Death penalty: Death penalty and execution procedures in Iranian criminal law

Since the beginning of humanity's existence on Earth, people have had to communicate with one another to achieve their goals and meet basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter. Over time, these interactions led to the emergence of social relationships. As time passed, the increase in population, the growth of societies, and the formation of cities and countries gave rise to individuals who disrupted social norms, threatened peace and order, and caused unrest and deterioration among people and communities. Consequently, the lack of laws and punishments to deter individuals from violating these norms became evident. Over time, different societies began to consider establishing various laws and regulations to prevent such violations. Due to the lack of a solid legal infrastructure throughout most of human history, the process of creating laws was slow and more burdensome than expected. However, a positive outcome of this struggle was the eventual establishment of a set of laws. These steps, taken to ensure order among societies and individuals, marked a major revolution in the legal foundations of humanity and civilization. One of the first empires to create its own laws was the Babylonian dynasty, whose ruler Hammurabi introduced laws to maintain order and prevent injustice. At that time, the death penalty was used as a punishment for various crimes. Since the emergence of the first written laws, capital punishment has been one of the penalties imposed for certain crimes and has been included in the legal systems of many empires and nations. Despite the significant advancements humanity has made in many areas since the creation of the first laws, the death penalty is still practiced in some countries through various methods (such as hanging or the electric chair). Although we are now living in the 21st century and science has progressed greatly in many fields, human error remains an unavoidable reality. In today's ever-evolving world, scientific and societal developments have created a need to review existing punishments and adapt legal systems to new and emerging crimes. Therefore, it is essential that legal systems remain dynamic and continuously updated to meet the needs of society. The subject of our research is the death penalty. From ancient times to the present, capital punishment has been applied to certain crimes and continues to be used in some countries. One major issue with this punishment is the potential for mistakes during the legal process, particularly when cases are investigated from different angles. Moreover, the irreversible nature of the death penalty means that if a mistake is discovered after the execution, it cannot be undone. This highlights how difficult it is to apply such severe punishment correctly. Realizing that a decision was wrong does not change anything because the penalty has already been carried out and the person is dead. Another important aspect of the death penalty is that once it is executed, the offender loses any chance of repenting and returning to a normal life. In many cases, offenders become calmer after serving their sentences and go back to living as they did before committing a crime. This shows that the death penalty eliminates the possibility of rehabilitation for such individuals. While it is true that some punishments may not be effective and some offenders continue committing crimes after release, this should not be used as a justification to ignore those who do reform after serving their sentence.