Interaction Of Forensic Science Institutions With Ukrainian Civil Society Institutions:

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for ensuring the livelihoods of Ukrainian society, law enforcement, and supporting the defense capabilities of our state.As rightly stated in legal literature, civil society institutions increasingly interact with law enforcement agencies and other bodies, institutions, and organizations to perform law enforcement functions since they are no longer merely passive observers but act as active participants and co-executors of such activities at the current stage of human development.The tasks undertaken by civil society institutions include advocating for victims, combating crime, conducting preventive activities, etc.
Bearing in mind the above, there arises a need to develop efficient ways of interaction between civil society institutions and entities involved in performance of the law enforcement function and administration of justice, etc.Among the latter, it is essential to single out forensic institutions that play a significant role in addressing issues requiring specific expertise application.Therefore, both in administrative, criminal, civil, and commercial cases, there is a necessity for involving forensic experts and, in some cases, specialists to fulfill tasks associated with safeguarding the rights, freedoms, and legitimate interests of individuals and citizens.Civil society organizations often participate in such proceedings; they may apply to forensic science institutions for paid services, and establish collaboration in the academic field, including through the conduct of scientific conferences, symposiums, seminars, etc.Hence, the current task to define the essence and interaction between forensic institutions and civil society institutions is highly relevant.
Analysis of Essential Research and Publications.The issue of interaction between forensic institutions and civil society institutions and the public has not been previously subjected to multidisciplinary research by Ukrainian scientists.Some aspects of this problematics have been analyzed.For instance, the conceptual foundations, views, and ideas regarding the understanding of the essence and forms of interaction between forensic science institutions and law enforcement and judicial authorities in the implementation of preventive measures have been the subject of research by O. P. Sniherov and N. Ye.Filipenko 2 .S. M. Naumenko 3 has conducted a multidisciplinary study on administrative-legal principles of interaction between forensic institutions and law enforcement agencies, thoroughly examining peculiarities of the administrative-legal mechanism related to such interaction.The same issues have been analyzed in the monograph by A. O. Polianskyi 4 .As we can see, scholars focused on addressing the role and position of forensic science institutions in safeguarding and protecting human rights and freedoms, as well as other tasks related to law enforcement functions.However, they still grapple with the conceptual challenge of defining the mechanism and specific aspects of interaction between forensic science institutions and law enforcement agencies.At the same time, they overlook issues concerning interaction of forensic institutions with civil society institutions and the public, which have increasingly become involved in carrying out law enforcement functions over recent times.
The Article Purpose is to clarify the essence and define peculiarities of interaction between Ukrainian forensic science institutions and civil society institutions, the public, as well as to outline the prospects for broadening forms of interaction between these participants based on international experience analysis.Main Content Presentation.Forensic science institutions in Ukraine primarily focus on conducting forensic activities.Thus far, the forensic activity category has not been officially defined and remains a topic of scholarly debate among Ukrainian proceduralists, criminalists, and forensic experts.Legal literature contains numerous proposals regarding the understanding of the essence of this category.Thus, in particular, forensic expert activity is proposed to be understood as the activity of a specialist endowed with the appropriate level of qualification and competence who is able to act as a forensic expert in the process and provide an expert conclusion on corresponding questions, which solution requires specific expertise 5 .Other definitions may also be encountered.For example, M. H. Shcherbakovskyi suggests understanding forensic activity as a legal institution, the content of which is presented as a system of procedural and organizational procedures related to performing forensic examinations 6 .
H. O. Strilets identifies forensic activity with the work of forensic science institutions, indicating that it is aimed at conducting independent forensic examinations through objective, multidisciplinary, and thorough research while adhering to modern scientific and technical advancements.This includes organizing overall work of forensic institutions and their structural units, particularly their scientific-methodological and informational support, as well as selection and training of forensic staff 7 .Consequently, forensic activity is primarily associated with conducting forensic examinations, but it does not disregard the focus on other activities conducted by its participants.
Concerning forensic activity subjects, the Law of Ukraine On Judicial Examination stipulates that authorized specialized state institutions, their territorial branches, forensic institutions of communal ownership, as well as forensic experts who are not employees of these institutions, and other specialists (experts) in relevant fields of expertise are authorized to carry out forensic examination in the manner and under conditions outlined in the mentioned Law 8 .Therefore, only specialized entities authorized and endowed with a relevant scope of legal capacity-dictated by their legal status-are empowered with the right to implement forensic activity, which is primarily associated with conducting forensic examinations and other support related to such activity.
Given the specifics of interaction between forensic activity subjects and other participants in legal relations, we deem it necessary to refer to the legal provisions of the current legislation.After conducting a textual analysis of the Law of Ukraine On Judicial Examination, which aims to define the legal, organizational, and financial foundations of forensic activity to ensure independent, qualified, and objective forensic examination, with a primary

INTERACTION OF FORENSIC SCIENCE INSTITUTIONS WITH UKRAINIAN CIVIL SOCIETY INSTITUTIONS: ESSENCE, SIGNIFICANCE, PROSPECTS
Formalized structures of civil society play a significant role in the implementation of state functions.The involvement of the latter in the implementation of law enforcement activities is currently approved.An important role in the latter is also played by forensic experts of institutions, whose involvement in this activity is a guarantee of ensuring justice with scientifically based conclusions based on special knowledge in the field of science and technology.Based on this, the purpose of the article is defined as clarifying the essence, significance, and prospects of the interaction of forensic expert institutions of Ukraine with institutions of civil society, based on the analysis of Ukrainian and foreign experience.Based on the results of the research, it was determined that the outlined subjects interact quite often, even in the absence of normatively established principles.It is promising to develop a normativelegal and organizational-legal mechanism of interaction between forensic institutions and civil society institutions, which should be based on the social responsibility of civil society institutions.
Key words: interaction, forensic science institution, civil society, public organization, forensic examination, law enforcement agencies, special knowledge, offenses, crime.
Interaction Of Forensic Science Institutions With Ukrainian Civil Society Institutions: Essence, Significance, Prospects focus on maximizing the use of scientific and technical advancements 9 , it can be concluded that this legislative act does not govern specific principles of interaction between subjects involved in forensic activity and other actively participating bodies.However, it does define certain principles of international cooperation.
As outlined in Section IV of the Law of Ukraine No. 4038-XII (1994), expert research is carried out only upon the request of the relevant authority or a person from another state, provided Ukraine has concluded a treaty on mutual legal assistance and cooperation with that state.Under these circumstances, payment for the cost of forensic examination is arranged between the client and the executor of a forensic examination.Additionally, it is stipulated that in necessary cases heads of state specialized institutions conducting forensic examinations may obtain the consent of the entity or person appointing the forensic examination and include leading experts from other countries in the composition of expert commissions.These joint expert commissions carry out forensic examinations in accordance with the procedural legislation of Ukraine.State specialized institutions conducting forensic examinations have the right to establish international scientific connections with institutions of forensic science, criminalistics, and other states, conduct joint scientific conferences, symposiums, seminars, exchange interns, scientific information, and printed editions, and collaborate on joint editions in the field of forensic science and criminalistics 10 .Thus, in the context of international cooperation, the legislator has regulated certain aspects of interaction between forensic institutions, but, once again, overlooked peculiarities of their interaction with civil society institutions, including those from foreign countries.
From our perspective, the issue of regulating legal and organizational principles of interaction between forensic institutions and civil society institutions, their directions, and forms, requires resolution and establishment at the regulatory level.This necessity arises due to the active engagement of the public in various areas of societal life, showcasing continuous development in expanding these activities and forms of interaction.Consequently, this calls for ensuring their legality, alignment with proper standards, and other related aspects, particularly considering that the activities of forensic science institutions encompass not only performing forensic examinations but also staff training, scientific research, etc.Thus, we find it crucial to define the priority directions and forms of interaction between forensic institutions and civil society institutions, as well as outline prospects for their expansion taking into account international experience.
One of the civil society institutions that could be recognized as a potential participant in active interaction with forensic science institutions is media.For instance, they often resort to conducting journalistic investigations which sometimes involve addressing issues related to the use of specific expertise.Consequently, either independently or through the participants in such investigations, they resort to ordering and paying for paid services provided by forensic science institutions in Ukraine.According to a survey conducted among media professionals, the most prevalent requirement arose for involving forensic experts to perform molecular-genetic 9 Там само. 10 Там само.
examinations, specifically regarding the kinship of particular subjects.In these cases, journalists were solely responsible for funding such research.
Among the recent pressing issues frequently discussed in Ukrainian society and attracting keen interest from journalists is the issue of academic integrity violations by officials and public figures, particularly those holding academic degrees of PhDs and Doctors.The development of forensic science contributes to the possibility of identifying authors of texts through conducting forensic authorship examinations.There is undoubtedly room for discussion when it comes to acquiring comparative samples for expert research.However, from our standpoint, due to the activity of such persons on the Internet, including social media platforms and mobile messengers (many of them create official accounts where they actively share information about themselves and various circumstances), a similar issue can be easily resolved.
Stemming from current realities, journalistic investigations are actively carried out to identify individuals involved in collaboration.Specifically, on September 28, 2023, the independent anti-corruption center NGL.media, represented by the journalists association Nashi Groshi.Lviv, revealed persons presumably involved in actions indicative of collaboration.Based on their analysis of information from the open russian Unified State Register of Legal Entities and other open sources, they identified approximately 1578 Ukrainian citizens who were found to be in leadership positions within the occupying authorities, local self-government bodies, institutions, enterprises, and organizations of various affiliations operating in the temporarily occupied territories 11 .Thus, the information was collected based on the analysis of open information sources: Open source intelligence (OSINT).Human Intelligence (HUMINT) technologies are also applied for this purpose, the socalled intelligence on people, which consists in monitoring social networks, conducting surveys, implementing social engineering, etc. Equally important for conducting such investigations is the involvement of specialists in relevant fields (particularly in computer science, computer engineering, information systems and technologies, etc.).Forensic experts' participation in such activities can also be viewed as one of the forms of interaction between civil society institutions (media) and forensic science institutions.
Furthermore, in order to establish the rule of law, it is essential to promote cooperation between forensic institutions and civil society organizations whose activities are of a human rights nature.Several circumstances determine prospects for such interaction.For instance, human rights civil organizations often engage with the victims, in particular to advocate for them, provide legal assistance, psychological, financial, and other types of support.In other words, they perform the task of ensuring the rights, freedoms, and legitimate interests of citizens.This thesis is supported by our synthesis of scientific foreign literature.As an example, civil society institutions are active participants in combating organized crime in Africa.It plays a pivotal role in these activities for various reasons, including: 1) understanding organized crime and its influence on communities; 2) having real opportunities for coordinated and competent influence on individual subjects in countering organized crime in specific areas; 3) the ability to really listen to the community's problems through established relationships, with a high level of trust from community members (more than government organizations); 4) the existence of intercommunity communication channels, taking into account the differences between communities 12 .In Ukraine,  S c h l ü s s e l w ö r t e r : Z u s a m m e n a r b e i t , g e r i c h t s m e d i z i n i s c h e Einrichtung, Zivilgesellschaft, Nichtregierungsorganisationen, gerichtliche Begutachtung, S t r a f v e r f o l g u n g s b e h ö r d e n , Fachkenntnisse, Rechtsverstöße, Kriminalität Interaction Of Forensic Science Institutions With Ukrainian Civil Society Institutions: Essence, Significance, Prospects civil society institutions also play a significant role in combating crime, as sometimes they are trusted more than Ukrainian law enforcement agencies.
Through advocacy and a series of informational initiatives aimed at raising awareness among the population at the local, state, and federal levels, human rights organizations actively participate in preventing human trafficking.For instance, at the community level, thanks to their own initiative Muslims Against Human Trafficking launched in Columbus, Ohio in 2020, they managed to arrest 29 members of a Muslim gang that had been trafficking underage Muslim girls for a period of 10 years.
Efforts aimed at combating human trafficking in the US and specific European nations involve both civil organizations and religious groups.In these mentioned countries, religious organizations assist law enforcement agencies in investigating cases of human trafficking.For example, Hope for Justice USA operates its Tennessee Investigative Center in the state of Tennessee, comprising private detectives who aid multiple law enforcement agencies in investigating human trafficking cases within and beyond the state of Tennessee 13 .It is important to note that these detectives, according to the national legislation of Ukraine, also belong to civil society institutions.Their involvement captures our attention because, along with assisting victims, they also provide various forms of support to law enforcement agencies.
In light of the outlined facts, we consider one of the important directions for potential interaction between forensic institutions and civil society institutions to be preventive activities, particularly involving combating crime.In such joint endeavors, forensic science institutions, utilizing their inherent methods, can undertake a range of actions intended for: 1) identifying causes and conditions that have contributed to the commission of specific crimes; 2) creating measures to eliminate these causes and conditions (circumstances) by law enforcement agencies (primarily by units of the National Police); 3) identifying, developing, and implementing advanced technical means for crime prevention 14 .Based on the data obtained through expert analysis and developed measures, it will be possible to identify administrative-legal mechanisms that can be used by civil human rights organizations to implement these preventive measures.
Media can be involved in the implementation of preventive actions developed on the basis of research and summaries conducted by forensic experts.Considering that a significant number of violations may occur online or through the use of social media, the urgent task is to develop measures to identify such occurrences and stop such unlawful attempts made within the virtual network.France's experience has proven to be efficient in this context.The latter had introduced the Safe Internet policy to prevent dissemination of terrorist propaganda.According to its results, the French-British action plan against terrorists' use of the Internet was launched in June 2017 (Borelli, 2023).Similar lines of activity were driven by the fact that criminals are currently actively using the Internet for the propagation and indoctrination of their "policies" and even recruiting foreign combatants.
For instance, terrorist organizations utilized geographically-linked population census data and personnel records from 13 Hounmenou C. the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant to recruit foreign combatants from Tunisia 15 (Do, Quy-Toan;Gomez-Parra, Nicolas;Rijkers, Bob, 2023).The focus of international security sector towards developing active measures to counter the use of the Internet has been repeatedly stressed by Ukrainian researchers.As noted by S. Kudinov, to conduct activities of a terrorist nature, it is essential to unite the efforts of governmental and law enforcement bodies on one side and civil society on the other, as counterterrorism policy will not be efficient without the support of civil society that is an integral lever in interaction between society and the state 16.Representatives of forensic institutions may also be involved in such activities, particularly in conducting OSINT and HUMINT.Therefore, it is unreasonable to propose the development of an administrative-legal mechanism for interaction between forensic science institutions and civil society institutions in order to fulfill the state's law enforcement function and ensure justice.This notably involves the development of both normative-legal and organizational-legal mechanisms.Simultaneously, we perceive that such a mechanism should be based on the social responsibility of civil society institutions.This responsibility will not only serve as a control lever within this mechanism but will also ensure a proactive approach in implementing the envisaged forms and directions of activity by formalized civil society institutions.
Conclusions.Currently, Ukrainian legislation does not specify directions, forms and principles of interaction between forensic science institutions and civil society institutions.However, this does not negate the fact that such interaction can be a reliable basis for fulfilling the state's law enforcement function and ensuring impartial, objective and competent justice.
According to a survey conducted among journalists, they turn to forensic science institutions with requests for qualified forensic examinations to facilitate journalistic investigations.For the same purposes, journalists may seek competent assistance from forensic experts to search for and extract information from open sources and social media.Another important direction of interaction between forensic science institutions and civil society institutions is preventive activity, particularly in countering crime.To ensure such interaction, forensic institutions, utilizing their methods, can identify causes and conditions of violations and develop appropriate preventive measures to be implemented by civil society human rights organizations.Conversely, civil human rights organizations can involve forensic institutions in the implementation of specific preventive measures.
Another direction of their collaboration involves creating and executing informative measures aimed at population, along with organizing scientific events for their organization's representatives, institutions, national law enforcement agencies, government officials, etc.
In order to ensure efficient implementation and execution of these forms of interaction at a competent level, it is essential to develop an administrativelegal mechanism for interaction between forensic science institutions and civil society institutions, enabling them to fulfill the state's law enforcement function and uphold justice.This mechanism will comprise normativelegal and organizational-legal components.We believe that the foundation of such a mechanism should be based on the social responsibility of civil society institutions that will not only serve as a control component within the mechanism but also ensure a proactive approach in executing the envisaged forms and directions of activities by formalized civil society institutions.The