Justitiële verkenningen

Samenvatting

Because of the special characteristics of the Internet, cybercrime inherently crosses national borders and has fewer natural barriers than classic cross-border crime. This triggers the question whether criminal law with its traditional national focus is able to combat cybercrime. Can legislatures respond to technological change with sufficient speed in an internationally aligned approach? This article tries to answer this question by mapping the dynamics of cybercrime law, focusing particularly on the interplay between European and Dutch legislative initiatives. It shows that the dynamics consist of a European framework of minimum standards on major issues, with much room for national legislatures to interpret the standards and to add initiatives of their own where the European framework remains silent. Although this has worked well so far, if cybercrime continues to transform into large-scale organised crime, a step-change in the dynamics towards more steering European approaches may be necessary.