NCJ Number
198285
Date Published
2001
Length
95 pages
Annotation
This dissertation examines criminal jurisdiction under Danish law, with attention to the location of Internet crime for the purpose of determining jurisdiction.
Abstract
Under Sections 6 and 9 of the Danish criminal code, criminal jurisdiction can be determined by not only the location of the initiation of the criminal act, but also the location where the effects of the act occurred or were intended to occur. In applying the Danish law relevant to criminal jurisdiction to Internet crimes, it is necessary to distinguish between various effects in the chain of actual events that constituted the crime to the point of completion. This study analyzed Danish theory pertinent to locating Internet crime, concluding that the lack of the physical presence of the perpetrator must be overcome by focusing on the effects of the perpetrator's acts on the victims. Only those effects that complete the crime can be included in the assignment of jurisdiction. The Danish doctrine of criminal jurisdiction is found to rest on a paradigm of proximity of the place of completion and the place of intermediary effects, the protection from the latter often being the reason for criminalizing the act. Such protection can only be achieved if both effects occur in the same place, which is not always the case with Internet crime, since the completion of a crime on a territory does not necessarily mean that any interests have been violated there. This conflicts with the need for minimum contact between the crime and the territory, which most public international law theory agrees exists. To avoid this conflict, the author suggests that the Danish law on criminal jurisdiction be interpreted to locate a criminal act to a territory by reference to the effects of its component parts, only if these are aimed at the territory. Such a test of aim must be based on objective criteria, which could include the language of the content, its relevance, and possible access control. 52 references