35 - Limits of Criminal Law Regulation of Robotics

Summary

Based primarily on the law of the Russian Federation, this chapter reviews the current state of intersectoral relations between different legal schemes that apply to the regulation of robots. To do so, the chapter discusses the complementarity and consistent attempt of legal scholars to integrate legal processes occurring within civil, administrative, and criminal law into a single comprehensive framework for robot regulation. As discussed in this chapter, the connection between the civil law principles of indemnification, liability insurance, and the consideration of criminal law provisions is essential for the establishment of an effective regulatory system for robotic devices, as well as for the construction of norms for the regulation of robots. The chapter argues that there are currently no well-accepted mechanisms in civil law to hold the developers for robots’ software accountable for resulting harm, which is a serious omission given the growing autonomy of robotic devices. Further, the chapter argues that it is essential to recognize controlled and semicontrolled robots as sources of increased danger to individuals and that the responsibility for the damage caused by controlled and semicontrolled robots should be assigned to the robot owners. The chapter concludes that the main criteria distinguishing civil law torts from criminal law offenses when considering harms to individuals resulting from interaction with robots are the degree of public danger and the extent of damage caused by the robotic technology.