Lev V. Bertovsky

The article analyses the formation, current state and future development of the fourth and final part of criminalistics, namely the methodology of criminal investigation. The relevance of the research is determined by changes in the structure of crime, the reform of law enforcement agencies, the increasing complexity of legal regulation and the growing impact of high technologies. The purpose of the study is to identify directions for improving the general and special parts of the criminal investigation methodology. Based on a historical and legal analysis, the article clarifies the content and correlation of the notions of "methods" and "methodology" of investigation and substantiates the recognition of the investigation methodology as an independent section of criminalistics. It demonstrates the need to include in the general part of the methodology issues of organizing the investigation of complex multi-episode and transnational crimes, as well as the further development of the theory of the criminalistic characterization of crimes and the criminalistic theory of the attribute. Special attention is paid to the role of crime attributes and to the prospects for using big data and artificial intelligence technologies to develop digital and predictive criminalistic characterizations, including for offences with limited empirical practice. The article also substantiates the inclusion of trial tactics and crime prevention in the investigation methodology and proposes the following sequence of stages of criminalistic activity: detection, disclosure, investigation, judicial examination, prevention of crimes