Contribution of the Forensic science department of Moscow University to the theory of forensic identification
Abstract
The article examines the emergence and formation of the first private forensic theory, the theory of forensic identification. It is indicated that the term "identification" was introduced into criminalistic usage by the famous French criminologist A. Bertillon. The article highlights the special role of S.M. Potapov, a graduate of Moscow Imperial University (1896), in the formation of this theory, who laid its scientific foundations as a private forensic theory, defined the forms of identification, classified identification objects, and outlined the basics of identification research methodology. The article considers a significant contribution to certain provisions of the theory of criminalistic identification by B.I. Shevchenko and V.Ya. Koldin, who were engaged in scientific and pedagogical activities at the Department of Criminology at Moscow State University. B.I. Shevchenko is the author of the classification of traces in tracology based on the mechanism of trace formation, which we are currently using. V.Ya. Koldin improved the scientific apparatus of identification theory, developed a methodology He created an algorithm and structure for the interaction of subjects of search and identification activities in proving
References
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- Koldin, V.Y. (1957). Identification during the production of forensic examinations. Moscow (in Russ.).
- Koldin, V.Y. (1969). Identification and its role in establishing the truth in criminal cases. Moscow (in Russ.).
- Potapov, S.M. (2015). Principles of criminalistic identification. From the periodicals of the past. Bulletin of the O.E. Kutafin University, 12, pp. 200–211 (in Russ.).
- Shevchenko, B.I. (1947). Scientific foundations of modern tracology. Moscow (in Russ.).
- Exarchopulo, A.A. (2014). Formulation of a scientific problem as the beginning of the formation of a criminalistic theory. Bulletin of St. Petersburg State University, Vol. 14, Is. 2, pp. 104–113 (in Russ.).
Received: 04/30/2025
Accepted: 05/06/2025
Accepted date: 12/05/2025
Keywords: theory of forensic identification, identifiable objects, identifying objects, relatively immutable and changeable objects, forms of identification
DOI Number: 10.55959/MSU0130-0113-11-66-6-8
Available in the on-line version with: 21.09.2026

This work is licensed under a Сreative Commons Atribiution - NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

