Electronic evidence: certain aspects of its use in criminal proceedings

Abstract

Procedural sources of evidence in criminal proceedings are testimony, physical evidence, documents, and expert opinions. Text documents, as well as photos, videos and audio recordings, are now mostly created and stored digitally. All types of data are stored on storage media in computers and mobile phones, or on servers and in the cloud. Often, such information has significant evidentiary value in the investigation of criminal offenses.

Many questions arise among scientists regarding the very essence of electronic (digital) evidence and its attribution to a particular type of procedural source, its evaluation and use in the evidentiary process.

Some researchers consider such evidence to be a type of document, others do not attribute evidence in electronic form to any of the sources of evidence, and others consider it to be an independent source of evidence.

It is noted that today the state of legal regulation and the degree of scientific development of the issue of electronic evidence in criminal proceedings do not meet the requirements of practice. A unified approach to the collection, study, and use of electronic evidence has not been developed and further enshrined in legislation; some issues regarding the inclusion of electronic media in criminal proceedings, etc., remain unregulated in the law.

The article analyzes the views of domestic and foreign scientists on the above-mentioned issues, the legal positions of the legislator and the judicial bodies of the state, and expresses its own views and considerations.

It is concluded that, given the multifaceted nature and complexity of many aspects, it seems quite natural that scientists and practitioners, both foreign and domestic, have not yet developed a unified approach to understanding the essence of electronic evidence, all aspects of their use in criminal proceedings, research and evaluation. It is obvious that there is a need for them to be recognized as a separate source of evidence by the legislator.

Based on the analysis of scientific domestic and foreign sources, legislative acts and judicial practice, the author's vision of the specified issues and ways to improve the current criminal procedural legislation are presented, which also indicates the novelty of the study.