DIGITALNI DOKAZI – IZAZOVI SAVREMENOG PRAVOSUĐA

In the paper, the author analyzes contemporary trends in society that inevitably affect criminal justice and introduce new forms of crime, thereby proving them. In today's digital age, accompanied by technological transformations, digital evidence is a key tool in modern justice, encompassing new aspects of evidence related to the collection, processing, validity, and use of digital evidence in judicial proceedings. Also, the new era brings with it new forms of committing crimes, so the collection, processing, and use of evidence must be based on modern technologies, with the possession of technological knowledge and funds. This must necessarily be accompanied by respect for basic human rights so that this evidence is not excluded in the proceedings or so that it can be used in the judiciary to obtain an irrefutable conviction. In this paper, the author analyzes the needs of the digital age and the justification for the criminal justice system to use digital evidence, points out its importance, as well as the challenges faced by the judiciary when collecting, analyzing, and presenting such evidence, and aspects of its use in proceedings. Thus, the first part of the paper presents international and domestic legislation, then the concept and types of digital evidence, and the technical and procedural challenges that accompany them, while the second part of the paper points to practical examples from the practice of the European Court of Human Rights, as well as the future and trends of digital evidence.