Ensuring the Independence and Impartiality of the Jury in the Context of the Digital Transformation of Society and the State: Russian and Foreign Experience

Abstract

The aim of the study is to demonstrate that the digital transformation of society and the state affects the legal mechanism that ensures the independence and impartiality of the jury, while the internal elements of this mechanism largely lose their effectiveness. The legal mechanism for ensuring the independence and impartiality of jurors includes internal (implemented within the procedural framework of the consideration of a criminal case) and external (implemented outside the framework of the consideration of a criminal case) elements. The internal elements of this mechanism include: the possibility of changing the territorial jurisdiction of a criminal case; questioning potential jurors during voir dire; the possibility to declare the bias of the jury, etc. External elements of the legal mechanism ensuring the independence and impartiality of the jury include: maintaining the secrecy of jurors’ personal data; a complicated form of bringing jurors to criminal liability and applying criminal procedural coercion measures to them; the existence of criminal liability for threats and violence against jurors; the possibility of applying state protection measures to jurors. Under the influence of digital transformation a number of problems appear in the jury trial, that provoke risks for the independence and impartiality of jurors: digital “surveillance” of jurors; digital “investigation” of the case by jurors; digital influence on the jury and the expression of opinions by jurors in the digital environment. The paper considers approaches to solving these problems and offers recommendations for changing legislative regulation and adjusting judicial practice.