One of the serious problems and challenges of the Iranian criminal justice system after the February 1979 revolution is the issue of “age of criminal responsibility”. In fact, the new legislator, by removing Article 1209 and amending Article 1210 of the Civil Code and drafting the Islamic Penal Code, reduced the age of maturity and responsibility for individuals in society from 18 solar years to 9 lunar years for girls and 15 lunar years for boys. Although this action sparked strong domestic and international protests and was criticized and condemned by legal experts and sociologists, the legislator did not back down from his decision, which was based on unproductive interpretations of Islamic jurisprudence. This is while most countries in the world, in accordance with the recommendations of the United Nations and in compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, identify individuals under the age of 18 – and in some countries under the age of 21 – as children and in response to deviant behaviors of

The book “Criminal Responsibility Age from the Perspective of Criminology”, the master’s thesis of Mr. Alireza Mohaghegh Harichagan – which, according to some criminal law professors, is equivalent to a doctoral thesis in criminal law and criminology – without delving into human rights issues and solely based on the principles of Islamic jurisprudence, using 157 reliable sources and references and employing one of the most reputable research methods in criminal law, has studied the issue of the age of criminal responsibility in Iran and has scientifically and professionally proven that the children of this land do not reach maturity at the ages of 9 and 15 lunar years, nor even at the age of 18, but rather at an average age of 21 – in a sense that they can be expected to be accountable for their behavior in society.

This researcher, using field research method, collected data from 420 participants in three different climatic regions in the country – hot and dry, moderate, and cold and mountainous – and obtained questionnaires from age groups of 16 to 25 from both genders. The Bar-on Emotional Quotient (EQ) test was administered and based on factors such as desirable age for problem-solving, stress tolerance, emotional self-awareness, desirable age for realism, impulse control, overall mean and standard deviation, sample mean and standard deviation, and other factors, the youth and adolescents of Tehran, Tabriz, and Bandar Abbas were identified as samples of the entire Iranian society, with an average age of 21 and responsive to society.

The author has used the consultation and expert opinions of some renowned professors in criminal law and forensic medicine in writing this book, which was published in 1390 by Dadgostar Publications in a ministerial size.

Although in the new Islamic Penal Code, approved in 1392, the legislator has attempted to identify individuals under the age of 18 in a way that would alleviate the storm of international criticism regarding the execution and punishment of children, the fact remains that since the age of maturity is still identified as 9 and 15 years old, there has not been a significant change in the treatment of children in practice. Therefore, it is hoped that such documented research can have an impact on changing the legislator’s attitude towards one of the main problems of the country’s penal system.

Although this book has been written in a specialized language and in the form of legal terms, the importance of its outcome is such that we recommend and suggest its study not only to the officials and legislators of the country, but also to all human rights activists, especially children’s rights.

Book Name: Age of Criminal Responsibility from the Perspective of Criminology
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Author: Dr. Alireza Mohaqeq Haraghani

Publisher: Dadgostar Publications

Print date: First 1390