Capital Punishment – including execution, which is the most common type – has been one of the most important tools for social control and criminal reactions in various legal systems from ancient times until now. It still exists and is implemented in some criminal systems around the world. Sufficient deterrence, proportionality of punishment, preservation of the legal system’s authority, and protection of society from the danger of dangerous criminals are among the reasons and justifications that have been presented and continue to be presented by supporters of the existence and implementation of the death penalty in legal systems. Regardless of the validity and accuracy of these reasons and their compatibility with psychological and social findings and statistical studies, political systems (especially authoritarian and totalitarian systems) have a strong inclination and insistence on maintaining the death penalty in their legal system and using it. This desire and will are pursued more seriously and with less tolerance and leniency in crimes that are believed to undermine the authority and integrity of the political system. In fact, it can be said

Despite the intense anger and vengeful feelings resulting from the 1789 revolution, the first attempts to reduce and even eliminate the death penalty in French law took place shortly after the revolution in 1791. Although the proposal to abolish the death penalty did not receive the necessary votes in the Constituent Assembly and was not passed, it was a reflection of the influence of the liberal ideas and enlightened thoughts of French society at that time. The spread and influence of these ideas and progressive approaches led to a significant decrease in the number of crimes punishable by death in post-revolutionary laws, with less than a third of the pre-revolutionary criminal titles remaining. Furthermore, with continued efforts and pressure to reduce and eliminate the death penalty, and with gradual developments and changes in the French legal system over the course of almost two hundred years, the death penalty was finally completely abolished from the French penal system in 1981 with the approval of the French Parliament (National Assembly and Senate).

In Iran’s laws, both before and after the revolution, the death penalty has played a prominent and fundamental role in the criminal justice system, especially in the realm of political and security crimes. The General Punishment Law, passed in 1925, included articles 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 70, 73, 75, and 82, which provided for the death penalty for crimes such as armed rebellion, inciting foreign governments and their agents to enmity and war against the Iranian government, providing facilities for the entry of enemies into the country, correspondence and communication involving espionage with the officials of a government that is hostile to Iran, revealing secrets of negotiations or confidential correspondence of the government or its decisions regarding the movement of the government’s troops to foreign agents, and so on.

After the revolution, the legislature, with the intention of Islamicizing laws and regulations, took the initiative to add extreme crimes such

At the end, mentioning this point is not useless, but rather necessary to emphasize that contrary to the expectations and predictions of the creators of criminal policy, and the enforcers of judicial criminal policy in Iran, the existence and implementation of the most severe criminal reaction (execution) against social actions and behaviors that are considered a threat to security, have not been able to reduce such actions and ensure the sovereignty of the government against potential challenges. Therefore, it seems that a general review and fundamental change in Iran’s criminal policy to eliminate the death penalty as a criminal reaction to political and security crimes, is not only not a threat to the sovereignty and overall political system of the country, but also by preventing the reproduction of violence and creating a safe space for public dialogue between the government and the people, it will eliminate many political and security crimes.