The Place of Mens Rea and Criminal Responsibility in the Definition of Crime

Crime is the fundamental and first pillar of the four pillars (crime, offender, punishment and victim) of criminal law and it shows the importance of common norms and values so that their violation is considered undesirable and unacceptable and is subject to punishments and reactions. In all national and international systems, one of the main functions of criminal legislatures is to define crime in a way that includes all its components and elements in a comprehensive and preventive manner. A brief view of Iran’s criminal acts from the Constitution era until now, confirms this task, because without any exception, the first attempt of criminal legislatures is to define crime in general. “Actus Reus” and “legal element or official expressions” are common elements of crime in the study of various definitions of crime all over the world, but the third mentioned element that is considered as one of the main components of crime in many books of criminal law (Mens Rea or mental element) consciously or recklessly is missing in crime definitions. Therefore, this basic ambiguity can be raised and, finally, crime has two elements (legal and material) or three elements (legal, material and mental). On the other hand, the relationship between the mental element and criminal responsibility in defining crime is unclear. Is criminal liability the other form of Mens Rea, or is criminal liability a subset of criminality and will essentially be the next stage after committing a crime? These key ambiguities are examined in this article and a new look is taken at the traditional and classical concepts of general criminal law. The research method in this article is analytical and descriptive and current and former acts and regulations and the expert views in this field have been reviewed and analyzed. The result of this study and analysis is the separation of criminality from criminal responsibility by resorting to imputability in which the mental element can also be explained.