A Critical Reappraisal of “Continuous Crime” in Criminal Law and Imamiyyah Jurisprudence

One of the most important divisions of crimes in terms of material element is its division into continuous and instant crime. A continuous crime is a crime that is repeated moment by moment with all its elements, no end point other than the interruption of continuity can be imagined for it; but this definition is contrary to the principle of interpretation in favor of the accused in criminal law and restricts the scope of the principle of acquittal in Imamiyyah jurisprudence. In Imamiyyah jurisprudence, there is no statement about continuous crime, but accepting it and imposing restrictive effects on the accused through it, is in conflict with some principles of jurisprudence. By reflecting on the opinions of the jurists on the punishable crimes, as well as the ḥudūd (legal punishments), qiṣāṣ (retribution), and the crimes deserving dīya (blood money), it becomes clear that none of them refer to the behavior that has continued over time and is realized until the criminal’s behavior ceases. The present study, which was carried out with a descriptive-analytical method and reliance on library sources, criticized the continuation of the continuous crime and, following it, the inclusion of the subsequent law with a more severe punishment than the crime mentioned in Article 10 of the Islamic Penal Code, and based on the principle of interpretation to the benefit of the accused and the doctrines of Imamiyyah jurisprudence has proved the absence of continuous crime and its opposition to the principle of acquittal. In this regard, it is necessary to examine the nature of continuous crime as one of the positions of violation of the rights of the accused.