The Effect of Public Opinion on Criminalization in Iran's Criminal Policy

One of the social phenomena that has an important place in criminal policies is public opinion. This phenomenon has different functions in criminal policy according to the structure and framework of political and legal systems. One of the influential aspects of this phenomenon in Iran's criminal policy is the discussions related to criminalization. This issue and the degree of impact has caused the criminal policy-makers to consider it as an important factor in determining crimes and punishments. Therefore, paying attention to public opinion in determining the basis and criteria of criminalization can have useful results for criminal policy. The current research was conducted with the purpose of explaining the role and influence of public opinion on Iran's criminal policy, with a descriptive and analytical method, based on library studies. The findings of the research indicate that the public opinion with its reaction to the incidents committed in the society has had a significant impact on criminalization and this issue has provided grounds for attracting the attention of the criminal policy makers to the public opinion. Therefore, the criminalization of acid attacks, land grabbing, criminalization of activities in pyramid companies, etc. are among the criminalizations affected by public opinion on criminal policy.