Transparency In Criminal Proceedings: Safeguardding The Interests Of Society And State

Abstract

Russia has made considerable efforts to ensure transparency in the activities of State bodies and to establish an institution of public scrutiny. The objective is to analyze the compatibility of the concept of transparency and accessibility of criminal proceedings, which includes the right of citizens to have access to information on the public activities of competent State bodies and officials, and the interests of the State in establishing control over crime. Using such methods of cognition as dialectical, comparative law, historical and legal, logical, statistical, the authors have come to the following conclusion: transparency as a matter of accessibility of information related to the activities of the bodies concerned, as well as the availability of judicial records, should not be limited to judicial activity only. Digitalization of criminal proceedings, which is being widely implemented in recent years, makes it possible to extend transparency to the pre-trial stages of the process. At the same time, the authors accept the need to implement a reasonable balance between the confidentiality of information related to pre-trial procedural actions. Such balance is necessary to support those involved in crime detection and secures the confidentiality of information on personal data of citizens, ensures the possibility for interested parties to have access to information about the progress of the investigation. The article substantiates the inadmissibility of making the idea of full transparency in criminal proceedings absolute, as this may impede the safeguarding of the vital interests of the State and society in establishing control over crime.