Restorative Justice in the Hanafi School and Criminal Law of Afghanistan: A Comparative Evaluation

The trend of corporal and non-corporal punishments applied to criminals around the world, as a method of curbing crime, appears to have lost its effectiveness. The discovery of a crime, its investigation and trial, followed by execution of the sentences not only consume financial resources, research indicates that most punishments do not incur positive results, they do not reform the convicts, and culprits return to the social environment as more dangerous elements than they were taken away. Historically, policy makers have sought and reserachers have recommended alternatives methods of curbing crimes in societies. One such alternative is the notion of promoting and imposing restorative justice. This theory, inter alia, seeks to resolve minor criminal cases outside the court and advocates non-penalizing minor offenses. Afghanistan, as an Islamic country and a follower of Hanafi school of thought, has rules regarding restorative justice enshrined in its laws and embedded in the prevalent customs. This research is an attempt to explore the nature and scope of the idea of restorative justice in the Hanafi school of thought and the criminal law of Afghanistan in a comparative and analytical method, while relying on secondary resources. The results of this research will help those involved in combating crime to abandon the suppression of criminals in minor crimes and implement some principles and regulations of restorative justice that do not contradict Islamic values.