The Assessment and Criticism of Pursuit Suspension Entity in Iran’s Criminal Law (With a Look at France Law System)

The pursuit suspension entity as one of the strategies that is in line with the guidelines of criminal abolition, was finally established in the Criminal Procedure Code of 1392 after several decades of uncertainty. This entity is a main manifestation of pursuit actualization that recognizes the right of the criminal case suspension by suspension authority. Although pursuit suspension differs from “criminal compromise” in France Law System in terms of realm, method and enforcement, they resemble each other in terms of efficiency in results. The aim of the present study is the assessment and critical analysis of “Pursuit Suspension” in light of comparative study of its French counterpart that is “criminal compromise”. Despite the legalization of the pursuit suspension strategy in Iranian law, the judiciary has not yet shown convergence and acceptance. Among the reasons for this, in addition to the lack of the necessary cultural-judicial background, are the numerous flaws and challenges facing this entity. In the first part of the article, the principles and reasons for accepting this strategy and the changes in role and position of the court in criminal pursuit are analyzed. In the second part, the principal and legal challenges of pursuit suspension, including inconsistency with the principle of exemption, the principle of separation of the pursuit authority from the prosecuting authority and the rule prohibiting retrial, as well as its executive objections in terms of territory, in-text and extra-textual conflicts, ambiguity in how to apply, etc. have been analyzed and the required strategies have been proposed to eliminate the existing flaws.