Role of “Basij” in Collaborative Criminal Policy; Case Analysis of Society's Views on “Basij” Capacity In Rubbing off the Criminal Label from Criminals in the City of Rasht

Crime prevention, and the necessity of rehabilitating criminals and preventing them from becoming professional criminals, necessitates adherence to a collaborative criminal policy in order to secure the religious and customary values of the society against norm-breaking in the form of crime and delinquency. One of the factors leading to recommitment of crime and one of the obstacles ahead of rehabilitation of the first-time offenders is that the society still considers them criminals even after enduring punishment. “Basij”, as a comprehensive and NGO, should manage to play a role in eliminating and abrogating this factor.

The present research conducted by “Basij”, has investigated one of the components of the collaborative criminal policy in the prevention of recidivism - abrogating the secondary label of criminals. Following selection of the sample population, designing the questionnaire and ensuring its validity with field research and conducting survey and  arranging interviews with 300 people from the random statistical population and taking into consideration the many variables: Individuals’ gender, record of membership in “Basij”, level of education, type of employment, age range and religious level; and  via  conducting statistical analysis using SPSS, the present research has been seeking to answer the question: “Do registered criminals  who have endured punishment succeed in gaining trust and reputation from the society through becoming an active member of the “Basij” organization?”. In other words, the main theme of the present research is measuring the capacity of “Basij” in changing society's attitude towards these people.

The result of this research indicates that based on the current mentality of the target society of this research towards “Basij”, this body does not have the ability to rub off the label from penitent criminals, it is suggested that by focusing on the elements in question in this research, the mental structure of the society towards “Basij” be analyzed.