Promising directions for the use of modern digital technologies in ensuring transparency of criminal proceedings

Subject. The article investigates the transformation of the principle of transparency in criminal proceedings under the influence of modern digital technologies. The choice of the research object is driven by a paradigm shift from classical public access to justice towards an active, technologically mediated openness, which necessitates a rethinking of traditional approaches and the formation of a new legal model.

The purpose of the study is to test the scientific hypothesis that modern digital technologies hold significant potential for ensuring systemic transparency in criminal proceedings; however, their implementation requires the establishment of a balanced legal framework that minimizes concomitant risks to privacy, security, and procedural rights. This goal is pursued through a comparative analysis of legal regulation and an empirical study of law enforcement practice.

Methodology. The methodological foundation of the research comprises a set of general scientific and specific scientific methods. These included the dialectical method to analyze the evolution of transparency, the system-structural method to study criminal proceedings as an integrated system, the comparative legal method (using the experience of the People's Republic of China as an example), and the formal legal method to identify gaps in legislation. The empirical base was formed by data from the author's sociological survey of judges, lawyers, prosecutors, investigators, and legal scholars (n = 520), coupled with an analysis of law enforcement practice.

Conclusions. Based on the study results, the following conclusions are drawn: (1) The most promising technologies for ensuring transparency, according to all respondent groups, are artificial intelligence and big data analytics (for overcoming information barriers and enhancing objectivity), blockchain (for creating an immutable and verifiable digital footprint of cases and evidence), and online streaming of court hearings (as a direct embodiment of the public hearing principle in the digital age).

(2) The key risks of digitalization that threaten transparency are breaches of personal data confidentiality and protection, cybersecurity threats (hacking, falsification of digital evidence), and the exacerbation of the digital divide, leading to procedural injustice.

(3) The primary obstacle to realizing the benefits of digital technologies is a systemic gap in legal regulation, particularly the absence of comprehensive norms in the Russian Code of Criminal Procedure governing the use of AI, blockchain, and big data. Achieving the research objectives requires the implementation of provisions into criminal procedure legislation that establish clear procedures, boundaries of openness, and guarantees for the protection of individual rights in the context of digital transformation.

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