Digital Technologies in Russian Criminal Proceedings: Limits and Problems of Implementation
Authors:   North Caucasian Branch, Russian State University of Justice, Krasnodar, Russian Federation, Borodinova Tat’yana G. 
Published: June 2022

Introduction. Digitalisation is one of the important developments and trends in modern Russian legal proceedings. This has become especially relevant in the context of a modern pandemic. The digitalisation of the judicial system made it possible in the new conditions to successfully resolve the problems of accessibility to justice. The intensive process of digitalisation of legal proceedings requires analysis by scientists and law enforcement officers. Digitalisation refers to the quality of communication-digital technologies and their compliance with the necessary high standards of guaranteed protection of the rights of persons involved in the sphere of legal proceedings. Digital technologies are in demand for progressive procedural means. They can be combined into various stages of the regulation of criminal procedure. Attention is drawn to the need for a nuanced approach to the use of digital technologies in different types of legal proceedings. The uniqueness of the criminal process, which contains important moral principles, the implementation of which cannot be automated, is emphasised. The criteria for the admissibility of the use of digital technologies by the court when considering criminal cases are resolved. Theoretical Basis. Methods. The theoretical basis of this article was modern scientific works of domestic and foreign jurists, which are devoted to the discussion of the problems of digitalisation of legal proceedings. The scientific research methods used in the process of work was determined based on the purpose of the study, namely the clarification of the place of digital technologies in the system of regulation of criminal procedures. The research is based on such fundamental general scientific methods as dialectical, systemic, logical, structural and functional. Also, such private scientific methods were used as historical-legal, formal-legal, comparative-legal, etc. Results. The active introduction of digital technologies in the sphere of legal proceedings in the Russian Federation is the result of a significantly increased value in the scientific and technical potential of modern innovations in the life of society and the goals of the state aimed at improving the quality of the administration of justice. The process of digitalisation of legal proceedings should be arranged taking into account the preservation of guarantees of the rights of citizens to fully-fledged judicial protection. This cannot be carried out exclusively in an “automatic” way. The importance of moral foundations and the presence of inalienable emotional and cognitive components in the content of the criminal procedural activity of the court require a nuanced approach to the issue of the scope and possibilities of using digital technologies in the process of justice. The conceptual approach to digitalisation of criminal proceedings must be based on its traditional fundamental basis. Digital technologies used by a court in criminal proceedings must meet the following four criteria: 1) a focus on ensuring the appointment of criminal proceedings and specific legal rights and interests of participants in criminal proceedings; 2) a completed regulatory mechanism; 3) a technical ability to be realised in the form specified by the criminal procedure law; 4) have an alternative nature, which does not exclude the possibility of using traditional procedural means. Discussion and Conclusion. The process of introducing digital technologies into criminal proceedings, the automation of its individual stages cannot be without boundaries and be uncontrolled. It should proceed with due regard for its procedural, legal and moral nature, together with its objectively inherent features which constitute the traditional form of criminal justice. The existing fragmentary introduction and regulation of innovative technologies in modern criminal proceedings leaves a number of problems of normative regulation unresolved. The creation of an integral regulatory procedural mechanism for the implementation of each digital technology is required.