Restorative Mechanisms against Environmental Crimes in Iran’s Criminal Justice System

Subject Areas : environmental low

Fatemeh dehdarzade ¹ ( Assistant Professor Department of Social Sciences, Payam Noor University, Tehran, Iran. *(Corresponding Author ( )

Received: 2023-04-08 Accepted : 2023-08-16 Published : 2023-12-22

Keywords: Compensation Funds, Environmental Crimes, Restorative Mechanisms, Legal Assistance, Mediation, Criminal Justice System. ,

Abstract :

As a criminal phenomenon, environmental crimes require provisioning reactive strategies by administrators of criminal justice system. Restorative mechanisms as a considerable part of reactive strategies and their statuses in the criminal justice system are of subjects less studied analytically. Using descriptive-analytical methods and library data, the present research explained and evaluated restorative mechanisms against environmental crimes in the present Iranian criminal justice system. The results showed that although in the present Iranian criminal justice system and regarding environmental crimes restorative mechanisms don’t function as criminal and suppressive mechanisms, this doesn’t mean that criminal legislator has ignored them altogether; in fact, some strategies can be explained and evaluated including environmental mediation, provisioning restorative function for NGOs, damages awarded by courts as some complementary for criminal punishments, and also legal assistance for the victims of environmental crimes. Despite the fact that Iranian criminal legislator considered partially the restorative mechanisms against environmental crimes, some faults can be seen in implementing these mechanisms among which more important ones include limited intervention by NGOs in the preferring process and participating in hearings, approving by the head of the judiciary the names of NGOs authorized in performing these duties, making non-mandatory the environmental liability insurance for the future professions, lack of legal regulations on compensation funds for environment.

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