Lawyers' Lack of Moral Commitment to Comply with Criminal Requirements Regarding Helping Others
Downloads
Objective: In Iran, the law mandates punishment for failing to assist injured individuals, reflecting a commitment to health ethics. However, both the public and legal professionals often fail to comply fully with these legal obligations. The core issue lies in the tension between moral autonomy and the coercive nature of law, which complicates lawyers' responses to such situations. This study addresses a gap in current research by examining how ethical-legal tensions influence lawyers’ decisions in practice.
Methods and Materials: Employing a qualitative grounded theory method, this research explores lawyers’ real-life motivations and beliefs without starting from a pre-set hypothesis. Twenty-one lawyers were randomly selected and interviewed in-depth. The analysis led to the identification of key categories and the separation of causal conditions, strategies, and consequences.
Findings: Findings reveal that lawyers often avoid helping injured persons due to fear of legal repercussions. Some shift responsibility to the state, while others opt for lower-risk, selective forms of assistance. This behavior reflects a prioritization of personal ethics over the legal and moral imperative to help. The trend highlights a broader decline in lawyers' willingness to intervene in emergencies.
Conclusion: In conclusion, legal penalties associated with assisting injured individuals—particularly fugitives—discourage lawyers from acting, even when motivated by compassion. The conflation of help for the injured and for fugitives under punitive laws causes a chilling effect. As compassion is fundamentally the same in both cases, lawmakers should reconsider current statutes and adopt a more nuanced and ethically flexible approach to encouraging assistance.
Downloads
Ahmadi, S. (2009). Check altruism in everyday social relations and factors affecting it. Iranian Journal of Sociology, 10(2), 87-108. http://www.jsi-isa.ir/article_21410.html
Aslani, S., & Eskandari, H. (2019). Compassion and social security. Rooyesh, 7(11), 341-354. https://www.magiran.com/paper/1939186/compassion-and-social-security?lang=en
Borhani, M. (2015). Criminalization from human rights perspective, the demands of the moral right to self-determination. The Journal of Human Rights, 10(1), 105-120. https://humanrights.mofidu.ac.ir/article_23667.html?lang=en
Charmaz, K. (2006). Constructing grounded theory: A practical guide through qualitative analysis. SAGE. https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Constructing_Grounded_Theory.html?id=v1qP1KbXz1AC&redir_esc=y
Dey, I., Seale, C., Gobo, G., Gubrium, J. F., & Silverman, D. (2004). Grounded theory. In Qualitative research practice (pp. 80-93). SAGE. https://methods.sagepub.com/book/edvol/qualitative-research-practice/chpt/grounded-theory
Duff, R. A. (2014). A modest legal moralism. Criminal Law and Philosophy, 8(1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11572-013-9277-y
Fanaei, A., Hosseini, S. M., & Hasankhani Taskoh, S. (2020). The possibility of moral rights. The Journal of Human Rights, 15(1), 15-40. https://humanrights.mofidu.ac.ir/article_46882.html
Flick, U. (2014). An introduction to qualitative research. SAGE. https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/An_Introduction_to_Qualitative_Research.html?id=PQRdBAAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y
French Penal Code. (2007). Salsabil Publishing.
Garland, D. (2001). The culture of control: Crime and social order in contemporary society. University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226190174.001.0001
Gholipour, A. (2021). Unethical consequences of instrumental approach to rules. Journal of Public Administration, 13(4), 593-596. https://jipa.ut.ac.ir/article_86532.html
Glaser, B., & Strauss, A. (2006). The discovery of grounded theory. Aldine Transaction. https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Discovery_of_Grounded_Theory.html?id=rtiNK68Xt08C&redir_esc=y
Greaves, H., & Pummer, T. (2019). Effective altruism: Philosophical issues. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198841364.001.0001
Hazard, G., & Dondi, A. (2004). Legal ethics: A comparative study. Stanford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503624405
Javadi, M., Shiani, M., Mohseni Tabrizi, A., & Vadiea, S. (2022). The relationship between social mistrust and citizenship aversion (among citizens of Tehran). Iranian Journal of Sociology, 23(1), 147-170. http://www.jsi-isa.ir/article_254895.html
Karimi Rad, E., Farahbakhsh, M., Mirsaeedi, S. M., & Ghasemi, G. (2022). Legal moralism, from consequentialism to deontology theory. The Journal of Islamic Law Research, 23(3), 351-378. https://ilr.isu.ac.ir/article_76370.html?lang=en
Karimi, Y. (2012). Social psychology. Arasbaran Publishers.
Keyvanfar, S. (2009). Morality of the duty of obedience to law. Law Quarterly, 39(3), 317-342. https://jlq.ut.ac.ir/article_20123.html?lang=en
Kosha, J. (2012). Offences against justice. Mizan Publishing.
Kunecka, M. (2020). Civil disobedience on respect for law and human rights. The Journal of Human Rights, 15(2), 137-152. https://humanrights.mofidu.ac.ir/article_45881.html?lang=en
Kvale, S. (1996). Interviews: An introduction to qualitative research interviewing. SAGE. https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/InterViews.html?id=tJPZAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y
Mahmodiyan Esfahani, K. (2022). Virtue-oriented criminalization philosophy. Mizan Publishing.
Mehrpur, H., Issaei Tafreshi, M., & Abdalf, M. (2001). Legal enforcement of morality. Comparative Legal Researches, 5(4), 125-140.
Mirzaei, E. (2011). Abandoned act: Fundamentals, concepts & examples. The Judiciary's Law Journal, 75(74), 69-102. https://www.jlj.ir/article_11084.html?lang=en
Mosaffa, N., & Ranjbar, R. (2024). Human rights and the duty to provide humanitarian aid from the perspective of Islamic jurisprudence. Public Law Studies Quarterly, 54(1), 139-158. https://jplsq.ut.ac.ir/article_95288.html?lang=en
Rabbani, N., Poorafkari, M., Ketabi, M., & Raoofi, M. (2009). A study of socio-cultural obstacles of development with emphasis on. Journal of Applied Sociology, 20(3), 135-157. https://jas.ui.ac.ir/article_18193.html?lang=en
Rahbargazi, M., Bagheri Ezyeh, A., & Rahmani, S. (2020). Conservative tendencies: Investigation of effects of personality traits. Clinical Psychology and Personality, 16(1), 57-69. https://cpap.shahed.ac.ir/article_2836.html
Sabet, A., Roodsaz, H., Rezaei Manesh, B., & Vijeh, M. R. (2020). Investigating the effect of psychological factors on the development of pro-social rule-breaking behaviors. Journal of Psychological Science, 19(91), 821-831. https://psychologicalscience.ir/article-1-744-en.html
Sieckmann, J. R. (2012). The logic of autonomy: Law, morality and autonomous reasoning. Hart Publishing. https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/monograph?docid=b-9781472566256
Stiernstedt, P. (2019). The sum of all corruption: A grounded theory of corruption perceptions University of Portsmouth]. Portsmouth, UK. https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/the-sum-of-all-corruption
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1996). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. SAGE. https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Basics_of_Qualitative_Research.html?id=hZ6kBQAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y
Yazdian Jafari, J. (2014). Researching abstention from helping endangered persons as a crime. Medical Law Journal, 8(31), 115-147. https://ijmedicallaw.ir/article-1-270-en.html
Zeraat, A., & Nematollahi, M. (2018). The senses of citizenship obligation at criminal law of Iran. Quarterly Ethical Research (Association for Islamic Thought), 33, 205-228. https://rimag.ir/en/Article/17178
Copyright (c) 2025 International Journal of Body, Mind and Culture
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
