DEMATERIALIZAREA OBIECTULUI MATERIAL AL INFRACȚIUNII ÎN CONTEXTUL EVOLUȚIEI TEHNOLOGICE ȘI CONSECINȚELE ACESTEIA

Considering the importance that information technology has acquired in recent years and how it has come to influence the criminal policy at the international level, the author of this study founds it necessary to analyse the subject matter of the offence taking into account this new technological context. Thus, it has been attempted to highlight the need for a reconceptualization of the offence’s subject matter, emphasizing the idea according to which intangible elements may be part of its structure. In support of this thesis, there was reviewed the problem of theft of virtual goods and of certain cybercrimes that reveal the existence of an intangible subject matter which is likely to be interposed between the agent’s behaviour and the social value protected by the rule of incrimination. Last but not least, the author has pointed out a possible consequence of the reconceptualization of the subject matter of the offence, referring thus to the applicability of the supporting cause of self-defence.