Open AccessSPECIAL KNOWLEDGE IN CRIMINAL CASES: LEGISLATIVE, DOCTRINAL AND LAW ENFORCEMENT ASPECTS
Author(s) -
O. S. Pashutina,
Iri. Chebotareva
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
izvestiâ ûgo-zapadnogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2686-6757
pISSN - 2223-1560
DOI - 10.21869/2223-1560-2017-21-3-155-166
Subject(s) - adversarial system , law , adjudication , procedural law , political science , supreme court , right to counsel , law enforcement , criminal procedure , criminal law , legislature
A counsel at law has broad advocacy authority to use specialized knowledge in criminal proceedings, which is one of the hallmarks of the adversarial process, in which the officials conducting criminal proceedings are confronted by a defense endowed with all legal arrangements to adjudicate the rights and legitimate interests of the suspected offenders and accused. The paper discusses procedural and non-procedural possibilities for a counsel at law to use the special knowledge in criminal proceedings through forensic expertise and the involvement of a specialist in that field. The author explains why activities of the counsel at law and of these two specialists in criminal cases are inextricably linked and mutually refer to each other. A counsel at law realizes his rights to participate in forensic expertise asking a specialist for help when appointing a forensic expertise, analyzing the expert's conclusion, applying for an additional or repeated expertise and summoning an expert to give evidence. Violation of the counsel at law rights in the process of the forensic expertise may be grounds for the recognition of the evidence inadmissible and cancel the procedural decision. The authors analyze a legal regulation of the counsel’s at law procedural possibilities on participating in a forensic expertise and on involving a specialist, taking into account changes in the Code of Criminal Procedure, introduced by Federal Law No. 73-FZ of April 17, 2017. The authors also summarize the practice of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on problem issues arising in the process of implementation by the counsel’s at law rights granted by law. The article reveals ambiguity of the existing law enforcement practice and contradictory positions worked out by the highest judicial instances.