Die Strafbarkeit der Marktteilnahme

The criminal liability associated with participating in illegal markets through the acquisition of physical goods as well as the retrieval of digital content is often justified when one takes into consideration that the market participant is not only contributing to the continuation of the market’s existence by increasing demand, but is also promoting the violation of legal interests by simply participating in said market. This line of argumentation will be critically examined in the thesis. Through the application of an approach based on the doctrine of legal interests, criteria regarding culpability for demand-generating behavior in illegal markets can be developed and a need for reform identified upon utilization of these criteria. In doing so, it becomes clear that the influence of the “demand paradigm” on substantive criminal law advances questionable expansionary tendencies.