Hybrid Intention in Criminal Law: Rethinking Culpability in Posthuman Contexts
Janko Munjić · Jusletter IT · 25 June 2026
Abstract
This paper proposes a doctrinal framework for attributing criminal responsibility in human-AI systems through the concept of hybrid intention. Hybrid intention arises where a human initiates a purposive course of conduct, its realisation is constitutively mediated by an artificial system, and a limited but assessable control window remains available to the human agent. From this structure follows a three-part attribution test focusing on initiation, technological mediation and control. The test is illustrated through a surgical AI scenario and offers court-usable criteria that preserve anthropocentric culpability in posthuman contexts.
Bibliographic record
- Author
- Janko Munjić
- Journal
- Jusletter IT
- Issue
- juni-2026
- Published
- 25 June 2026
- Publisher
- Weblaw
- ISSN
- 1664-848X
- Language
- EN
- Full text
- Version of record at the publisher (subscription)
Versions of this work
One intellectual work, recorded once. The entries below are different appearances of it, not separate publications.
Version of record
Jusletter IT · 2026-06-25
Proceedings version
Proceedings of the 29th International Legal Informatics Symposium IRIS 2026 — Human-Machine Cooperation in Cyberspace · 2026-02 · pp. 421–429
Appears in the Google Scholar profile as a second record of the same work. No separate proceedings DOI has been established, so no independent identifier is asserted here. Pagination status: resolved 2026-09-15 against the published volume — content runs 421-429, printed 430 is blank and unnumbered, 431 opens the next section's contribution, and the volume's table of contents states start pages only and no page range for any contribution.
Cited in the author’s later work
Janko Munjić (2026). Intention, But Hybrid: A New Test for Posthuman Agents. WeRobot 2026, Berlin.
Janko Munjić (2026). Hybrid Intention and Augmented Agency: Allocation of Criminal Culpability in Neuroprosthetic Control. The Paris Journal on AI & Digital Ethics, No. 2, 2026, 22–31.
Keywords
Research themes
- Criminal Responsibility and AI
How should criminal law attribute culpability when human decisions are mediated by autonomous systems, predictive tools or intelligent interfaces?
- Hybrid Agency and Augmented Action
What happens to intention, control and accountability when human action is extended through robotic systems, neuroprosthetics or human-machine environments?
Related publications
- Hybrid Intention and Augmented Agency: Allocation of Criminal Culpability in Neuroprosthetic Control
The Paris Journal on AI & Digital Ethics, No. 2, 2026, 22–31
- Intention, But Hybrid: A New Test for Posthuman Agents
WeRobot 2026, Berlin
- Robots as victims? Examining criminal law's boundaries in the digital age
Alternative Law Journal, 50(4), 2025, 298–304
Cite this work
Munjić, J. (2026). Hybrid Intention in Criminal Law: Rethinking Culpability in Posthuman Contexts. Jusletter IT, juni-2026. https://doi.org/10.38023/da669e69-2730-4c2b-abab-a391164afb83