Foundations, Effects, and Challenges of Convict's Right to Specify His Fate in a Penal Dispute

Convict’s right to self-determination in a penal case is a privilege granted by a judicial authority according to laws and after fulfilling particular conditions to the convict and based on which the convict specifies his fate in the penal case. In the Islamic Law as well as in Iranian Law, this right has a particular place and, in binding and guiding statements of human rights and UN rules, it has been mentioned as well. The present article aims to discuss foundations as well as effects of granting such a right of self-determination to the convict fate in a penal case and challenges faced by it. Thus, to attain their goal, the authors adopt a descriptive-analytic methodology to discuss and explain foundations and general, penological, and craniological arguments for using such a right and its effects in trials. The authors come to the conclusion that this way of judging may be used in the context of most penological and criminological theories. Granting identity to the convict, accelerating penal proceedings, preventing [unnecessary] penalties, and reducing making uses of sanctions for execution of such penalties as well as reducing costs borne by the system of penal justice, increasing punctuality in proceedings, and increasing people’s trust in judicial system are among benefits of granting such a right to the convict.