Meaning and implications of digital documentation of criminal trials in Germany

Germany is implementing a plan to digitally video or audio record what happens in the trial court of criminal proceedings. Many German judges also have animosity or concerns about video recording of trial proceedings. However, a bill aimed mandatory recording and discretionary video recording was submitted with the goal of mandating digital video recording or recording and automatic creation of transcript records in all courts by 2030. Even in Germany, various arguments for and against this bill were presented. As Mosbacher, a judge in the criminal division of the German Federal Supreme Court, said, it is no longer a matter of wether but how, and the details have become subject to compromise. In this article, we looked at the contents of the related German bill, the pros and cons, especially the judges' positions and counterarguments of scholars and criminal lawyers, and looked for the implications this can have on our situation. Ignoring the basis of the legitimacy of the existence of criminal trials and advancing modern technology may ultimately lead to the collapse of criminal justice per se. The way to become a court trusted by the public, to be evaluated as a criminal judgment acceptable to the parties, and to drastically reduce the overflow of appeal cases depends, above all, on how faithfully and transparently the first trial procedures and rulings that deal with the facts are made. Rather than clinging to the old-fashioned slogan that video trials cannot be permitted, it is important to know where, what, and how to change in our criminal trial in order to become a functioning criminal justice system that can meet the unique challenges of criminal trials as much as possible while efficiently using the limited national budget. We have to think about it.