Participation of the Victim in the Judicial Process: Basics, Challenges and Solutions

The victim of crime plays an important and essential role in criminal prosecution. In forgivable crimes, criminal prosecution will not be possible without his will and in such crimes, the victim can play an important and active role in criminal prosecution. In the present research, "Participation of the victim in the judicial process: basics, challenges and solutions" the following results were obtained with the descriptive and analytical method. Victim participation faces two types of challenges in criminal prosecution. Personal challenges related to the victim himself and in between, victimized fear, shame of the victim, family and friendship considerations, the victim's lack of awareness and the victim's inability are among the most important reasons for the victim's non-participation in prosecution. Structural challenges related to the structure of the criminal justice system, including the lack of proper communication between the victim and the authorities and mediation of officers and employees and judicial service offices, the authority of the prosecuting authority, secrecy and non-arbitrary nature of some of the proceedings and prolongation of the prosecution are among the most important structural challenges. Iran's criminal justice system in the field of structural challenges has tried to increase the victim's participation in criminal proceedings, but regarding the personal challenges related to the victim, this system doesn’t enjoy a desirable situation.  Eliminating the grounds of fear and shame in the victim, allowing the victim not to be pursued, helping to preserve the identity of the victim, the removal of intermediaries between the victim and the criminal justice authorities, and the improvement of the legal knowledge of officers and employees can contribute to most of the victims involved in the criminal proceedings.