DELITTI COMMESSI NEL METAVERSO: UN TERRENO SCIVOLOSO DAI CONTORNI REPRESSIVI

The essay examines the nomophylactic and hermeneutic issues arising from the transposition of criminal conduct into the metaverse, with a specific focus on crimes against the person. It analyzes the friction between the immateriality of virtual actions and the cardinal principles of criminal law, such as materiality and offensiveness, questioning the configurability of a criminal offense in the absence of physical harm. The analysis highlights how the psychological impact on the victim (the so-called "phantom touch") necessitates a reconsideration of traditional paradigms. After scrutinizing the risk of an arbitrary analogical extension in malam partem of existing criminal statutes, a solution is proposed that, in accordance with the principle of extrema ratio, favors civil remedies for damages and platform self-regulation mechanisms, relegating penal sanctions to cases of exceptional gravity.