Documents as Sources of Forensic Information

The purpose of the article is to give comprehensive characteristics of documents as sources of forensically significant information.Results.The scientific article is devoted to the study of the use of documents as independent sources of evidence in criminal proceedings.It is proved that documents are considered sources of forensically significant information.It is indicated that an electronic document will be recognized as evidence in a criminal case.In addition, the author proves that it is necessary to distinguish between documents -material evidence and documents -sources of evidence.It is noted that the source of evidence of a document is the author of the document.In addition, it is substantiated that documents as sources of evidence in criminal proceedings can be classified by the nature of the origin of the documents as official or personal.Conclusions.It is stated that documents as independent sources of evidence are important precisely for their content.It is proved that documents are considered sources of forensically significant information.It is emphasized that an electronic document will be recognized as evidence in a criminal case if: it served as an instrument of a crime; retained traces of a crime; is the subject of a crime; is property, securities or other valuables obtained as a result of criminal acts or acquired by criminal means; may serve as a means for detecting a crime and establishing circumstances in a criminal case; if the information set forth in it is important for establishing circumstances that are subject to proof in a criminal case.It has been proven that it is necessary to distinguish between documents -material evidence and documents -sources of evidence.After all, the evidentiary value in documents -sources of evidence, has only content, however, documents -material evidence are also significant in the case in terms of their appearance, time, place, and their discovery.It has been analyzed that documents -sources of evidence can be replaced, documents -material evidence cannot be replaced by others, since they are unique.However, documents as sources of evidence can be copied with subsequent procedural processing.It has been established that the source of evidence of a document is the author of the document.It has been characterized that documents as sources of evidence in criminal proceedings can be classified by the nature of the origin of the documents (official and personal); According to the method of recording information, documents can be (written, graphic documents, photo documents, video recording (video libraries), sound recording).