The Judiciarys Law Journal

The Judiciarys Law Journal

Authority in criminal judgment: Necessities, consequences, solutions

Document Type : Research/Original/Regular Article

Authors
1 Juddge & Department of Criminal Law & Criminology, Faculty of Law, Tarbiat Modares University of , Tehran, Iran
2 Department of Criminal Law & Criminology, Faculty of Law, Tarbiat Modares University of , Tehran, Iran
3 قاضی دادگستری، دانش آموخته کارشناسی ارشد حقوق عمومی، دانشکده حقوق، دانشگاه مازندران، مازندران، ایران
10.22106/jlj.2025.2031440.5947
Abstract
Authority, although related to power, is distinguished from power in that it always contains legitimacy and acceptability within itself. According to the findings of social psychology, the legitimacy or acceptability of authority leads to people's obedience and following of it. This research, using a descriptive method with library sources and analysis of collected materials, after examining the reasons for the necessity of authority, concludes that authority is a prerequisite for judgment; however, blind obedience to judicial decisions can lead to personal or social harms. Among the negative consequences of obeying the organizational or personal power of judges instead of judicial authority, or the misuse of it by some judicial officials, one can refer to following the judges' biases and their ideological decisions, following some judicial errors, and the general distrust towards the judicial system in the long term. In this research, to neutralize the harms, solutions such as strengthening the internal controls of judges through judicial ethics, observing the principle of good faith, interpretivism instead of expediency, and strengthening external controls through ex post or ex ante supervision of judges, decriminalization and dejudicialization in conjunction with creating non-criminal response networks, and predicting the obligation for legal notification regarding judicial decisions have been presented and explained.
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Volume 88, Issue 128
Spring 2025
Pages 413-436

  • Receive Date 07 June 2024
  • Revise Date 25 August 2024
  • Accept Date 08 April 2025
  • First Publish Date 08 April 2025
  • Publish Date 19 February 2025