From Fantastic Theories to Objective Reality: Is there Future for Artificial Intelligence and Predictive Technologies in Administration of Criminal Justice?

Digitalization of various spheres of public relations, including their legal regulation, has recently become the talk of the town. More than a dozen works, many of which are of a rather fundamental nature, address the problems of digital development of law in general and criminal procedure in particular. However, it is difficult to deny that the issues of the influence of artificial intelligence on the development of justice have become the subject of widespread discussion relatively recently. As for predictive technologies, in comparison with foreign countries, there are many times fewer works of Russian legal researchers studying the issues under consideration. Basically, the legal personality of artificial intelligence is perceived as something negative, although it would be wrong to completely deny the idea of gradual penetration of this high technology into legal reality. The study attempts to participate in the discussion concerning admissibility of the use of predictive technologies and artificial intelligence in the administration of justice in criminal cases. The paper substantiates the thesis that rapid digitalization in the field of criminal justice should not go against implementation of the citizens’ right to access justice, but should serve as an important means of achieving transparency of the criminal process. Based on the basic postulates of the construction of the Russian criminal process, the author critically comprehends the place of artificial intelligence and predictive technologies from the standpoint of auxiliary elements or a fullfledged replacement of a human judge, discusses the search for an optimal balance of their application in order to improve the quality of justice in criminal cases. Despite certain conservatism of the criminal process and the seeming surrealism of thinking about full-fledged coexistence of criminal justice with predictive technologies and artificial intelligence, the author considers this direction to be very promising, requiring further study and reflection for the benefit of human development, society and the state.