The Role of the Victim's Race and Religion in Determining the Punishment in Iran and England

The victim is one of important elements of crime and a critical factor of determining punishment in criminal systems. Victim’s characteristics have always been noticed. Despite the assertion of laws and claims of executors of criminal justice on equality of people against the law, today victim’s religion and race is a fundamental factor in determining punishments in criminal laws and the procedure of criminal justice executors. These characteristics have acted sometimes to mitigate and sometimes to aggravate the punishment. This paper has tried to study the role of victim’s religion and race in determining punishment by looking at criminal laws and legal procedures in Iran and England.