The Role of Awareness about the Typically Fatality of an Act in the Structure of Murder from the Viewpoints of Islamic and Western Law

The killing of a human being through the committing of a deadly conduct by individuals that do not have an intention of killing is one of the instances of murder. This conduct has been taken into account in both Iranian criminal law (according to Paragraph (b) of Article (290) of the Islamic Penal Code), and some of the Western legal systems. One of the important issues relevant to this type of murder is whether the awareness of the lethality of the behavior is relevant to its structure. The legal doctrine and the case law on this question have opposing viewpoints. To some experts, the perpetrator's awareness is necessary for the fulfillment of a criminal act, while others argue against it. In this article, these issues are accounted for. The topic is studied on comparative approach, with an emphasis on criminal jurisprudence; then its foundations have been analyzed.