In recent decades, legal systems have faced challenges such as increasing prison populations, inefficient prisons, and economic costs. These problems have led countries such as Iran and the United States to review their penal policies and move from a maximalist to a minimalist approach. This development, which emphasizes reducing prison sentences and using corrective measures such as electronic monitoring, probation, and community service, has been particularly evident in Iran with the enactment of the Penalty Reduction Law (2012) and in the United States with the enactment of the Prison Recidivism Reduction Law (known as the "Step One" Act, 2018). The present study, which was developed using a descriptive-analytical method and aims to clarify the foundations of the criminal policy transformation system and the move from maximalism to minimalism, concludes that considerations such as social, judicial, economic, and political are common foundations of the criminal policy transformation system with the approach of moving from maximalism to minimalism. However, in American law, unlike Iranian law, the mere act of reducing imprisonment by reducing the amount of punishment is not in line with economic and political considerations (which are reflected in the 1399 Penalty Reduction Law). In addition to the aforementioned considerations, in American law, while paying attention to social and judicial considerations, allocating sufficient financial resources, improving infrastructure, close monitoring and continuous evaluation of alternative programs to imprisonment, and cooperation between various institutions to achieve minimalism, expanding international cooperation