CRIMINAL LAW PROTECTION OF CHILDREN IN THE DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

: The dynamic development of modern technologies has brought new challenges to which the youngest users are particularly exposed, and these are certainly children. The risks and dangers to which they are exposed are multiplying much faster than criminal law protection is being achieved. Thus, initially, children were mainly exposed to criminal acts of sexual abuse and exploitation via the Internet, such as child pornography, then revenge pornography and similar criminal behaviors. Today, they are also victims of manipulation and abuse of personal data, exposure to harmful and dangerous content in the digital environment, and the subject of abuse and manipulation through artificial intelligence. The scope and prevalence of these behaviors is so wide that the question can be raised whether the existing incriminations in the Criminal Code of the Republic of Srpska can provide children with adequate protection in the digital environment. The subject of this paper has just been stated, in which we will first point out the dangers faced by children in the digital environment, and then present the existing criminal law provisions whose purpose is precisely to protect children.