THE CONCEPT OF ELECTRONIC EVIDENCE IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS, ITS TYPES AND CLASSIFICATION

Introduction. The digitalization of criminal justice leads to the search for optimal ways to use electronic evidence in criminal proceedings. At the same time, the use of electronic evidence has its own characteristics due to the specifics of the information environment. In turn, the imperfection of legislative regulation of the use of electronic evidence in criminal proceedings results in the lack of a unified approach to its collection (receipt), verification and evaluation. Thus, the issues related to the requirements for electronic evidence (primarily their admissibility, propriety and reliability), as well as assessments when making criminal procedural decisions, are relevant. This leads to clarification of the concept of electronic evidence, its types and classification. The goal is to study the legal regulation of the use of electronic evidence in criminal proceedings, the concept of electronic evidence, the features (criteria) of digital evidence, the place of electronic evidence in the system of procedural sources of evidence. To characterize the types of electronic evidence, to provide a classification of electronic evidence. Materials and methods. The materials of the study include: 1) European Convention on Human Rights; 2) the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights; 3) legislation of Ukraine; 4) foreign and national literature, which covers the use of electronic evidence in criminal proceedings; 5) judicial practice. In the process of carrying out the research, the following scientific methods were used: dialectical, historical and legal, statistical, system-structural, method of generalization. The appeal to the historical and legal method provided a study of the genesis of the normative regulation of electronic evidence in the legislation of Ukraine. The comparative legal method allowed to analyze various branches of Ukrainian legislation and international experience in the use of electronic evidence. The statistical method is used in the process of studying judicial practice, its generalization. The method of generalization was useful in bringing single facts into a single whole, formulating conclusions. Results. On the basis of the study, the legal regulation of the use of electronic evidence in criminal proceedings is analyzed, the concept of electronic evidence is defined, the signs (criteria) of digital evidence are formulated, and the place of electronic evidence in the system of procedural sources of evidence is clarified. Characteristics of certain types of electronic evidence are provided and a classification of electronic evidence is proposed. Prospects. In further scientific research, it is proposed to analyze the properties of electronic evidence in criminal proceedings, to determine both the general properties of electronic evidence, which are also inherent in other sources of evidence, and the features of the requirements for electronic evidence, due to the features of the environment of digital information.