Cyberbullying as a way of causing suicide in the digital age

Abstract

The fundamental basis of legal systems based on common law is that people have free will and are accountable for their actions. Particularly difficult and controversial issues of criminal liability arise when one person instigates another to commit suicide, and, accordingly, issues of free will, causality, and responsibility become increasingly important. The reasons for committing suicide are primarily socio-economic in nature. A certain proportion of suicides are those that occur due to the negative impact of third parties on the victims. In this case, the investigative action must establish that the perpetrator displayed intent in his or her actions in such a way as to expose the victim to a high risk of serious psychological harm. In the era of digital transformation, special attention must be paid to the relationship of the criminal with the victim, carefully studying the social networks of both, taking into account the fact that a typical participant in Internet communication leading to suicide is emotionally unstable, subordinate, insecure, secretive, unassertive teenager, and this category is represented to a greater extent by a female audience. The scalability of digital interventions allows to penetrate populations beyond the reach of conventional mental health care. Thus, there is a need for the use of digital Internet interventions, including to assist in the work of law enforcement agencies in the detection of Internet communities that instigate and incline people to commit suicide. It is concluded that the era of digital transformations is constantly evolving, social networks are becoming more accessible for both criminals and their victims, as a result of which the corresponding requirements for the investigation and subsequent prosecution for incitement to suicide become more complicated. The scientific proposals of legal scholars presented in the study are aimed at solving the corresponding problems