Criminal Protection of the Family in Iran’s Law in Light of the Latest Code

According to Iranian legislation, the family is the basic unit and all the codes and rules must be enacted to support and protect it. This article discusses the known crimes and penalties that support the family institution according to Iran’s penal code. The method used in this article is library-descriptive and it is done in content-analysis style. In this paper, based on the latest Family Protection Code, we analyzed the criminalized behaviors and actions that damage the family. The investigation concludes that some actions and behaviors are correctly criminalized while some others can receive more suitable responses through non-criminal measures such as psychological and counseling systems. In some cases the legislator has imposed sever response against criminal actions. Besides, it is found that measures preventing criminalization may preclude secondary victimization.