The Statist Penalization in the Light of a State-Oriented-Research Approach in Contemporary Iran

Penalization, as the definition and application of the criminal sanction by the state in the law (statist penalization), is subject to discussions in public law and criminal sciences, and even, in other disciplines out of these sciences. Meanwhile, criminology and human rights which are at the focal address and in the interest of states could be defined as two main paradigms to study the penalization. The statist characteristic of penalization, indeed, demonstrates the importance of these two paradigms. Accordingly, the present article, by conceptualizing “human rights-based penalization”, explores the role of human rights in altering or modifying the governmental monopoly of penalization. Moreover, the article analyzes two international movements of the abolition of corporal punishment (emphasizing on death penalty) and the restriction on imposing imprisonment (prison). This analysis, finally, is tied into an attitude to the governmental structure of penalization in the contemporary history of Iran during the era of codification since Mashruteh to the beginning of the fifteenth century. The article concludes that the Iranian penalization system has not been apart from influences of the mentioned-above movements. Yet, the system, particularly in the post-revolution period has seriously resisted against the abolition movement, while it demonstrates a less reluctance to influences of the restriction movement, that it may imply the Iran’s dual policy of reluctant and positive attitudes to the international concrete norms of fundamental rights and freedoms.