Аңдатпа
Background. This article looks at the relevance and practical importance of situational forensic medical examinations in investigative practice, especially in cases involving violent crimes. Objective. To assess how justified the appointment of such examinations is and identify problems in their practical use during criminal investigations. Materials and methods. An analysis was carried out on 453 examinations conducted at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Astana at the RSE «Center of Forensic Examinations of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan» from 2022 to 2025. Materials from criminal cases were used, including interrogation records, expert reports, photo and video data, and results of investigative experiments. Method included analysis, comparison and generalization, as well as system and complex approaches with elements of modeling and event reconstruction. Results. The study showed on overall increase of situational examinations among all forensic examinations (from 53% in 2022 to 75% in 2025), despite a general decrease of crime in Kazakhstan. The main problems identified include: unjustified appointment of examinations when investigators already have full information to make their own assessment, poor quality of materials provided, formal description of bodily injuries in medical records, and unclear expert conclusions. In some cases, it was found that the results of the examinations had no evidential value. Conclusion. Unjustified use of situational examinations reduces the efficiency of investigations, increases the duration of proceedings and adds extra workload to expert institutions. To improve effectiveness, it is necessary to carefully justify the appointment of such examinations, pay more attention to the quality of materials and expand the use of alternative investigative actions. All this will help improve quality of expert conclusions. Keywords: forensic medicine, forensic medical examination, medico-criminalistic examination, situational examination, criminalistics, event reconstruction, bodily injuries, expert conclusion, evidence base.