Until the 20th century, Iranian law was rooted in Islamic law, thus precluding the revision and development of criminal justice policy according to scientific criminological research. At the beginning of the 20th century and following the constitutional revolution, Iran adopted a series of laws modeled after Western codes. Most of the published criminological work consists of translated accounts of what European and American writers have produced. This may be due in part to the absence in Iran of an attitudinal climate favorable to unbiased scientific studies and a refusal to acknowledge that social problems exist. Some accomplishments have been the establishment of the Society for the Protection of Prisoners in association with the Ministry of Justice to assist prisoners' families and the establishment of the Center for the Education of Juvenile Delinquents, which has been instrumental in introducing important innovations in criminal justice administration. Since the Islamic revolution, criminology has been relegated to the background as another concept belonging to the 'decadent' West. Twenty-two notes and 25 bibliographic entries are provided.