在國際社會中，刑事管轄權是國家主權的體現，他國不得干涉。然而，面對越來越多的跨國境犯罪，單靠一國的司法或執法單位，不易將犯罪者繩之以法。是以，國際間的刑事司法互助乃有其必要。傳統的刑事司法互助模式在有限主權的觀念下，必須透過國與國簽訂正式條約來進行，往往需耗費大量的資源與時間。再者，當需要進行刑事司法互助時，繁瑣的行政及司法程序再次讓打擊犯罪的效率與效果打了折扣。新功能的國際刑警組織、艾格蒙聯盟、虛擬全球任務小組以及全球檢察官打擊網路犯罪網絡屬於功能性主權觀念下新的刑事司法互助模式，不同於以往傳統刑事司法互助模式，而是透過科技網路，可以迅速交換情資或同時在不同國家進行罪犯的逮捕。此類新的刑事司法互助模式並非完全用於取代傳統的刑事司法互助模式，而是用來補足傳統刑事司法互助模式的缺點。

It is clear that a criminal jurisdiction, in most of time, belongs to the state where that crime convicted. That is so called the “full sovereignty” under international law system. However, due to dramatic
increase in transnational crimes, states need to concede part of their
sovereignty to others in order to gain assistance from them. Traditional types of mutual assistance in criminal matters have formed under the limited sovereignty concept since the 20th century. But those types of
mutual assistance have two fatal defects. One is that it is costly in time,
manpower and other resources to negotiate with a counter-party, sign and ratify a mutual assistance treaty. The other is that the red type lowers the efficiency to fight crimes. Hence, new types of mutual assistance in criminal matters, such as the “new” INTERPOL, the Egmont Group, the VGT and the GPEN, emerge under the functional sovereignty concept and new information and communication technology. Those new types of mutual assistance in criminal matters help states to exchange intelligence promptly through internet technology and arrest criminals located in different states simultaneously.