Centre of Forensic Science of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation

Forensic examination of occupational health and safety is a completely new way of establishing circumstances in the investigation and solution of crimes related to incidents, accidents and emergencies. This type of forensic examination is included in the class of engineering and technical forensic examinations along with the explosion examination. The article discusses the main terminological characteristics of this type of forensic examination.

The heightened need of law enforcers in forensic examination production has led to an increase in the number of governmental and non-governmental forensic organizations, as well as in the demand for expert training of more professional staff, including private experts. This training can be provided through both higher and additional professional education. For all levels of expert training, an important point is the development of practical skills, which can be implemented using both traditional and innovative modes of training. The possibility of using e-learning, including the use of virtual learning complexes, is provided for by the current legislation of the Russian Federation and is presently considered one of the priorities. The “Virtual Criminalist” educational and methodological complex can be used to develop practical skills among students.

<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Context and relevance.</strong> In expert practice, semi-projective methods and questionnaires are most often used to assess parental attitudes. <strong>Objective.</strong> To compare the capabilities of the methods “Analysis of Family Relationships” and “Parental Essay” for studying the characteristics of parental attitudes of mothers living together and separately with their children, during forensic psychological examinations in disputes about upbringing. <strong>Hypothesis.</strong> Categories that differ significantly between mothers living together and separately from their child can be identified by both methods; the results of applying the methods will significantly correlate in identical categories. <strong>Methods and materials.</strong> The study involved 30 women undergoing forensic psychological examination as part of a legal dispute on determining the child's place of residence or the procedure for communicating with a parent living separately. Parental attitude was established using the “Parental Essay” method, and parenting style was determined using the “Analysis of Family Relationships” questionnaire. <strong>Results.</strong> The results showed significant differences in the studied groups in the parameters “respect”, “unstable parenting style”, “underdevelopment of parental feelings”, “introduction of conflict between spouses into the sphere of education”. <strong>Conclusions. </strong>It is shown that the essay reveals unconscious attitudes through text analysis (qualitative data), and the standardized questionnaire gives a quantitative assessment on scales; both methods complement each other and make it possible to use them integratively.</p>

The article considers the basic mechanism and the construction details of lithium-ion batteries causing their fire and explosion hazard. It gives the results of fire-technical examinations carried out by RFCFS which confirm the possibility of fires due to the emergency operation mode of lithium-ion batteries. It is shown that use of an instrumental method for detection of the emergency operation traces left after fire on the battery fragments is not a sufficient reason to conclude that this operation mode caused the fire.

This article is dedicated to the study of the legal nature of the Fundamentals of State Policy for the Preservation and Strengthening of Traditional Russian Spiritual and Moral Values, to determine the role and influence of this strategic planning document on the legal system of the Russian Federation. The authors conclude that the mentioned Fundamentals of State Policy is a political and legal act, which, due to the specific nature of the values it establishes, has a special legal significance in the legislative system of Russia. Firstly, from a formal point of view, the Fundamentals of State Policy differs from many other strategic documents in that it was approved by a decree of the President of the Russian Federation, who, in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, is empowered to determine the directions of the country’s foreign and domestic policy. Second, from a substantive point of view, this strategic act appeals to values that are prior in importance and nature even to the constitutional act itself. Accordingly, they were not established by the strategic document, but were merely expressed by it. Due to the legal form, these values have been given additional tools for protection and implementation. Because of the fundamental nature of traditional values, their integral incorporation into social practices requires the broad involvement of civil society and its institutions, especially universities and research centers.

The article discusses the justification of considering wear and tear when estimating the amount of damage caused by vehicle breakage. The authors present the legal reasoning for the differentiated approach when deciding whether wear and tear should be considered and make some suggestions for its practical reflection in expert opinions

The article discusses methodological materials on the conduct of forensic examination: methodological recommendations, standard expert techniques, forensic methodologies, standard operating procedures (SOP). As their characteristics are presented: basic concepts, structure, form of presentation, the scope of tasks to be solved, approval procedure. During the research the author has applied a universal dialectical method, a system of general scientific methods: observation, description, comparison, analysis and synthesis, classification. Also, a comparison of methodological materials was carried out to identify the completeness of their description, especially concerning the quality control of the obtained results. The author proposed a hypothesis that the SOP is the most universal form of description of expert research process for solving a typical task and can be used when creating a standard methodology. The focus of the management system of an accredited forensic laboratory on the quality of the results and the relationship with the internal structure of the SOP of forensic methodology is shown. The form of the registration passport of a forensic expert methodology in accordance with the requirements of the management system is described.

The article reviews the key principles of the forensic linguistic research conducted within the framework of forensic linguistics: linguistic, author’s, forensic analysis of video and sound recordings and examination of intellectual property objects. They are the principles of objectivity, comprehensiveness and completeness of the study, consistency, scientific validity, necessity and sufficiency, verifiability, criteria orientation, accessibility of the description of study process and results. It has been shown that the listed principles represent the guiding ideas, attitudes applied by an expert linguist when con[1]ducting expert activities.

The article addresses methodical support of forensic environmental research and national standards of the Russian Federation (GOSTs), which are also used for methodological purposes.The author demonstrates that in studies of the ecological condition of environmental objects to determine the cost of their restoration, the approaches presented in the federal assessment standards are used as methodological materials. She also proposes the directions for further improvement of methodical support of environmental forensics.

The author considers one of the topical issues of forensic handwriting examination and forensic technical examination of documents – analysis of handwriting objects made using modern technical means: plotter, 3D printer, robotic hand.The author reviews the main publications on this topic, analyzes some methods for identifying such handwriting objects, systemizes the features helping to detect them. He also pays special attention to complex situations that occur in expert practice.The given recommendations on the work with handwriting objects made with modern technical means, their comprehensive analysis by handwriting experts and expert technicians will contribute to improving the quality of training of experts in these specialties.