Digitalization of Criminal Legislation: Complex Consequences of Simple Solutions

Abstract

The article analyzes certain amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation aimed at increasing the effectiveness of counteracting crimes committed using information and telecommunications networks, including the Internet.

The author notes that the virtual network method of committing a crime does not always indicate an increase in the social danger of the act. Supplementing the criminal law with an indication of the commission of a crime using the Internet should compensate for the real gap in the degree of social danger between the traditional form of committing a criminal offense and its digital analogue.

Unjustified digital casualization of the criminal law leads to a violation of the established models of legislative definition of individual crimes, and also contradicts the doctrinal provisions characterizing the content and limits of the objective side of specific crimes. The author also notes the lack of a unified approach to taking into account the digital method of committing a crime within the framework of the Special Part of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.