VIRTUAL CRIME AND ITS SANCTIONING

Abstract

Breathtaking pace of the technological development, caused by the huge needs of contemporary economic relations, resulted in a gradual evolution in terms of goods which are on entities’ (individuals and legal persons) disposal. Dematerialization of means of transaction (i.e., securities) has led to a re-examination of objects of property of any person as a subject of rights. Theoretical concept of ownership is that it is someone’s right on material things. However, new trends also included a new term - the term of virtual property. Virtual property is a digital mimicry of reality, creating the impression of material goods by means of digital technology. The development of such new concepts in the concept of property legal transactions occur many problems in the protection of the holder’s right on the goods, and create a legal basis for persons who threaten the good to be appropriately sanctioned. This, in addition to civil, came gradually in the domain of the criminal matter and determining felonies, in which the elements of the crime must be specifically identified, because their determination associated with the dematerialized environment (which is entirely composed not of atoms, but bits) resulting in a difficult position of prosecuting authorities which apply the law with sufficient precision to characterize this behavior as a form of a social behavior which is not acceptable. This paper will primarily deal with the problem of determining the concept of virtual crimes, and application of this theoretical concept, as in the adopted legal acts on one side alongside practices in their implementation.