Female Victimization Within the Family: Strategies and Foundations for Criminal Protection

This article examines the victimization of women in the family and the foundations of differential criminal protection for them. With the emergence of the science of victimology, attention to preventing the victimization of vulnerable individuals, especially women, was raised in the form of differential criminal policy. As one of the groups exposed to physical, psychological, economic, and digital violence, wives require special legal protection. The Family Protection Law of 1391, despite some criminalization such as abandonment of alimony, still faces gaps such as the lack of criminalization of sexual violence. The bill to prevent the victimization of women can also be an effective step in this direction, provided that its approval is expedited. The article examines the high status of women in Islam and human rights, the foundations of criminal intervention in the family (public order, protection of members' rights, and strengthening of the family), and the analysis of women's victimization in Iran in three sections, and suggests solutions such as criminalizing emerging behaviors, intensifying punishment, establishing safe houses, judicial training, and culture building. Differential criminal protection, by observing the principles of caution and minimalism, will not only help reduce the number of crimes against women, but will also lead to social development by strengthening the role of women.