Decarceration as a Policy in Iran: Developments and Theoretical Framework

Until the 19th century, most lawyers considered imprisonment to be the best way of punishing offenders. However, this approach, which was based on correction and rehabilitation, gradually led to the development of incarceration-oriented institutions favoring punishment and preventive and educative measures. Therefore, less emphasis was placed on the punishment of imprisonment, and the concept of social penalties (community-oriented) and imprisonment alternatives became increasingly dominant. Influenced by these developments, the Iranian criminal system moved towards decarceration and accepted the decarceration policy as a general policy. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the developments and the theoretical framework of this policy, and the criminal policy of iran towards decarceration should be based on a specific theoretical framework. Models of welfare, high quality of regulations, and participatory and restorative justice can be offered in this regard. This is an applied study conducted using the descriptive-analytical method. Data were collected using desk-based, documentary and field studies through note taking and were then analyzed.