Trace picture as an element of the forensic characterization of the theft of cultural values from a religious building

Abstract

It has been found that forensically significant information about the trace pattern and its connections with other elements of this characteristic are part of the forensic characterization of thefts of cultural values from religious buildings. A typical trace picture, as an element of the forensic characteristics of criminal offenses, is considered as a collective concept that includes a description of individual signs of the offense at the time of its commission. The main components of the trace picture of the criminal offense analyzed in the article are defined as: material traces and ideal traces-reflection. It is information about these signs (visible and invisible), predicted to have formed at the time of the offense, that may indicate the location and types of hiding places, some other forensically significant information important for the disclosure and investigation of thefts of cultural values from religious buildings. The factors that determine the peculiarities of the criminalistic characteristics of thefts of cultural values from religious buildings located in rural areas are singled out and analyzed: the dispersion of rural settlements; significant remoteness of the rural settlement from district and regional centers, locations of the main forces and means of law enforcement agencies; deteriorated road conditions and improper transport connections between settlements, etc. It was established that the largest number of illegal attacks on cultural values is recorded in the regions of Ukraine, which are characterized by a wide network of cultural and art institutions. The connection between the method of taking possession of cultural values and the place of committing such an offense has been clarified. The most common methods of illegal acquisition of artistic and historical values are thefts (from apartments and private homes, churches and chapels). The connections between the method of taking possession of cultural values, the time of day and the season of the year are traced. It was found that the spring-summer period is favorable for the analyzed crimes, when weather conditions contribute to this, which determines the satisfactory condition of roads in rural areas, as well as significant population migration. It was found that the choice of a specific place of commission of a criminal offense is primarily influenced by the degree of value of objects that are the object of illegal encroachments, as well as the availability and condition of means of their protection. The trace information formed after the theft of cultural values characterizes the person of the offender or the criminal group as a whole, it is extremely diverse and includes: traces characterizing the physical and professional properties (signs) of the offender (traces of feet, hands, blood, other body secretions, traces of impact of tools); traces of joint actions of offenders (moving objects, destroying barriers, climbing and descending from a height of people), the offender and the victim (traces of struggle or resistance, inflicted bodily injuries, damage to clothing, the environment, individual objects); traces characterizing the psychological, social, national and other characteristics of the behavior of offenders, which can be established by studying the situation at the scene of the incident, by questioning the victims, witnesses, by studying the documents of various institutions. It was concluded that traces of thefts of cultural values committed in rural areas have their own characteristics. Such traces are of contact origin, they are mechanical in nature, they are traces of human feet (shoes), hooves (horseshoes) of animals, traces of vehicles, traces of burglary tools and other means of committing crimes of both static and dynamic nature.