The Perpetrator's Knowledge Of An Unintentional Crime And Its Effects In Iraqi Law

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 faculty of law and social sciences, Departement of criminal and criminology, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran

2 PHD student of Qom university

10.22091/lsic.2025.12562.1045

Abstract

Knowledge is an idea about the essence of things, allowing us to conceive of their reality and the reality of the various relationships that arise between them. In this sense, it remains within the realm of thoughts and intentions that, by their very nature, refuse to be criminalized or punished. Therefore, criminal law does not pay attention to it in and of itself, as criminalization is directed toward actions, not thoughts and intentions. However, the law recognizes the connection in crime between knowledge and will. Will is equipped with knowledge to envision the unlawful outcome, motivating it to strive to achieve it by determining the appropriate means of behavior and actively pursuing it in the direction that ensures its attainment. This tendency toward unlawful outcome is of interest to criminal law, as it means that the perpetrator has realized the seriousness of his action against the rights protected by its provisions, and has knowingly directed it toward violating these rights. Thus, he is deserving of punishment for violating its commands and prohibitions. This research has sought to clarify the perpetrator's knowledge in unintentional crimes and the resulting impact. If there is no possibility of knowledge, or if the resulting impact of the behavior is impossible to know, or if it is not Based on the natural course of events, the perpetrator is not held accountable for the negative effects of his behavior. Through a descriptive and analytical approach, we analyzed the perpetrator's knowledge in unintentional crimes under Iraqi law, as well as the error and its connection to the perpetrator's knowledge and its elements. The law intervened in defining the forms of unintentional crimes, but only in limited detail. When one of these forms is present in the perpetrator's behavior, the perpetrator is considered to have committed an unintentional crime if its conditions are met, according to the legal model. The research yielded a set of results, including: Knowing whether the perpetrator was aware of the crime or not leads to determining whether the crime was intentional or unintentional, as the provisions of the Iraqi Penal Code are general, establishing the perpetrator's liability, whether the error was serious, minor, or trivial.

Keywords

References

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    Second: Theses and Dissertations

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    Third: Laws

    1. Iraqi Penal Code No. 111 of 1969, as amended.
    2. Iraqi Traffic Law No. 8 of 2019.
    3. Decision of the Diwaniyah Court of Appeal, in its capacity as the Court of Cassation, No. 433, dated November 30, 2016.
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    5. Iraqi Court of Cassation Decision No. 603, dated August 2, 1972, Judicial Bulletin of the Iraqi Ministry of Justice, Issue 3.

    6. Iraqi Court of Cassation Decision No. 722, dated August 30, 1972, Judicial Bulletin of the Iraqi Ministry of Justice, Issue 3.

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History

  • Receive Date: 14 March 2025
  • Revise Date: 23 June 2025
  • Accept Date: 03 June 2025
  • First Publish Date: 03 June 2025
  • Publish Date: 01 June 2025

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