Criminal Responsibility of Mentally Retarded Offenders in Iranian Criminal law and England
Subject Areas : Political and International Researches Quarterly
Keywords: crime, Mental Retardation, Criminal Responsibility,
Abstract :
There are A group of criminals that do not enjoy the full development of mind. This group are called mental retardation that are in low social intelligence and ability. Mentally retarded offenders for their inability to think and reason, often do not have the necessary conditions for criminal responsibility. So it is not fair that judicial system treat them as normal and ordinary criminals. In the UK, many people with mental retardation in the event of a crime are subjected to diversion or to punish as non-convicted detainees; But in Iran these people have faced with a higher risk of judicial errors and many of them are not identified and discovered in the time of entering the criminal justice system. In this study, we first discussed about the requirement for criminal responsibility. Comparing mental retardation people with children and mental illness, then we evaluate their criminal responsibility in the legal system of Iran and England
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