Examples of a single person performing a comprehensive forensic examination

Abstract

The article discusses examples of a single person performing a comprehensive forensic examination of metals and explosives. Comprehensive examinations are appointed in cases where the expert task cannot be solved on the basis of one branch of knowledge. In order to meet the procedural requirement of completeness, comprehensiveness and objectivity of proof, it is necessary to integrate various branches of specialised knowledge. According to one point of view, a comprehensive examination may be conducted by one expert who has knowledge of various fields of science, technology, etc., i.e., who has the right to conduct research in several forensic specialties. In this case, the procedural feature of a comprehensive examination is replaced by the cognitive features of a comprehensive expert study. In practice, the solution of any expert task requires the use of a set of methods aimed at establishing various properties of the objects provided for examination In the course of a comprehensive examination to determine the design of an explosive device, the conclusion of a comprehensive explosive and chemical examination used the special knowledge of a chemist expert who determined the elemental composition of the metal and a metallurgist who studied the structure and phase composition of the metal. The type of explosive was determined by microscopic, chemical, thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and infrared spectroscopy (IRS). Metal objects were examined by X-ray (diffractometric) and microstructural (grinding method) analysis. To determine the physical characteristics and chemical composition of the metal powder, microscopic, chemical, emission spectral analysis and X-ray diffraction methods were used.