Preventive justice: controlling crime through the legal system

The duty of the government in regards to crime is not to merely penalize the criminals using means of punishment. Rather, governments are supposed to take timely measures to prevent harm to individuals, especially to their right to life and physical integrity, the compensation of which is difficult and often impossible, according to the rule of law and fair trial principles. Contrary to the conventional view influenced by writings on crime prevention in criminology which attempts to limit preventive measures to non-coercive interactive measures, in different countries, based on the structure of judicial system and patterns of exercising criminal justice, there are different measures for countering dangerous circumstances and for “direct prevention” of damaging behavior and prevention of the occurrence and continuity of crime under “coercive preventive measures”. Considering the formation process and legal order governing the said measures, which is the main topic of “preventive justice paradigm”, law has never been a stranger to preventing the risk of crime, but has always used various means to use its mandating and constraining powers in order to defend the society against the danger of crime.
By introducing the historical origin and performance of the preventive measures that have found their way into different parts of the legal system, including public and civil law; The “preventive justice paradigm” which stresses on direct prevention of crime and defending individuals against being victim of criminal behaviors, as one of the methods of encountering crime, investigates the justifying foundations and limitation in using the said measures in light of the fundamental principles of law, depicts the rules governing “preventive law” and develops its processes in the form of an effective law order.