Theoretical Review and Regulatory Approach to Online Trials in Criminal Cases

在线庭审是互联网信息技术深度融入司法体系而产生的新型庭审方式，打破了地域界限建构数字化司法场景，革新了传统诉讼模式，不仅顺应了智慧司法的时代潮流，更有利于降低当事人的诉讼成本，简化庭审程序，提升审判质效。但是，这一新兴庭审模式的出现对传统庭审理论造成了潜在冲击，当前存在着缺乏稳固的法律基础、适用范围存在局限性、当事人程序选择权保障机制须进一步完善、举证质证及证人作证存在障碍等问题，从在线诉讼规则的立法完善角度考量，立法机关须完善相关立法、科学厘定刑事案件在线庭审的适用范围、健全在线诉讼当事人程序选择权保障机制、建立健全举证质证规则，推动刑事案件在线庭审实现技术适配性与程序正当性的价值平衡，推动实现公正与效率的统一，最终推动形成资源配置合理、权利保障充分的现代化审判模式。Online trial is a new way of trial, which is produced by the deep integration of Internet information technology into the judicial system. It breaks the geographical boundaries, constructs a digital judicial scene, and innovates the traditional litigation mode. It not only conforms to the trend of the era of smart justice, but also helps to reduce the litigation costs of the parties, simplify the trial procedures and improve the quality and effectiveness of the trial. However, the emergence of this new court trial mode has caused a potential impact on the traditional court trial theory. At present, there are some problems, such as the lack of a solid legal basis, the limitation of the scope of application, the need to further improve the protection mechanism of the parties’ procedural right to choose, and the obstacles in the cross-examination of evidence and witnesses’ testimony. Considering from the perspective of legislative perfection of online litigation rules, The legislature should improve the relevant legislation, scientifically determine the applicable scope of online trial of criminal cases, improve the mechanism for ensuring the procedural option of the parties in online litigation, establish and improve the rules for cross-examination of evidence, and promote the online trial of criminal cases to achieve the value balance between technical adaptability and procedural legitimacy, promote the unity of justice and efficiency, and finally promote the formation of a modern trial mode with reasonable resource allocation and sufficient rights protection.