Application of Digital Evidence in Criminal Cases: Dilemma and Optimization

The judicial application of digital evidence in criminal cases(criminal digital evidence)is an inevitable trend for the digital transformation of criminal proceedings in the macro context of the digital economy.It is characterized by digitization,diversification,and traceability.The application of criminal digital evidence can be divided into two main scenarios:the vertical scenario involving phases such as filing,prosecution,and trial;the horizontal scenario related to specific types of crimes.Criminal digital evidence is primarily applied to handling non-contact crimes,such as cybercrimes.However,the application of such evidence may infringe upon the basic rights of suspects,including their rights to privacy,rights to know,and rights to defense.Furthermore,the diversified and non-systematic nature of digital evidence may lead to challenges in applying the law,particularly with algorithmic“black boxes,”which can result in judicial discrimination and other drawbacks.Therefore,it is necessary to formulate or improve the regulatory framework for criminal digital evidence to ensure its lawful and standardized application.Additionally,judicial authorities must strengthen collaboration in case handling to ensure smooth coordination in collecting and applying digital evidence,thereby realizing its efficient litigation value.Furthermore,it is essential to check and balance the algorithm-based conviction and sentencing to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the parties involved,achieving high-quality human rights protection.

Prison Term Prediction on Criminal Case Description with Deep Learning

The task of prison term prediction is to predict the term of penalty based on textual fact description for a certain type of criminal case.Recent advances in deep learning frameworks inspire us to propose a two-step method to address this problem.To obtain a better understanding and more specific representation of the legal texts,we summarize a judgment model according to relevant law articles and then apply it in the extraction of case feature from judgment documents.By formalizing prison term prediction as a regression problem,we adopt the linear regression model and the neural network model to train the prison term predictor.In experiments,we construct a real-world dataset of theft case judgment documents.Experimental results demonstrate that our method can effectively extract judgment-specific case features from textual fact descriptions.The best performance of the proposed predictor is obtained with a mean absolute error of 3.2087 months,and the accuracy of 72.54%and 90.01%at the error upper bounds of three and six months,respectively.

A Study on the Model of Fact‑Finding in Criminal Investigation

Fact‑finding,as the foundation of a judicial decision,has been an important consideration in China’s judicial reform.This study introduces the theory of evidence‑based information and falsification methods in the fact‑finding procedure of criminal investigations and proposes a paradigm for fact‑finding using combined pairs of approaches:individual evidence examination and global analysis,the objective basis and subjective perception of fact‑finders,and methods of verification and falsification.The working procedure of the paradigm is illustrated with the objective of making a contribution to the improvement of the existing model of fact‑finding in the criminal justice process.

Study of the System of the Witness Appearing in Court:From the Perspective of Criminal Proceedings

It is of great significance for witnesses to appear in court in criminal cases so as to safeguard the right of confrontation of the defendant and achieve judicial justice.However,the witnesses in criminal cases refuse to appear in court and only give written testimony,and this has become a long‑standing problem in the judicial practice of China.To solve this problem,the Criminal Procedure Law of China,amended and improved the system of the witness appearing in court in 2012.Nevertheless,if the underlying problems in the judicial system of China are not settled,the system of the witness appearing in court in criminal cases still cannot turn into practicable measures.