The Digital Transformation of Russian Criminal Proceedings and the Role of the Prosecutor’s Office as the Organizer of such a Transformation

Abstract

To date, the Russian Federation does not have a single systematic digitalization program for all criminal proceedings. At the same time, digital technologies themselves are fragmentally penetrating the practice of law enforcement. That is why it is extremely important to investigate this issue, as well as to study the foreign, more successful experience of digitalization of criminal proceedings in other countries. The article discusses the issue of digital transformation of modern Russian criminal proceedings; the need of systemic and interdepartmental interaction to create a unified digital platform “Digital Criminal Justice” is substantiated, namely, government agencies, the bar and other interested agencies involved in criminal proceedings or related to them due to the law enforcement nature of their functions; the role of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation as the organizer and coordinator of interdepartmental interaction for the creation of such a platform and its use is argued. It seems that the only state body that, by virtue of its tasks, powers and place in criminal proceedings, is able to lead and implement a holistic and systematic digitalization of criminal proceedings in its substantive criminal procedural aspect is the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation.