JUVENILE CRIME IN THE DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT – READINESS OF FUTURE LAWYERS FOR NEW CHALLENGES

Abstract

Juvenile delinquency is a special area of criminal law that is traditionally based on the principles of protecting child development, educational sanctions and special prevention. However, in conditions of intensive digitalization of society, there is a significant transformation of the forms of juvenile delinquency, with the digital environment becoming a new space for the manifestation of illegal behavior. The Internet and social networks enable the emergence of specific forms of crime such as cyberbullying, abuse of digital identity, online fraud and unauthorized distribution of content, deepfake content, which poses new challenges to modern criminal law.

The paper aims to analyze the concept and characteristics of juvenile delinquency in the digital environment, as well as the adequacy of the existing criminal law response to new forms of juvenile delinquency. Special attention is paid to the specificities of the digital space, which are reflected in the anonymity of perpetrators, the transnational nature of illegal acts and the increased risk of victimization of children and young people. The paper is based on a normative and criminological analysis of contemporary trends in juvenile delinquency, with a focus on international standards for the protection of children's rights and the development of preventively oriented response models.

In addition to the theoretical and normative analysis, the paper also contains an empirical segment based on a survey conducted among fourth-year students of the Faculty of Law for Business and Judiciary in Novi Sad, with the aim of examining the perceptions of future lawyers about the prevalence, causes and criminal law treatment of juvenile delinquency in the digital environment. The results obtained indicate that the respondents recognize the growth of digital forms of delinquency, with attitudes that emphasize preventive and educational measures in relation to repressive punishment mechanisms dominating.

The digital environment requires an interdisciplinary approach within juvenile criminal law, which involves harmonizing legislation, education and preventive policies. The views of future lawyers are an important indicator of the direction of development of criminal law policy in the field of child and juvenile protection in the conditions of a digital society.