A Criminological Study of Mitigated Criminal Responsibility Based on Perceptual Ignorance: From Chronological Maturity to Cognitive Maturity

Abstract

The evolution of the juvenile criminal responsibility system in the Islamic Penal Code of 2013 (1392 AP) has taken a significant step toward criminological realism by recognizing the concept of "perceptual ignorance" in Article 91. This research aims to analyze the criminological foundations of the transition from chronological maturity to cognitive maturity. In the traditional paradigm, reaching the age of Sharia-based maturity was considered a definitive presumption of full criminal responsibility. However, findings in modern criminology, particularly in the fields of neurocriminology and developmental psychology, indicate that the development of the brain's frontal lobe and the capacity for impulse control do not necessarily coincide with chronological age. Using a descriptive-analytical method, this paper addresses how perceptual ignorance can function as a mitigating or exempting factor for criminal responsibility in crimes subject to Hudud and Qisas. The research findings indicate that understanding the wrongfulness (Hurmat) and the nature of a crime are complex cognitive processes that may be impaired in adolescents, despite physical maturity due to psychological immaturity or environmental factors. From a clinical criminology perspective, mere abstract knowledge of an act's illegality does not equate to a profound perception of its consequences and criminal nature. Finally, this paper emphasizes that Article 91, by accepting doubt regarding the development and perfection of intellect (Kamal-e-Aql), has shifted Iran's criminal policy from an absolute retributive approach toward a gradual and differentiated criminal responsibility. Nevertheless, the primary challenge lies in judicial realism and the difficulty of objectifying the criteria for measuring cognitive maturity in forensic medicine.