In most criminal justice systems, the rehabilitation and reform of juvenile offenders, as well as the selection and implementation of appropriate social responses to their offending, constitute major concerns and challenges for criminal policymakers. Given the importance of rehabilitative approaches in preventing recidivism and secondary delinquency and in promoting the social reintegration of juvenile offenders, the present study comparatively examines rehabilitative orders applicable to juvenile proceedings in the criminal justice systems of Iran and the United States. It also seeks to explain the different forms of social responses adopted toward this group.

Under Iranian law, by providing for corrective and rehabilitative measures in Article 88 of the Islamic Penal Code of 2013, the legislature has sought to establish supportive and educational criminal responses that recognize juveniles’ capacity for education, treatment, and behavioral reform. By contrast, despite the diversity of federal and state laws in the United States, the American juvenile justice system pursues the rehabilitation and behavioral reform of juvenile offenders through specialized juvenile courts, supervision programs, and social services.

The findings indicate that although both systems place substantive emphasis on correction and rehabilitation when imposing social responses in juvenile proceedings, significant differences exist in the nature and scope of the orders and directives issued.