Robots as victims? Examining criminal law's boundaries in the digital age
Janko Munjić · Alternative Law Journal · 14 October 2025
Abstract
This article examines whether Australian criminal law should recognise robots and artificial intelligence systems as victims of crime or maintain its human-centred approach. Through critical analysis of Australian legislation and comparative developments in the EU, United States and Japan, it argues that robots should remain classified as property, not persons. International standards such as the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and the OECD AI Principles reinforce this position. The article concludes that criminal law should adapt to address harms involving robots without extending legal personhood or victim status to autonomous artificial entities.
Referenced in Dmitry V. Zhmurov, Nekriminologiya (2026), in the chapter on robots, artificial intelligence and robot victimology.
Bibliographic record
- Author
- Janko Munjić
- Journal
- Alternative Law Journal
- Volume
- 50
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 298–304
- Published
- 14 October 2025
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- ISSN
- 1037-969X, 2398-9084
- Language
- EN
- Full text
- Version of record at the publisher (subscription)
Cited in verified scholarly literature
Michael Oyedele Oyenuga (2027). Policy Design for AI-Enabled Higher Institutions: Governance Architectures for Responsible Digital Transformation. Agentic AI and the Intelligent Transformation of Higher Education, IGI Global Scientific Publishing, 179–212.
Дмитрий Витальевич Жмуров (Dmitry V. Zhmurov) (2026). Некриминология [Nekriminologiya]. Монография. СПб.: Наукоемкие технологии, 2026, 240 pp. ISBN 978-5-00271-140-6.
Дмитрий Витальевич Жмуров (Dmitry V. Zhmurov) (2026). Виктимология роботов: предчувствия и предпосылки [Robot Victimology: Premonitions and Prerequisites]. Виктимология / Victimology, 13(1), 92–100.
Reported by a search index, not verified
A search index additionally identifies the work below as citing this article. The relationship remains unverified against the original, and is recorded here as an open question rather than as a citation.
Neha Gupta, Priyanshu Maheshwari (2027). Future Directions and Emerging Trends in Agentic AI. Agentic AI and the Intelligent Transformation of Higher Education, IGI Global Scientific Publishing, 345–376.
The available Crossref reference deposit for this chapter lists 22 references and contains no citation to this article. A deposit can be incomplete, so this does not establish that the printed chapter omits the reference, and the full text has not been read. Attribution at the level of the edited volume may also explain the result: another chapter in the same book, by Michael Oyedele Oyenuga, does cite this article and is recorded above as verified.
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 in Criminal Law: Rethinking Culpability in Posthuman Contexts. Proceedings of the 29th International Legal Informatics Symposium IRIS 2026 — Human-Machine Cooperation in Cyberspace, 421–429.
Janko Munjić (2026). Rethinking Human Rights Protection in the Age of AI: From Ex-Post Remedies to Rights-by-Design. Facta Universitatis, Series: Law and Politics, 24(1), 23–36.
Keywords
Research themes
- Robotics and Posthuman Criminal Law
What are the boundaries of criminal law when robots and autonomous systems challenge assumptions about harm, victimhood and legal subjectivity?
- Criminal Responsibility and AI
How should criminal law attribute culpability when human decisions are mediated by autonomous systems, predictive tools or intelligent interfaces?
Related publications
- Intention, But Hybrid: A New Test for Posthuman Agents
WeRobot 2026, Berlin
- Hybrid Intention in Criminal Law: Rethinking Culpability in Posthuman Contexts
Jusletter IT, 25 June 2026
- Robot kao pasivni subjekt krivičnog dela
Savremeno pravo u eri digitalizacije i održivog razvoja, 2025, 425–447
Cite this work
Munjić, J. (2025). Robots as victims? Examining criminal law's boundaries in the digital age. Alternative Law Journal, 50(4), 298–304. https://doi.org/10.1177/1037969X251388474