К problematice věcných důkazů v kriminalistice

By way of introduction the author pays attention to general questions of rise of evidentiary information. He proceeds from the principal task of criminal proceedings which is a due establishment of a crime and just punishment of its perpetrators. He stresses the importance of changes, i.e. the reflection of a crime in a given setting as an objective existing reality with respect to our capacity of its analysis. Evidence in a given setting is formed by some reflections of the event of crime having from the aspect of criminal investigation practice the shape of ascertainable factual data. Although the reflection as a result of interconnection of the objects involved in the act of reflection is the result of a given action, decisive for the establishment of relative truth is just the degree of knowledge of the ensueing changes. In the next part of the article he deals with the substance of material evidence from the aspect of finding out the objective truth in the process of verification. Investigation of criminal clues and material objects is a complex process, in the course of with by the establishment of a clue alone conditions ensue for a simple empirical statement of fact as the result of immediate sensible perception. For the requirements of proving an important stage is setting in and all prior acts to its implementation lie outside the proving process. Thus the information signal assumes an actual sensible character and appears in an (objective) material form, which is in the first place related to the examination of material evidence, independent of the end and object of such examination. The question of substance and diversity of reflections which may be a source of information about the investigated object, in particular the question of individualisation of the object according to parallel and counter reflections, is not interpreted uniformly by all criminalists. Nor is there a consolidated opinion on what is material evidence and what is its position with respect to other criminal clues. Despite some not yet clarified moments as to the content of material evidence the criminal practice employs since a long time the term material evidence, i.e. evidence of objective form. The conception and significance of material evidence is another problem discussed in the article, the author pointing to the opinions of criminalists who see the substance of material evidence in a differently selected set of optional objects serving as a means for crime detection. He stresses the difficulty of listing kinds of material evidence, even though, as the author goes on to state, he does not consider the existing attempts to draw up a list of material evidence a useless and unconvincing activity. Material evidence in the process of getting acquainted with the past event of crime takes an irreplaceable part and is the specific means in establishing the truth about a given event. Material objects, material criminal clues as well as other substantive objects constituting a set of material evidence, have a great importance for the knowledge of a crime. The promising nature of this type of evidence for proving requirements will grow in intensity if correctly applied under strict observations along with the developments of scientific and technical knowledge and means affecting man’s discerning faculties. The author presumes that, in general, any object related to the investigated event can always be embodied in the set of potential evidence until the time its significance for proving as such is ascertained or eliminated. Decisive for consideration is the information therein contained and requiring elucidation, becoming the decisive reason for the inclusion of a material object in the set of material evidence. In the instance of proving by means of material proofs the information signal is mostly obtained without the possibility of immediate observation. At the stage of impetuous scientific and technical developments the importance of indirect recognition of factual data is increasing and the effectiveness of material evidence in the proving process is thereby strengthened. Criminalistics theory and practice are thus constantly endeavouring to develop methods and processes for the acquisition of true and complete information justified and obtained by ways easily verified in practice. Considerable and steady attention is paid to the ways of obtaining material evidence. On the basis of the principle of immediacy it is necessary to acquire proofs from sources closest situated to the reality being proved and that principle is of extraordinary importance. In the author’s opinion its observance must even in the proving process by material evidence by the tenet in the choice of both technical and tactical procedures in their investigation. If material evidence is to be effective, its collection must be carried out alone by legal methods and means, free of any disturbing influence of information without proving significance. Detection of material evidence is the beginning of the stage of its collection and the kind of form whereby it is secured is subservient to the contents and marks of the various material proofs. Detection and, in particular, the observance of the working procedure with material evidence is frequently the decisive moment for successful and full utilisation of an information signal. In the course of investigating acts in the detection of material evidence criminalistics recommendations of a technical and tactical nature will thus find application according to the kind of performed act. The diversity, division and definiteness of material objects will often require, as stressed by the author, complicated and exacting activities performed mostly with the application of the most recent criminalistics and technical knowledge and means and not with simple sensory observation. In conclusion the author emphasises the relevance of searching for new forms of proper assessment of material evidence which, however, may not be applied without its careful and critical comparison with all the circumstances of the event of crime and with all the poofs secured in the course of subsequent investigating acts.