电子数据在刑事证据体系中的定位与审查判断规则——基于网络假货犯罪案件裁判文书的分析

Location and Authentication Rules of Electronic Data in Chinese Criminal Evidence System

互联网时代,电子数据在刑事审判中的重要性日益彰显。然而,在规则层面与审判实践层面,对电子数据的定位却呈现显著差异。通过对北大法意中国裁判文书库收录的2005-2015年网络假货犯罪案件裁判文书的分析发现,电子数据在刑事审判实践中存在定位泛化的问题,相关审查判断规则主要围绕电子数据的真实性展开,其关联性审查本质上也是真实性审查,其合法性审查亦主要是为了保障真实性。电子数据鉴定虽然被广泛适用,却未能发挥预期作用,而专家辅助人的引入尚处于初级阶段。为了准确定位电子数据并发挥其应有的作用,应在广义理解电子数据的基础上,在真实性与正当程序保障的价值权衡中,构建适应互联网时代需求的电子数据审查判断规则。

The importance of electronic data evidence in criminal justice has become more and more prominent in the Internet era.There is a significant difference between the location of electronic data at the normative level and that at the level of trial practice.An analysis of written judgments on cases of online counterfeiting from 2005 to 2015 in the Lawyee Chinese Judgement indicates that,firstly,the definition of electronic data evidence in criminal trial practice is imprecise,secondly,authentication rules,including those on relevance review and legal examination,are only pursuing the truth as their main value,and thirdly,the widespread existence of electronic data appraisal has not played its expected role,and the application of expert assistance is still at its preliminary stage.Judicial practice shows that,in the future,the focus of court debate in criminal trial would shift from the authenticity of electronic data evidence to the relevancy and legitimacy of such evidence.Therefore,the improvement of the rules on the authentication of electronic data evidence is urgently needed.On the basis of understanding electronic data in a broad sense,we should strike a balance between the value of"pursuing the truth"and that of"pursuing the good",so as to construct electronic data authentication rules that meet the needs of the Internet era.