Characteristics of Electronic (Digital) Evidence Assessment

In modern criminal procedure law enforcement practice, the assessment of electronic (digital) evidence is carried out according to the general rules for assessing evidence, regulated by the criminal procedure law. At the same time, the courts often do not take into account the electronic (digital) nature of the type of evidence under consideration, which sometimes leads to an erroneous criminal legal qualification of the act or to other incorrect conclusions in the final procedural decision. Scientific comprehension of a new source of information in the system of normatively established evidence is in its active phase (and is still far from completion). However, this analysis of theoretical views and law enforcement, primarily judicial, practice makes it possible to put forward proposals for a phased reform of the criminal procedural law and adjusting law enforcement on the basis of obvious and the features of electronic (digital) evidence, which do not cause fundamental objections, concerning their essence, the specifics of collection, verification and evaluation. The paper focuses on such an element of establishment of evidence as evidence assessment, since, due to the fact that it is less formalized, the courts quite often make mistakes when assessing the relevance, admissibility and reliability of electronic (digital) evidence.

1. Bahteev D. V., Smahtin E. V. Kriminalisticheskie osobennosti proizvodstva processual’nyh dejstvij s cifrovymi sledami // Rossijskij yuridicheskij zhurnal. UrGYuU. — 2019. — № 6. — S. 61–68.

2. Voronin M. I. Nedopustimaya dopustimost’ elektronnyh dokazatel’stv. Sudebnaya praktika i probely v UPK // Ugolovnyj process. — 2020. — № 10. — S. 46–55.

3. Galyashina E. I. Sudebnaya fonoskopicheskaya ekspertiza: problemy diagnostiki autentichnosti fonogramm // Vestnik Universiteta imеnі O. Е. Кутафafina (MGYuA). — 2014. — № 3. — S. 15–26.

4. Dobrovlyanina O. V. Nekotorye aspekty o processual’nom iz»yatii (kopirovanii) elektronnyh nositelej informacii // Permskij yuridicheskij al’manah. — 2019. — № 2. — S. 641–649.

5. Zajcev P. Elektronnyj dokument kak istochnik dokazatel’stv // Zakonnost’. — 2002. — № 4. — S. 40–44.

6. Ovsyannikov D. V. Elektronnoe kopirovanie informacii v sisteme sredstv ugolovno-processual’nogo dokazyvaniya // Pravoporyadok: istoriya, teoriya, praktika. — 2014. — № 2 (3). — S. 130–134.

7. Osnovy teorii elektronnyh dokazatel’stv: monografiya / pod red. S. V. Zueva. M. : Yurlitinform. — 2019. — 398 s.

8. Pershin A. N. Osmotr setevyh informacionnyh resursov — novyj vid sledstvennogo dejstviya? // Rossijskij sledovatel’. — 2020. — № 1. — S. 13–16.

9. Elektronnye dokazatel’stva v ugolovnom sudoproizvodstve: uchebnoe posobie dlya vuzov / S. V. Zuev [i dr.] ; otv. red. S. V. Zuev. — M. : Yurajt, 2020. — 196 s.

10. Yanin M. G., Kochedykova K. M. Problemy sbora, proverki i ocenki elektronnyh dokazatel’stv v ugolovnom sudoproizvodstve // Upravlenie v sovremennyh sistemah. — 2019. — № 2 (22). — S. 28–31.