Exploration Of Online Trial Rule Of Criminal Cases In China

As an important product of technology deeply embedded in the field of criminal justice,online trial of criminal cases is conducive to breaking through the limitations of physical space and practical rationality with economic efficiency,especially under the background of the epidemic.The Online Litigation Rules of the People’s Courts issued by the Supreme People’s Court in 2021 make more specific provisions on all aspects of online litigation,clearly stipulating that the scope of applicable cases includes three types of criminal cases,which marks that China’s online trial of criminal cases has entered a period of unified planning.Clear and complete online trial rules are an important guarantee factor for giving play to the function of online court hearings,but the Online Procedure Rules of People’s Courts do not give sufficient consideration to the particularity of criminal cases,and the relevant provisions have drawbacks such as weak operability,weak consistency in application,and insufficient certainty,which can easily lead to chaos in practice and are not conducive to giving play to the value of online court hearings.Although the development of information technology has expanded the realization of court trials,it still cannot deviate from the pursuit of fairness and justice in traditional court trials.From the trend of informatization development,the deep integration of information technology and criminal justice is the general trend,so it is necessary to pay attention to the special study of online trial rules for criminal cases to better guide practice.This paper first elaborates on the operational basis and rule evolution of online trial of criminal cases,introduces the operational basis for online trial of criminal cases that requires technical level and professional protection,and clarifies that the application of online trial of criminal cases in China needs to consider the completeness of the operational foundation.This paper sorts out the evolution of rules for online trial of criminal cases,that is,it is mainly divided into three stages,namely the period of independent exploration,the period of universal application,and the period of unified planning,and it is found that the evolution of rules has characteristics that are compatible with specific historical periods.Secondly,this paper examines the specific content of online trial of criminal cases in the Rules of Online Litigation of People’s Courts,the disputes between academia and practice over traditional litigation theories,excavates the shortcomings of the Rules at the legislative level,and discusses their compatibility with traditional litigation theories.Then,through practical observations,it is found that the overall operation of the application of online court trials in criminal cases is good,but there are also problems such as inconsistent scope of application of cases,insufficient protection of defendants’ right to choose procedures,and the risk of leaking personal information in the identity authentication link,which confirms that the lack of rules will lead to confusion in practice,strengthens the necessity of optimizing the rules of online court trials for criminal cases,and lays a specific rule optimization path.Finally,on the basis of summarizing the legislative and theoretical difficulties in online trial rules,combined with the operational difficulties exposed in the judicial practice of online court trials,this paper puts forward a way out for optimizing rules with functional equivalence as the goal,and makes specific optimization suggestions for the rules in terms of the scope of application of criminal cases,the content of procedural options,personal information protection and witnesses’ online testimony.