New prospects for the development of electronic justice in sentencing

Abstract

It is stated in the article that today Ukraine has received the status of a candidate for EU membership with the requirement, in particular, strengthening of anti-corruption and continuation of judicial reform. These challenges for national security are foreseen in the Strategy for the Development of the Justice System and Constitutional Judiciary for 2021–2023 (approved by the Decree of the President of Ukraine dated June 11, 2021 No. 231/2021). Separate measures to solve the specified problems are defined, in particular, the development of electronic justice taking into account world standards in the sphere of information technologies. It has been established that such measures mostly solve the issue of communication and access to justice, but the fairly promising issue of using information technology in the administration of justice remains neglected. The subject of our research is the issue of the introduction of electronic justice through the use of cybernetic methods by judges when imposing punishment. It has been established that the issue of the use of cybernetic methods by judges in sentencing is almost not investigated in Ukraine today and does not find appropriate implementation in conceptual documents on reforming the justice system.
 The analysis of the world experience of information technologies’ introduction makes it possible to draw a conclusion about its use in solving various legal issues: the detection and investigation of crimes, the expansion of communication between citizens and judicial authorities, the legal assessment of actions, etc.
 It is concluded that the formation of modern legislation based on the principles of wide application of judicial discretion is a “genetic” feature in the history of the former USSR republics legislation development. It is noted that the insufficient definition of criminal legal norms, the ambiguity of some terms, the variability of the punishment, the absence of detailed and clear rules for the imposition of punishment in the law significantly complicate the law enforcement process. All this leads to differences in judicial practice, to judicial errors, manifestations of corruption and, as a result, to a decrease in the authority of the judiciary.
 The analysis of the criminal law doctrine provisions proved that the idea of formalizing the appointment of criminal punishment did not receive proper development, although it was considered in the works of individual authors. Two directions of cybernetic methods using in the programming of the sentencing process have been identified: full and partial. It is concluded that the study of H. Alikperov “Electronic Scales of Justice”, which is based on the matrix of punishment and algorithms of its individualization, is promising for borrowing when creating new criminal legislation and reforming justice.
 The conducted research makes it possible to draw the following conclusions: the issue of automating judicial decision-making in modern conditions of digitization, reforming the judicial system and finding new effective means of combating corruption in the administration of justice in Ukraine requires a new understanding and possible reception for implementation in law enforcement activities; informational progress cannot be left without proper control by the state and must not violate human rights and freedoms; the use of cybernetic methods of formalizing punishment is impossible without stable criminal legislation and fair sanctions of prohibitive criminal legal norms that correspond to the public danger of the offense; conceptual documents regarding the development of the justice system should take into account the possibilities of using modern technologies not only to expand communication between subjects, access to justice, but also the use of information technologies specifically in the implementation of justice.