Purpose: This research examines the concept of individualization of punishment in criminal sociology and aims to analyze historical and theoretical developments in methods of determining punishment, emphasizing the role of social and individual factors in the judicial process. Also, the study of how legal schools (such as modern classical, realization, and social defense) affect the formation of criminal institutions and restorative justice is considered.
Research Method: This research, with a descriptive-analytical approach and using a library method, has examined legal texts, criminal sociology, and schools related to punishment. Data have been extracted and evaluated through content analysis of criminology and criminal law theories.
Findings:
- Individualization of punishment means adapting punishment to the personality of the offender, the motives of the crime, and social conditions, which is achieved through the personality file in the judicial process.
- The historical evolution of punishment shows that there has been a move from formal justice (equal punishment) to substantive justice (punishment appropriate to the individual and society).
- Legal schools, especially modern classical, with their emphasis on human agency and the usefulness of punishment, and schools of realization and social defense, with their sociological view of the criminal, have paved the way for the evolution of individualization of punishment.
- Under the influence of criminal sociology, penal institutions have changed from a rigid and law-oriented approach to flexibility and attention to the rehabilitation of the offender.
Conclusion: Individualization of punishment as a socio-judicial solution not only helps to reform the offender, but also increases the efficiency of the penal system. This research shows that the integration of sociological and legal considerations in determining punishment leads to the realization of restorative justice and a reduction in recidivism. Also, the need to review penal institutions to adapt to changing social needs is emphasized