THE ROLE OF FORENSIC CYTOLOGY IN CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to substantiate the need for conducting cytological forensic research in the criminal investigations. Materials and methods. An investigation of regulatory, legal documents, and scientific publications was conducted using keywords in the international electronic databases PubMed, Embase, and Scopus. This review, coupled with statistical analysis and generalization, aimed to evaluate forensic cytological studies performed between 2020 and 2023 at the Kyiv City Clinical Bureau of Forensic Medical Examination. Results. The results obtained revealed an upward trend in the number of forensic cytological studies conducted in recent years. Notably, studies of subungual contents, injury tools, and hand washings comprised the majority of the work, accounting for 76% of the total. Changes in the ratio are due to the fact that in recent years, the number of examinations of washings from the hands and washings from the place of the accident has increased. In the reporting year, the number of objects (washes from the penis, bed linen, clothes of suspects, condoms, napkins) for sexual crimes increased. In 2023, the number of sexual crime investigations quadrupled. To preserve crucial evidence, investigators may now directly collect swabs from suspects' genitals within medical institutions. Previously, this procedure could be lengthy, especially if the crime occurred on a weekend, potentially leading to the loss, degradation, or destruction of evidence. Conclusion. Employees of law enforcement agencies constantly emphasize the relevance, scientific validity, evidentiality of cytological studies in the investigation of criminal crimes. The increase in the number of forensic cytological studies indicates the need for a cytological department in the structure of the forensic medical service. Conducting cytological forensic research is necessary to increase the informativeness and objectivity of the expert's conclusions in cases of complex study of microtraces of blood, isolated cells, particles of damaged tissues and organs on injury instruments, in the contents of the nail, and other material evidence in the investigation of criminal crimes.