Examining social penalties alternatives for imprisonment and crime reduction

Imprisonment, despite the negative consequences for individuals,society and government, has a high share in the judgments issued by courtsand at the same time has little effect on preventing the repeat of offenses.Alternative sentences are considered as the most prominent attempt toovercome this impediment. In determining alternative punishments, asystem of punishment based on the social conditions of crime can beconsidered, which in this research is called the social punishment system.Social punishment is a system, in which the sentences are issued, takinginto account the circumstances of the occurrence and type of crime, thecircumstances of the offender, and the extent of his enjoyment ofeconomic, social, cultural and political capital and the circumstances of thevictim. This article examines the capability of preventing the crime ofalternative sentences of imprisonment and social penalties compared toprison sentences. In this research, which is a qualitative study, 65 judgesand lawyers were interviewed with purposeful selection method. The datawere collected by semi-structured interviews and analyzed using asystematic content analysis and thematic analysis. Findings of the researchshow that, the majority of respondents consider social punishment to beeffective in reducing the crime, provided that it is implemented correctly,and that this type of punishment does not have any negative consequencesof the imprisonment.