Confiscation of physical evidence in criminal proceedings: modern law enforcement issues

Introduction: in the study, from the standpoint of historical aspects, the significance of the legal consequences of the confiscation of tools and means of committing a crime is substantiated, as well as the issues of confiscation of money, valuables and other property, the fate of which is resolved on the basis of the norms of criminal and criminal procedural law from the standpoint of the appointment of criminal proceedings and protection of rights (paragraph 6 of part 3 of Article 81 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation). Materials and Methods: methodological basis of the study is represented by a set of dialectical-materialistic (philosophical), general scientific methods of knowledge (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, etc.), as well as specific scientific methods. The empirical basis of the study consisted of answers of investigators, prosecutors of judges to the author's questionnaire on the topic of research; in addition, the legal positions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, resolutions of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, as well as international treaties of Russia on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters were studied. Relevance: the author conducted the analysis of the opinions of scientists on the issues under study that allowed him substantiate proposals for further improvement of the legislative model of confiscation of physical evidence from the perspective of the purpose of criminal proceedings. Results: the author suggests to give to a number of items, documents and property confiscated on the basis of a number of international treaties the status of “international” material evidence in order to ensure their safety, effectively solve crimes and restore violated rights. Discussion and Conclusions: a scientifically based opinion is offered on improving the seizure and confiscation of electronic media and electronic information in the context of the misuse of transnational information technologies by offenders.