Abandoning paper-based criminal proceedings: partly an environmental issue

This paper is devoted to the problems of digital development of criminal proceedings, which has economic, political, legal, psychological, ideological and environmental aspects. The author argues that the abandonment of the paper format of criminal proceedings is inevitable, but difficult due to a number of reasons. Among the latter are the lag in the legal regulation of criminal procedural relations in the digital environment, the unwillingness of many to adjust to the changing conditions of development of society and the state, the creation of obstacles to the promotion of ideas for the widespread use of electronic forms of interaction in domestic criminal proceedings. The ways of solving the existing problems are proposed, among which are: increasing public confidence in electronic justice; optimization of the procedure for consideration of criminal cases in court; wide introduction of information technology in the activities of investigative bodies, prosecutors and courts; transition to electronic detection and investigation of crimes; organization of remote interaction of all participants in criminal proceedings; acceleration of legal proceedings; procedural economy; simplification of access to judicial protection.