The disabled, as vulnerable members of society, suffer from various physical and psychological problems. Crimes are committed against their fundamental rights, bodily integrity, financial rights, and sexual integrity. Therefore, criminal response policies toward them must be supportive and specialized. The most important law concerning the rights of persons with disabilities in Iran is the Law on the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was passed in an open session of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Parliament) on March 11, 2018 (20/12/1396) and approved by the Guardian Council on April 11, 2018 (22/1/1397).
This law, with a welfare-oriented and supportive approach, obligates all governmental and non-governmental institutions and organizations to protect the cultural, educational, economic, and social rights of persons with disabilities. Its enactment is indeed a very positive step toward promoting the rights of the disabled in Iran. However, despite its strengths, the law suffers from shortcomings such as the lack of effective criminal sanctions and the absence of differentiated judicial and extra-judicial protections.
Moreover, Iranian criminal law, in its legislation, has mainly focused on defining crimes and determining punishments for offenders. By adopting a crime-centered approach, it has neglected and overlooked the position of the disabled as vulnerable victims. In contrast, in modern criminal law, one of the essential missions of both substantive and procedural criminal law is to protect the disabled through the enactment of provisions that ensure the greatest possible protection for these victims.
Therefore, what should be of concern to the legislator is to place the situation of the disabled at the center of attention, making their vulnerability to crime a criterion for stricter and more protective legislative responses. Accordingly, the authors of this research article, using an analytical-descriptive method, have examined the criminal response policies toward crimes committed against persons with disabilities and have sought to propose differentiated criminal, judicial, and extra-judicial protections for this vulnerable group in society.