The Foundations and Effects of the Sentence Suspension in Islamic, Iranian and French Criminal Systems

One of the most important concerns of criminal justice system is crime prevention through punishment. Such a general policy has been faced with some exceptions. Sentence suspension, previously acknowledged in western countries, especially Franc, and recently in Iran, is one of these exceptions. Such an institution acknowledged in the light of criminologists and legal scholars views, is justifiable under the "expediency rule" in Islamic criminal law, as well. Of its justifications are, the necessity to pay attention to criminal's character and the economic, social and cultural prison expenses, the possibility of non-exclusive social reactions to crime and the comprehensive authority of Islamic government on Taziri crimes.In this paper we explain the sentence suspension in Iran and compare it with the French one. Regarding the past legislation and the expertise findings and statistics, it can be said that sentence suspension has played a significant role to socialize criminals and therefore to reduce criminal statistics. Notwithstanding, because of its novelty in Iran and lack of relevant analytic studies and field works, it cannot be judged clearly through academic literature.