A sociological reflection on why the transition from a "powerful religious ruler" to a "bureaucratic judge" in post-revolutionary Iran

In criminal law studies in Iran changes on the penal symbols and institutions often considered as technical changes and the results of developments of Criminological-Penological studies. This is a one point of view about developments of penal system. But there are other points of views. These points of views insist on systematic thinking about punishment and the deep relation between punishment and other social subsystems. In These points of views punishment is known within social structure and its relation with other social subsystems. According to this, changes on penal subsystem is because of changes on other social subsystems. Based on this framework of perception, we can talk about an important penal change in Iran: Transition from powerful religious judge to the unauthorized judge. This important change was sign of deeper changes in the social system and especially power structure in Iran. This research tries to analyze reasons of this penal changes based on sociology of punishment