Expert technologies as a factor determining the evidence base in the investigation of environmental crimes

Introduction. Practical activities are known to be determined by the worked out theoretical developments, technologies in a particular area. Technology is a set of methods of working with any objects in the course of a certain professional activity to achieve its results. In accordance with this, expert technology can be defined as a set of operations carried out in a certain sequence, the actions performed on the basis of special knowledge, due to the study of any objects that are evidence, to find the answers to questions posed to the expert. The purpose is to analyze issues related to the features of expert technologies in the field of environmental crime. Methods. The methodological framework for the study includes a whole range of methods of scientific knowledge, among which the methods of system analysis and synthesis are of fundamental importance. Results. The paper presents an analysis of the structural elements of expert technologies through the example of crimes committed in the field of ecology, in particular, the preparatory stage; the analytical stage; the stage of expert experiment; the assessment stage. The necessity for the correct formulation of questions for their resolution by the expert is emphasized. Conclusions. Expert research should be carried out in a certain order established by the scientific methodology. The division of the entire process of expert research into separate stages is determined not only by various technical methods, but also by the tasks that are solved in the process of identification and diagnosis.