A Study on the Theoretical Foundation of Cyber Criminal Jurisprudence

Cyber criminal law can be defined as a new legal field that deals with legal issues related to crimes occurring in the digital environment. This field has emerged out of necessity as traditional criminal law struggles to effectively address new types of crimes arising from the rapid advancement of the internet and digital technology. Therefore, cyber criminal law focuses on redefining the principles and norms of criminal law in line with these technological advancements and establishing a new legal framework. While criminal law refers to the legal system concerning crimes and punishments, defining what actions are punishable and to what extent, cyber criminal law specifically refers to the legal norms that stipulate appropriate statutory penalties for crimes in cyberspace. Although there are numerous special criminal laws aside from general criminal law, the term “cyber criminal law” that governs cybercrime is rarely found. Cybercrime is the greatest dysfunction of today's digital information society. The digital information society offers a pleasant internet environment where all necessary information can be searched in real-time through computers and smartphones. However, as a downside, the misuse of internet anonymity leads to serious issues such as human rights violations and the perpetration of cybercrimes, causing significant harm. Despite continuous efforts from both government and private sectors to prevent these problems, the rapid evolution of cybercrime often outpaces these measures. Consequently, the importance of cyber criminal law, which establishes the academic foundation for cybercrime, is significant. Each field of law has guiding ideologies. For example, public law is guided by the rule of law and legal administration, criminal law by the principle of legality, civil law by the principles of absolute ownership and private autonomy, and social law by the principle of protecting economically disadvantaged individuals. Then, what is the guiding ideology of cyber criminal law? Since cyber criminal law is still a form of criminal law, the principle of legality remains valid. Additionally, cyber ethics or internet ethics could be established as guiding ideologies. Cyber ethics can be considered an expanded concept that goes beyond mere moral notions to include elements that must be legally observed. This paper aims to establish the theoretical foundation of cyber criminal law. It reviews the concept and importance of cyber criminal law, the concept and guiding principles of cyber criminal law, the theoretical foundation of cyber criminal law, the impact and countermeasures of cybercrime, the constitutional basis of cyber criminal law etc.