NCJ Number
239658
Journal
Internal Security Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Dated: January - June 2012 Pages: 111-123
Date Published
June 2012
Length
13 pages
Annotation
A situational approach is considered an investigative criminalistic technology which allows investigative errors to be discovered, to analyse and eliminate them as well as to provide recommendations on avoiding them in investigative activities.
Abstract
Various sciences have been employed to disclose and study the process of committing a crime and criminalistics is one of them. A situational approach which is being introduced into criminalistics technique, tactics and methods creates a necessary balance both for even development of all parts of criminalistics and for a complex approach in solving particular tasks. A situational approach appears to be one of the vital, substantially new technological means which science can offer to practice for improving the quality and efficiency of the crime fighting process. The essence of a situational approach consists in analyzing a cognizable event or environment from the point of view of the situations constituting it. In a mental model created from the situation all that is unimportant is cut off, and subsequently any new unknown situation can be brought to a typical one which has already got a solution algorithm. And as typical situations are usually followed by typical decisions which lead to errors then erroneous decisions can also be typified. So, the author suggests various criteria for investigative error classification which includes cognitive, criminal procedural, tactical, psychological, organizational, technical and material. A situational approach is considered an investigative criminalistic technology which allows investigative errors to be discovered, to analyze and eliminate them as well as to provide recommendations on avoiding them in investigative activities. (Published Abstract)