Cultural Neutrality of Iranian Criminal Law in the Stage of Criminalization and Sentencing: A Criminological Approach

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD in Criminal Law and Criminology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

3 Professor, Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, Faculty of Law, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

The culturally neutral perspective, by recognizing most cultures, treats them equally and in some cases includes guarantees in favor of minorities. In culturally neutral criminal law, criminalization is used as a last resort, punishment for cultural offenders is made with considering their lesser entitlement and attention is paid to crimes based on cultural hatred. In this article, the criminological foundations of culturally neutrality and the most important manifestations of convergence and divergence of criminalization and punishment in Iran are examined with this approach in a descriptive-analytical method. The findings indicate this approach is the achievement of critical criminologists who claim the necessity of changing the structure and procedures of the criminal system. Iranian criminal law does not discriminate between ethnicities, languages, and races. However, it only partially accepts religious neutrality in punishing believers of religions and is often not neutral with regard to others and in the field of criminalization.

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Main Subjects

Criminal Law Research

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 28 August 2026

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