The Effects of Restorative Justice in Institutions Bringing Down the Punishment in the Islamic Penal Code

At the beginning of its formation, the criminal justice system focused on offender and his punishment, but gradually beside the criminal, another element of the crime, that is, the "victim" was also raised and criminal justice system was transformed and the grounds for the emergence of the restorative justice was provided. The present study aims to investigate the effects of restorative justice in institutions bringing down the punishment in the new Islamic Penal Code.

The present study is of a descriptive-analytic research type. In this way, investigating the library resources and analyzing the accredited documents an attempt has been made to explain the legislative criminal policy of the legislator in the new Islamic Penal Code in institutions bringing down the punishment and in the light of restorative justice ideas.

Research showed that the four institutions bodies, including complainant remission, exemption from punishment, forgiveness and repentance are predicted in the Islamic penal code for bringing down the punishment. Although these institutions are not potentially restorative and it can be said that the focus of legislator is towards reforming the criminal in most of these institutions, an attempt has been made in the establishment of these institutions to preserve and restore the victim's rights. In this way, the Islamic Penal Code in the institutions bringing down the punishment has appropriate capacities for criminal protection of the victim and progress towards the implementation of restorative justice programs, but these features are useful when they are welcomed by criminal justice.