Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
PhD student in criminal law and criminology, lecturer at Islamic Azad University, Shahr-Quds branch, Shahr-Quds, Iran (Corresponding Author)
2
Assistant Professor, Department of Criminal Law & Criminology, North Tehran Branch (NT. B), Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
10.22034/lc.2026.532680.1662
Abstract
One of the critical criminological theories that emerged in the 1990s and introduced a systematic explanation of postmodernism into criminological writings is postmodern or eclectic criminology. Unlike the skeptical varieties of postmodernism that have infiltrated the humanities and social sciences, postmodern criminology offers a positive approach and, despite accepting postmodernism's criticisms of modernism, and in particular, realist empiricism, does not believe in nihilism and subjectivism. This theory does not accept the single-dimensional readings of crime that existed in criminologist before it and, by combining different theories from different scientific disciplines and using all the rivers of thought that flow into the sea of postmodernism, attempts a comprehensive analysis. In postmodernism, the cause of crime is not linear and predictable, but is sensitive to initial and unpredictable conditions. Thus, using an analytical-descriptive method, we aim to explore and analyze the theoretical and intellectual dimensions of postmodern criminology on crime, including conceptualization and etiology. This article, with an approach based on critical criminology, examines the performance of Iranian criminal courts in crime prevention. The findings show that although criminal courts have numerous legal tools for prevention, focusing solely on punishment without paying sufficient attention to the social structures that because crime has reduced the effectiveness of prevention. Also, social inequalities and the role of power in the formation of crime are rarely considered in judicial decisions. The present study, by analyzing several case studies in Iranian criminal courts, shows the existing limitations and challenges and offers solutions based on a critical criminology approach to improve prevention.
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