Evidence as a category of criminal procedure law: new (old) approaches

Introduction: in the science of criminal procedure there was a strongly held view of evidence as a product of cognitive activity of the investigator (inquiry officer) and the investigative action as the main method of collecting evidence. In accordance with these views, the evidence on the basis of which the circumstances relevant to the criminal case should be established is a combination of information on the actual circumstances of the case and the form of action in which this information can be stored in the criminal case file. The obtaining of such information and its form of action fall within the exclusive competence of the preliminary investigation bodies. Therefore, for many years, the law enforcement officer has formed an idea of the identity of investigative and judicial evidence, virtually precluding the possibility of challenging them both on the grounds of unreliability and inadmissibility.The development of the principle of controversy in the criminal process led to the extension of the methods of collecting evidence and persons concerning the collection of evidence, which questioned the concept of forming evidence by the preliminary investigation bodies. In this regard, the author sets a goal to analyze the compliance of the concept of evidence formation with the principles and norms of the current Code of Criminal Procedure and to justify a new approach to the understanding of evidence.To achieve this goal, the general scientific research methods were used: analysis, synthesis, description, comparison, classification, systematization and generalization. As a result, the author’s understanding of evidence as the information about the circumstances relevant to the case is presented, which allows distinguishing evidence from the methods of its collection and makes it possible to increase the adversarial efficiency of criminal proceedings. Conclusions: as a result of the study, the concept of evidence corresponding to the adversarial principle is formulated, the difference between evidence and admissible evidence is justified, the prospects for improving the process of verification and evaluation of evidence, further development of the methods of collecting evidence are shown, which is important for improving the quality of training of students in the field of “Jurisprudence”,qualification of teachers of law schools, as well as the effectiveness of the law enforcement practice.