About the concept of “trace of a crime”

The concept of a crime trace is one of the fundamental concepts of criminology. From a forensic point of view, the disclosure and investigation of a crime is the process of detecting, fixing the investigation of traces of criminal activity and, based on the information received, detecting objects that have left these traces. Theoretical works concerning the concept of a trace, types of traces and patterns of work with traces in the investigation of crimes in our country appeared in the first half of the twentieth century. For a long time, most Soviet and Russian criminologists understood the material traces of a crime as objects of the material world that objectively exist independently of the subject of the investigation. But there was another point of view. In accordance with it, the trace of the crime was considered as an objectively existing change in the environment reflected in the consciousness of the subject of proof. We generally agree with this point of view. However, it seems to the author necessary to make an addition: before being reflected in the consciousness of the subject of proof, the surrounding change resulting from the crime undergoes certain changes, including in the process of the interaction with the subject of investigation.