ALIREZA MERATI,
Director of Administration of the Chairman of the Organization for Control over Execution of Punishments of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Enforcement of Quasi-Judicial Bodies’Sentences: Benefits and Innovations (on the Example of the Administrative Penalties Organization’s Role)
1. It is clear that criminal law is an exceptional phenomenon, which must always be approached from the point of minimalism and seen as the last resort. For this reason, in order to lighten the load of criminal justice system and to use of all legal and social opportunities some legal policy developers with the aim of preventing offenses and criminal acts are taking steps towards ofiicial recognition of quasi-judicial mechanisms and bodies.
2. Appealing to the quasi-judicial bodies and using non-judicial approaches and mechanisms to prevent actions that violate the norms and values has numerous advantages. These advantages include the speed with which the offense is investigated, reduction of the financial and economic costs, shortening the period within which the case is investigated, clarity of the investigation, as well as reducing the likelihood of labeling violators of norms as criminals. Obviously, among others most prominent and wellknown advantages of quasi-judicial bodies are factors such as reducing the number of court cases, the possibility for more thorough legal proceedings, as well as reducing the use of enforcement mechanisms, such as the detention, to prevent offenses.
Judicial statistics show how harmful for society prisons can be provided, and how many problems they can create for the criminal justice system. Thus, the use of quasi-judicial bodies can play a significant role in the decent implementation of the principle of minimizing the usage of criminal law, which is based on the optimization of the judicial, penal and penitentiary system.
Sometimes good opportunities and clear advantages available to the quasi-judicial bodies are the factors that enable the timely application of the criminal law and allowing them to use the area associated with coercive measures as accurate and logical as possible.
 3. In the Iran’s legal system, other bodies along with the criminal court are involved in the process of investigation of law violations by citizens. It should be made clear that the courts, acting in the justice system, are endowed with the general and common authority, whereas mentioned extrajudicial authorities have special powers and are engaged in the consideration of only a certain category of cases.
The legislator, referring to an imaginary line between crimes and offenses, tries to address the court with crime, public and individual damage from which is regarded as the most serious and important. At the same time, antistate actions that are in violation of rules and cannot be classified as crimes and are less serious and important, are referred to as an offense, and their investigation is entrusted to the quasi-judicial bodies.
One of the most important quasi-judicial bodies is the Administrative Penalties Organization. This authority is engaged in the suppression of infringements in professional fields, such as health care, pharmacology, and medicine, and since the 90s it tackles issues related to the safety and quality of food, as well as smuggling of goods and currency, and oversees the activities of the subjects of economic spheres, including market trading. Persons in the organization who are investigating the violations are not judges, but try to possess the qualities of judges in terms of personal competence and human qualities. At the same time, in contrast to the judicial branch, which is based on the principle of separation of powers and is fully independent from the executive branch and from the government, the Administrative Penalties Organization, as part of the government and the executive branch, allows better control of the state system, the stability of the market environment and economic activity as well as to exercise proper oversight of security and order inthe exercise of economic transactions, particularly related to the provision ofvital human needs.
Sentences handed down by the branches of Administrative Penalties Organization Sentences often have financial nature and require violators to pay cash penalties. However, along with this, there are also non-financial sentences, but the method of sentencing and implementation of such sentences may be the subject of study and criticism.
4. This organization created for the purpose of supervision and control over the economic activities of communities, businessmen, merchants, and also due to the need to improve food safety and fighting the smuggling of goods and currency, has the following distinguishing qualities:
a) Speed at which the cases are investigated.
Unlike criminal investigations, which are subject to special legal protocol, and which investigation h takes a long time, consideration of cases in the Organization is free of many procedures and is performed at the desired speed. The approach to the violations that endanger the public health, in particular, violations relating to the offer and sale of damaged or faulty goods requires the speed of the investigation and preventing the availability of such products to the population;
b) Free of charge.
Citizens can tile their complaints at any time by a personal appeal to this Organization or by telephone or by electronic means and the Internet. Consideration of the complaints in the quasi-judicial system does not entail any costs for either the plaintiff or the defendant. These actions are among the services that are provided by the government for free;
c) Reducing the number of court cases.
When many cases were submitted to this quasi-judicial Organization it lightened the heavy burden of the judicial system of Iran which was too loaded with cases, and now this device has the ability to focus on the investigation of the most important issues and criminal cases;
d) Specialization of investigations.
To investigate violations within the jurisdiction of the Organizations, experts and employees of this complex have special education and training. As the result, all rendered decisions meet the requirements for a particular type of violation and can have a significant deterrent effect;
e) The organization has a flexible structure and is able to quickly adapt to modern conditions of communities and variety of crimes.
We are well aware that the ordinary courts dealing with analysis of criminal offenses are very stable and non-flexible structures that use the same wellestablished techniques for a long time, while some public and commercial offenses are changing rapidly, and to effective approach them we need to cneate fiexible structure that could constantly change itself, make effective judgments and decisions relevant to modern conditions;
f) Creating quasi-judicial bodies such as the Administrative Penalties Organization is consistent and coordinated with the new policies in the tield of criminal law. Such areas as optimization of the criminal law, judicial and penal systems, as well as assistance in solving social problems through the people participation can be implemented and carried out through the creation and strengthening of the activities of such organizations;
g) Along with all which was noted, we should pay attention to the fact that the Administrative Penalties Organization is strongly based on the fair justioe criteria and tries to fully protect and defend the rights of citizens in the course of rendering the decisions, makes every effort in this context to avoid any violations of citizens’ rights by creating transparency when tiling its decisions.
5. To carry out its activities, the Administrative Penalties Organization has two departments, which are endowed with broad powers: the Investigations Department and the Sentencing Department.
At the legislative level, this Organization is aimed at the policy of minimizing the use of criminal law. The basis of the Organization’s work is always the implementation of sentences. There is a Department of Enforcement Supervision in the structure of the Organization’s leadership which is aimed at creating a unity of approaches on the decision implementation phase. The same structures are also provided at the provincial level.
The most important stage of the criminal process is the stage of enforcement. The purpose of criminal procedure activities, whatever they may be, is always the stage of enforcement since it is the stage when different ways of prosecution including penalties and other educational activities are objectilied. In fact, the criminal law and investigation procedures without the necessary guarantees of execution seem incomplete and useless. Enforcement of the sentence is the stage at which the investigation becomes effective. At the same time, it goes without saying that the methods of the sentence enforcement should be logical and reasonable.
No matter how fair and adequate was the sentence, if the methods of its implementation are illogical, inhuman and unjust, it will not achieve its lofty goals.
Therefore, Iranian justice system provides certain principles for adequate and proper enforcement, in particular, 1) “the principle of legality,” meaning that the sentence must be documented and made in accordance with the law; 2) “the principle of humanity,” meaning that during the sentence enforcement of the sentence the value and dignity of the person should be taken into account, and any action and public reactions that occur without respect to these concepts should be excluded; 3) “the principle of enforcement speed,” meaning that the sentence should be executed in a reasonable and normal time (there probably can be objections to the speed of the investigation, and in some cases it can be considered as contrary to thejudicial justice, however, it is absolutely clear that in relation to the sentences enforcement speed such objections are not valid); 4) “the sentence should be executed under the supervision of the judiciary bodies” (in Iran, the enforcement is overseen by the judge enforcing the sentence there also isajudge delivers a verdict because this judge knows the reason for which the sentence was passed better than anyone else); 5) “the principle of proportionality.” This principle is one of the most important principles which creates an effective framework for preventing errors in sentencing and to avoid repetition of such errors in accordance with the offense object and the convict’s individuality; 6) “principle of equality.”
In any case, providing the Administrative Penalties Organization with such powers to conduct the non-judicial investigations into violations of economic categoxy makes possible the implementation of such activities.
Conclusions
All that was mentioned above means that to support traditional values and suppress offenses the Iranian legislators and policy makers do not always resort to the use of judicial mechanisms and methods, but also pay attention to such area as the quasi-judicial bodies.
The trend aimed at minimizing the use of criminal law is embodied in the activities of the Administrative Penalties Organization as of the authority dealing with issues of crime prevention by non-judicial methods.
It would be appropriate to suggest that taking into account the importance and the place that the enforcement of criminal sentences takes, there should be created an international judicial think tank, which participants would be able to exchange ideas, experiences, and techniques designed to unify the principles of humanity in the sentences enforcement paying attention to the local and national cultures and to elevate it to the proper height.
Non-governmental organizations may be useful in this area[1].