Gendered Justice: Inequalities in the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility in Iran
| Author | Jo Staines,Nadia Aghtaie,Jessica Roy |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14732254211022854 |
| Published date | 01 December 2022 |
| Date | 01 December 2022 |
https://doi.org/10.1177/14732254211022854
Youth Justice
2022, Vol. 22(3) 290 –303
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/14732254211022854
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Gendered Justice: Inequalities
in the Minimum Age of Criminal
Responsibility in Iran
Jo Staines , Nadia Aghtaie and Jessica Roy
Abstract
Using the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) in Iran as an illustration, this article explores the
continued resistance against girls’ rights in some Islamic countries. The gendered construction of childhood
in Iran has resulted in a differential MACR, which for boys is notably higher than that recommended by the
United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, yet for girls is unacceptably low. While breaches
of girls’ rights in other areas are defended on the grounds of paternalistic concerns, it is argued that the
MACR is a religious-politico decision that, in Iran, upholds the rights of boys but denies the rights of girls,
propagating their wider subjugation.
Keywords
gender, Iran, minimum age of criminal responsibility, religious pluralism, religious puberty, UNCRC
Introduction
This article explores how Article 2 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the
age of criminal responsibility in some countries. Drawing on a case study of Iran, the arti-
cle argues that religious, political and cultural reservations to the UNCRC have meant that
some children, primarily girls, do not have equal access to rights despite international
agreement. The article first reflects on the problematic practice of entering reservations to
the UNCRC and the particular challenges that arise when there is potential conflict between
religious principles and children’s rights. Focusing on Iran as an example, the article
explores how a specific interpretation of Islam has created a dualist approach to children’s
rights, which discriminates against girls. This is illustrated through the low minimum age
of criminal responsibility (MACR) of girls in Iran that, it is argued, should be challenged.
The article concludes by proposing practical pluralism as a means to break the deadlock
between the secular, universalist UNCRC and specific, relative religious beliefs.
Corresponding author:
Jo Staines, Senior Lecturer, School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol, 8 Priory Road, Bristol BS8 1TZ, UK.
Email: Jo.Staines@bristol.ac.uk
1022854YJJ0010.1177/14732254211022854Youth JusticeStaines et al.
research-article2021
Original Article
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