Digital Criminal Procedural Code: New Concept of Law Development

The issues of development of criminal procedural law in order to create a digital criminal procedural law are considered in this paper. The subject of the study is investigative actions, technologies, as well as means of recording, electronic documents and the text of the law. The new concept is based on such directions as: 1) digitalization of investigation; 2) digital (virtual) environment of law enforcement; 3) machine-readability of legal norms. It is argued that the use of artificial intelligence will make it possible to realize the idea of virtual criminal proceedings, when most of the procedural actions can be performed online, including during court hearings. The authors argue that the administration of justice in criminal cases is now more archaic than ever before. The fight against crime, which to a greater extent has moved to the virtual space, requires the development and implementation of new effective ways of conducting investigations and ensuring the rights of citizens in the digital environment. Digitalization implies a revision of the very idea of the law and its application. Under the Digital Criminal Procedural Code it is proposed to understand a legal act designed to regulate criminal procedure relations arising in the digital environment in connection with the criminal prosecution of persons who have committed crimes, as well as to ensure the administration of justice, including through the use of machine-readable legal text.