On the Concept of Information in Criminal Proceedings

Information gains special importance in the modern criminal process, it becomes a valuable resource in the implementation of procedural rights. The article is devoted to the issues of procedural information research. Most theories view information as a component of the process of cognition, as data regarding the committed crime. Such an interpretation somewhat limits its significance for the criminal process and makes it possible to view information only as the contents of proof. At the same time, the absence of a common view on the procedural understanding of information leads to certain difficulties in determining the limits of the rights to information for the criminal procedure participants. In order to understand information as a criminal procedure category, it is necessary to research its essence. Such an approach will contribute to specifying terminology, deriving key procedural attributes, and to the categorization of this concept. The author examines various doctrinal viewpoints on this issue, presents the philosophical understanding of information, and its legislative definition. There is a comparison of concepts from the criminalistic and the criminal procedure doctrines. The key attributes of information are formulated and the methods of its classification are presented.