Legality and necessity of investigation outsourcing in criminal proceedings

In modern society, with the help of IT technology, documents and data can be easily created and stored in a variety of ways that were previously unimaginable. Documents and records created by various social entities, such as individuals, organizations, societies, and countries, are being created continuously and exponentially at this very moment. This phenomenon causes the information that is subject to investigation and analysis in criminal setting and trials to increase day by day, and regardless of the size of the case or the severity of the charges, and therefore the success of the investigation and the just result of the trial are determined by the proper forensics on electronic information. Ultimately, it has already become common for the information (records, documents, materials, etc.) that investigative agencies need to analyze in a single case to requires several days or weeks of expert analysis. And in cases where large corporations or multiple perpetrators and victims are at issue, a large number of professional investigators naturally have to analyze relevant electronic information for months or even years. Of course, the threat to the function of criminal justice brought about by this overflow of information is not only our problem, but also becoming a global phenomenon. In particular, it is a phenomenon that cannot be unrelated to the problem of trial delays, which has recently emerged as a topic of interest both domestically and internationally. This article explains that in this situation, rapid analysis and screening of electronic information has become an indispensable procedure in order to quickly free those under investigation from innocent charges and effectively secure evidence that can enable the punishment of criminals and ultimately the problem of insufficient investigation agencies cannot resolved without the help of external organizations or individuals, such as IT-related private companies or private forensic experts. In this viewpoint, We focused on the phenomenon of so-called 'outsourcing of investigative actions and activities. In particular, through comparative legal review, We discussed outsourcing methods that are legal under the current legal status, outsourcing methods that need to be introduced through future law revisions, and detailed legislative methods of meeting problem.