Mykolas Romeris university students’ perceptions of the principles of The Sydney Declaration: a survey-based study

Abstract

The development of criminalistics requires not only an understanding of scientific doctrines from other countries, but also efforts to bring together different paradigms and harmonize the theoretical and methodological foundations of this discipline. The Sydney Declaration, published in 2022, represents one such positive step. The Declaration was prepared by a group of renowned scholars from Western countries and seeks to reconsider, from new perspectives, the science that ensures the effective detection, investigation, and prevention of crime. It should be emphasized that, within the Eastern European school of criminalistics and Lithuanian doctrine, this mature scientific discipline is oriented not only toward technical aspects but also toward the tactical, procedural, and organizational aspects of crime detection, investigation, and prevention. Furthermore, it is characterized by a coherent four-part system whose methodological foundation is the theory of criminalistics. This study does not seek to evaluate the concept of the Sydney Declaration, its fundamental propositions, or its insights. Rather, its purpose is to assess the understanding of the principles of the Sydney Declaration among students of the “Law and Criminalistics” study programme at Mykolas Romeris University and to examine their attitudes toward the criminalistics doctrine prevailing in our European region.