Research and development in criminal law and criminology

Research and development in criminal law and criminology

Criterion and Instances of Criminal Negligence and its Foundations in Iranian Criminal Law

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Sina Khorram 1
Abdolali Tavajohi 2
1 Sina Khorram LL.M. in Criminal Law and Criminology, Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, Faculty of Humanities, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran.
2 Associate Professor, Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, Faculty of Humanities, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran.
10.22034/jclc.2025.2063213.1204
Abstract
The structure of the mental element (mens rea) of crime has undergone transformations necessitated by the need for criminal law to address unintentional offenses. Consequently, fault or negligence (Taghsir) has been incorporated into the gradations of the mental element. This development requires criminal law to establish a criterion for identifying and determining instances of negligence. Therefore, the primary questions of this research revolve around how negligence is assessed and how its instances are determined. Adopting a descriptive-analytical method, the findings indicate that theories proposing purely objective or purely subjective criteria for assessment are ineffective due to fundamental differences between the foundations of criminal and civil liability. Instead, a combination of these two criteria is more compatible with the Iranian penal system. According to this approach, the mere commission of dangerous behavior creates a presumption of foreseeability regarding the risk; however, proving the subjective impossibility of foreseeing the risk rebuts this presumption. Regarding instances of criminal negligence, the Islamic Penal Code of 2013, in an innovative measure, categorizes all types of negligence under two instances: carelessness and recklessness/negligence in action, defining the objective states of negligence in the form of positive and negative behaviors, respectively. The necessity of criminal confrontation with negligent behaviors is another critical topic addressed in this study. Findings based on the harm principle and the danger principle suggest that the commission of dangerous behavior, despite the absence of specific criminal intent, necessitates a criminal response. This is because disregarding the consequences of behavior, despite the ability to foresee them, compels society—which requires the preservation of social values such as a sense of security and the establishment of social justice—to respond criminally to perpetrators who undermine these values. Consequently, in modern civic life, which possesses a dual nature (rights and duties), the criminal response to unconventional and dangerous behavior is viewed as a response to the necessities of citizenship.
Keywords
Carelessness
Recklessness
Criminal Negligence
Foundations of Negligence
Instances of Negligence
Criterion of Negligence

Subjects

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Research and development in criminal law and criminology
Volume 2, Issue 4 - Serial Number 4
March 2026
Pages 216-253