Assessing the Consequences of Criminal Intervention in Sexual Violence Cases in Iran: Psychological Redefining Justice

Some of the most important factors affecting criminal intervention are the defined goals of criminal law and the lack of knowledge toward the effects of sexual violence on the victim's psyche and body, the gendered structure of the legal system, and the unique characteristics of the victim and injuries due to the crime from a psychological perspective, which all in all result in sexual violence cases. These factors have gradually cast serious doubts on the effectiveness of formal and traditional justice interventions in crime cases since late 50s due to the limited capacity of the criminal justice system to respond to the victim's psychological and emotional needs, re-traumatization, and high levels of attrition and prompted justice to be redefined from the perspectiveof the needs of victims in the form of restorative justice. In recent years, the Iranian criminal justice system has been influenced differently by the discourse of restorative justice, although limited in its various laws. The result of this paper which is qualitative in terms of type and descriptive-analytical in terms of method, is based on interviews with 20 judges of Tehran province at criminal court 1, and 15 victims of sexual violence, showing that judges adopt a less-detailed and structured restorative approach, and apply available penal policies in sexual offenses to meet a part of the psychological needs of the victim, in line with the restorative lens. However, it is impossible to talk about the satisfactory provision of all their justice needs and demands in the present situation