Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 Master in Criminal Law and Criminology,Qom university,Qom,iran.
2 Assistant Professor Department of Criminal Law and Criminology Faculty of Law University of Qom,Qom,Iran.
3 Assistant Professor Department of Criminal Law and Criminology Faculty of Law University of Qom, Qom,Iran
Abstract
Today, social protests are as an expected social phenomenon in human societies, even in societies based on democracy, there are social protests because the impact of the decisions of the state and political authorities on the lives of the people of a society is undeniable.
The way that the different societies deal with this social phenomenon is subject to the rights and freedoms recognized by the states for the general public. On the other hand, people's actions also determine how the state deals with this phenomenon, so it is not unreasonable to say that the state's reaction on the one hand, and the people's reaction on the other hand, seriously can change the type and quality of protests.
If a macro-level decision is taken by the state, and if this decision affects the lives of most people in a quantitative way, the protests can be expected in all parts of a country. Now, this protest, which is a sign of the state's decision and not accepted by the people, if it is responded too violently by the state, it can change the nature of a peaceful protesting population and turn it into a violent population, and if the protest is also violent from the beginning, there will be no doubt that no state will leave such actions unanswered with the tools at its disposal.
Nevertheless, to a great extent, the type, quality and quantity of tools to deal with social protests are subject to the principles that have been accepted in the field of criminal policymaking. It goes without saying that this criminal policy significantly defines the limits and restrictions of citizens' freedom and also shows the level of accepted values of the state and the adherence to the principles contained in the documents beyond laws and regulations. It is clear that the states choose the most severe and harsh reactions when they feel a threat to their integrity, so it is important to identify such behaviors from the punishment perspective. The purpose of this research is to clarify the position of Iranian criminal policy confronting the social protests and the distinction between two types of behavior, i.e. violent protests and the need to punish these behaviors and peaceful protests and the need to recognize these types of protests.
This research has been done with analytical-descriptive method through using numerous library sources. The necessity of the current research, in addition to its impact on the country's legal literature, can also be considered in the legislative and even judicial field because the criminal reaction to Peaceful protests is actually a violation of fundamental rights recognized in constitutional documents and even human values of the society.
The findings of this research show that, where the protesters only want their lost rights and do not accept the new policy of the state which has affected their lives, and considering that these protesters do not have evil or criminal intentions and if these peaceful protests do not lead to the violation of the rules of criminal law, the state should not practice even the slightest aggression against this group of protesters, and only if the protesters violate one of the rules of criminal law, their behavior should be judged with mitigation in punishment.
Social protests whether violent or peaceful have common features, such as:
Relative continuity
Purposefulness and agreement between protesters
Applicability of the title of Protester to specific people
Opposition to all parts or some part of the prevailing social conditions
With precision in the words of researchers and experts in the field of social protests, the topics such as civil disobedience and civil resistance can be considered as examples of peaceful social protests, and the cases such as: riots, revolutions and coups(military coup) can be included under the title of violent protests. In terms of Iranian criminal policy regarding social protests ,peaceful and violent, two sources can be considered including: the constitution as the supreme legislative document of the country and other laws and regulations as normal laws. The principle of the right to peaceful protests is recognized in the 27th article of Iran’s constitution, which deals with gatherings and protests. On the other hand, normal laws, both in the field of violent protests and in the field of peaceful protests, have not a specific and explicit law for supporting or prohibition of social protests, and this matter has actually led to a kind of confusion among the judicial authorities.
According to what kind of behavior and with what intention the protestors are protesting , and even to what specific group of the society they belong to, there is a different criminal description and interpretation, and in addition to this, the legislator can refer to the new findings of the criminal studies for the legalization of the reasons for mitigating the punishments or remission of punishment in order to consider this mitigation of the punishments or remission of punishment for the people who have committed a crime, considering that such behaviors can continue for days and even months and thus drag the situation of the society towards a crisis. Also, a group of protestors who have been influenced by others, are committing the crimes without a proper understanding of the social situation and begin to protest only under the influence of the psychological atmosphere of the society and the actions of others (without having a high criminal capacity).
Such mitigation of the punishments or remission of punishment are not unprecedented in the field of criminal policy of Iran. It seems that in order to draw an ideal criminal policy along with protecting the rights and freedoms of the people, we need a basic legislation in this field of social behavior.
Keywords
Main Subjects
)