The Iranian Judicial Penal Policy Versus Non-Premeditated Felonies Leading To Permanent Vegetative State

Recognizing the value of human life and the necessity of protecting it by the Iranian legislator, how life might begin and/or end has always been disputed by intellectuals (On the other hand, in the process of criminizing and appropriately responding to the crimes committed, and generally, in forming the Penal policy in this area, the manner of the occurrence of death as the material component of such crimes). Nevertheless, due to the advances made in the medical science, and the classification of deaths into cardiac and cerebral ones, and in consideration to such the issues, including the status of permanent vegetative state, and making changes to formalize it, in terms of the continuance or the end of life, this subject is significant. On the other hand, the Justice Department, as the executive role-player of this policy through specific actions and specially through verdicts, has highlighted the judicial Penal policy around this issue. To be more clear, the quality of impressions and the attitudes of judges concerning laws have highlighted the material tangible angle of Penal policy concerning this matter. In this study, the later policy and the manner of adaptation or non-adaptation of the attitude of the judicial authorities according to the legislator against the premedidated felonies leading to permanent vegetative state, as the main purpose, been designated. After evaluation in a descriptive-analytic way, it was clear that due to the ambiguous legislation and (consequently) distinguishment of permanent vegetative state and its comparison with life or death, judicial authorities do not have a clear attitude, so it may have no concrete guarantee of execution. Therefore, it is much more required to correct and complement the current law according to the recent medical findings and adopting a wise criminal (and consequently) judicial Penal policy to establish fairness, justice, and the coordination of the organs of criminal justice.