Palingenesis of Criminal Law in the Conditions of Digital Reality

• Published in: Legal Issues in the Digital Age Vol. 2; no. 1; pp. 145 - 159
• Main Author: Russkevich, Evgeny
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 04.05.2021
• ISSN: 2713-2749; 2713-2749
• DOI: 10.17323/2713-2749.2021.1.145.159

The article proves that the influence of exponential and combinatorial technological changes has led to a crisis of criminal law, which is expressed in the inability to perform its basic functions due to the permanent and dynamic external environmental impact. The author identifies the following fundamental provisions that should be relied on when making decisions on the modernization of criminal law: the emergence of a new (informational) method of committing a crime does not a priori indicate that it is more dangerous than the traditional one, but in many respects indicates the problem of lag social control from the development of society and changes in crime; the adaptation of the norms of the criminal law to the conditions of the information society should not be associated with the construction of “digital twins” of traditional criminal law prohibitions; the introduction of appropriate amendments to the content of the norms is justified only in cases where the adaptive capacity of criminal legislation to manifestations of digital crime exhausts itself; the recognition of the use of information technologies as a qualifying feature of a crime in general must comply with the criteria for differentiating criminal liability justified in science. The article separately substantiates that the emergence of a “digital personality” will complete the beginning of the transition from the traditional criminal law of the industrial society of the 20th century towards the criminal law of the digital world of the 21th century (criminal law 2.0). First of all, this is due to the fact that artificial intelligence and “digital personality” will fundamentally change the scope of criminal law protection.