Implementation Challenges of the Law on the Reduction of Taʿzir Imprisonment within the Judicial System

Abstract

The Law on the Reduction of Taʿzir Imprisonment represents a major legislative effort to reform Iran’s criminal justice policy by limiting reliance on custodial sanctions and promoting penal moderation. Despite its normative significance, the effectiveness of this law depends largely on how it is implemented within the judicial, institutional, and socio-cultural context of the criminal justice system. This narrative review article, employing a descriptive–analytical method, examines the principal challenges that have emerged in the course of implementing the law in judicial practice. The study analyzes these challenges across four interconnected dimensions: normative and legislative issues, judicial practice, institutional and administrative capacity, and socio-legal and cultural dynamics. The findings indicate that ambiguities in legislative drafting, inconsistencies with pre-existing criminal statutes, and the absence of clear sentencing guidelines have limited interpretive clarity and legal certainty. At the judicial level, divergent interpretations, resistance to non-custodial sanctions, and procedural constraints such as heavy caseloads have contributed to uneven application of the reform. Institutionally, training deficits, weak supervisory mechanisms, limited coordination with executive bodies, and challenges in prison administration and post-sentence management have further constrained effective implementation. At the socio-legal level, public perceptions of penal leniency, limited victim participation, inadequate restorative mechanisms, and persistent fears of recidivism have affected social acceptance and judicial confidence in reduced imprisonment policies. The article concludes that while the law reflects an important shift toward proportionality and rational punishment, its transformative potential can only be realized through coherent legislative refinement, strengthened institutional infrastructure, enhanced judicial training, and broader social engagement. Addressing these challenges is essential for translating penal moderation from a formal legislative objective into an operational and socially legitimate criminal justice practice.