Forensic Expert Qualification Exam (Kazakhstan) key terms

Knowledge and methods from science, technology, art, or craft that lie outside the ordinary legal and everyday competence of a court and that a qualified expert applies to resolve procedural questions.

A procedural action in which a person with special scientific knowledge conducts a study of material objects or circumstances and provides a written conclusion that serves as evidence in a case.

The written document in which an expert sets out the study performed, its methodology, the findings, and reasoned answers to the questions posed; it is a source of evidence subject to evaluation by the court.

The scope of special knowledge, skills, and procedural authority an expert may lawfully use; going beyond it, or giving opinions on legal questions, is prohibited.

A procedural request to remove an expert because of interest in the case, prior participation in another role, lack of required competence, or other grounds listed in procedural law.

The procedural decision by an investigator, prosecutor, or court that states the grounds for the examination, the questions put to the expert, and the materials supplied to the expert.

The material items, documents, samples, living persons, or case materials submitted for study, together with the circumstances the expert is asked to establish about them.

Materials of known origin taken from a suspect, victim, or scene that the expert uses as a reference against which questioned traces or specimens are compared.

Two classes of expert questions: diagnostic ones establish the nature, state, or properties of an object, while identification ones establish whether a specific object is the source of a trace or specimen.

A documented, validated system of methods and sequence of steps approved for a given kind of examination, ensuring that results are reproducible and scientifically defensible.

The demonstrated ability of an expert method to measure or establish what it claims to establish, confirmed by experimental testing and accepted in the relevant scientific field.

The duty of an expert to reach conclusions solely on the basis of the study performed, free from pressure by parties, officials, or employers, and to report any attempt to influence the findings.

A set of professional rules governing honesty, objectivity, confidentiality, respectful conduct in court, and avoidance of conflicts of interest in expert work.

A knowingly untrue opinion given by an expert; it is a criminal offence and also grounds for disciplinary and civil consequences for the expert.

The legal consequences an expert faces for refusing to testify, giving a knowingly false conclusion, disclosing investigation data, or violating procedural duties during an examination.

The branch of criminalistics that studies traces of contact between objects, such as footprints, tool marks, and vehicle marks, to identify the source and reconstruct events.

The study of friction ridge patterns on fingers and palms for identification of a person, based on the individuality and relative stability of the ridge skin.

The configuration of ridges and valleys on the skin of the fingers and palms, classified into loop, whorl, and arch types and used for individual identification.

Latent or visible impressions left by friction ridge skin on a surface, developed by powders, chemical reagents, or optical methods and then compared with known prints.

The study of firearms, ammunition, and the marks they leave on bullets and cartridge cases, used to identify a weapon and to reconstruct shooting circumstances.

Residues and damage produced by a shot, including powder particles, soot, metal traces, and wound features, used to determine firing distance, direction, and weapon type.

Identification of the author or executor of a handwritten text by analysing the stable system of motor habits reflected in the handwriting's structural and dynamic features.

The observable characteristics of handwriting - such as slope, size, spacing, pressure, and connectivity - grouped into general and particular features used for comparison.

Study of the physical production of a document to detect forgery, alteration, erasure, substitution of pages, or the printing device and materials used.

Creating a document with false content or imitating a genuine one, including full fabrication, alteration of existing text, and counterfeiting of protective features.

Examination by a medical specialist of a living person, corpse, or biological material to establish injury, cause of death, health harm, or other medical facts relevant to a case.

Harm to the body caused by external factors, described by type, location, and severity so that the expert can assess the degree of harm to health under criminal law.

Analysis of blood, saliva, semen, hair, and other biological traces to determine their species, group, sex, or individual origin and their possible link to a person.

Establishing individual identity by comparing highly variable DNA regions from a trace with a reference sample, reported with a statistical measure of match probability.

Study of buildings, structures, and construction works to establish their quality, compliance with norms, causes of defects or collapse, and the value of the work performed.

Investigation of a fire scene and technical documentation to determine the seat and cause of the fire, the path of spread, and whether fire-safety rules were violated.

The place where a fire began, identified from the deepest charring, burn patterns, and the direction of heat damage, and used to determine the fire's cause.

Reconstruction of a road accident through calculation of vehicle speed, braking distance, driver reaction time, and visibility to establish whether the driver could have prevented it.

The sequence of movements and interactions of vehicles, people, and objects before and during a collision, reconstructed by the expert from traces and case materials.

Study of computers, storage media, and network data to recover, authenticate, and interpret digital information while preserving its integrity for evidentiary use.

A short fixed-length code computed from a digital file's contents; identical hashes indicate that the examined copy matches the original and has not been altered.

Information stored or transmitted in digital form that is collected, preserved, and analysed under rules ensuring its authenticity, integrity, and chain of custody.

Analysis of accounting records, primary documents, and bookkeeping entries to establish the reality of transactions, the amount of shortage, or the correctness of reported figures.

A record that first captures a business transaction and provides the evidentiary basis for entries in accounting registers; its authenticity and completeness are central to accounting examinations.

Assessment of financial operations, credit, and contractual relations to determine the economic substance and consequences of transactions and the validity of financial indicators.

Analysis of tax returns, ledgers, and payment documents to establish whether taxes were correctly calculated and paid and to determine any understatement.

Assessment of a person's mental state at the time of an act or of the proceedings, addressing legal capacity, sanity, and the need for compulsory medical measures.

The legal categories the psychiatric expert helps assess: whether a person could understand and control their actions at the time of the offence.

Study of a person's psychological characteristics, emotional state, or capacity to perceive events, used in cases of violence, transactions, or testimony reliability.

Analysis of spoken or written language to determine meaning, authorship, presence of threats, insults, or calls to prohibited activity in disputed texts.

Study of artworks and cultural objects to establish authorship, period, authenticity, and cultural value, often in disputes over sale or export.