Forensic Science

Length of study: 5 years – Intramural form of study (Full-time attendance mode).

The word “expertise” is derived from a Latin word “expertus”, which means “experienced”, “knowledgeable”. In Russian legislation, the term “expert” was fixed in the criminal procedure codes of 1922 and 1923, replacing the term “knowledgeable persons” adopted by the judicial statutes of the Russian Empire.

First of all, a forensic expert is a lawyer. Therefore, training begins with legal disciplines and then goes deeper into specialization. In addition to General education subjects, forensic experts will study:

• block of legal disciplines (criminal, administrative, civil law, criminal code, procedural actions);
• block of specialization disciplines (theory of forensic expertise, forensic science, particularly forensic photography and video recording, examination of documents, trace evidence, fingerprinting, etc.)

Depending on the profile chosen in the 4th year, expert students will have the opportunity to study in-depth a certain profile of expertise:

• Criminalistic expertises (dactyloscopic expertise, trasological expertise, fingerprint, forensic ballistic expertise, expertise of cold and throwing weapons, forensic portrait expertise, forensic handwriting, technical and criminalistic expertise of documents);
• Speech expertises (forensic linguistic expertise, forensic phonoscopic expertise, forensic authorship expertise, linguistic conflictology);
• Economic expertises (forensic accounting expertise, financial and economic expertise, tax expertise).

The range of posts in which graduates can realize themselves is quite wide, but it relates to the judicial and legal system of the state and with law enforcement bodies of the state. The main task of experts is to detect, remove, and examine traces and objects at the scene.

Appointment and production of a forensic expertise is a complex investigative action. Forensic expertise helps in the investigation of crimes and is aimed at obtaining evidence using the expert’s special knowledge in science, technology, art and craft.