Iraqi Penal Policy Regarding Crimes Against Public Morality

Abstract

This research aims to demonstrate how the Iraqi legislator has dealt with crimes that violate public morals, by studying relevant penal texts and analyzing the penal policy applied to confront these acts, with a focus on their adequacy in achieving general and specific deterrence, and striking a balance between protecting moral values ​​and guaranteeing individual rights and freedoms. The research relies on the descriptive and analytical approach in examining the legal texts related to these crimes and explaining the legislator's philosophy in criminalizing them. It also employs the comparative approach to compare some provisions with other Arab legislation with the aim of highlighting similarities and differences, in addition to the inductive approach to trace social and technological developments that have produced new types of crimes that violate public morals. The research reached several conclusions, the most important of which are that Iraqi lawmakers have shown great interest in protecting public morals by criminalizing various acts such as prostitution, debauchery, incitement to debauchery, and indecency. Penal policy has relied on custodial sentences and fines, with harsher penalties in special cases such as the exploitation of minors. However, the texts sometimes suffer from ambiguity and inadequacies in addressing emerging crimes associated with modern technological means. Furthermore, the focus has been more on the punitive aspect, without sufficient attention being given to the preventive and awareness-raising aspects. The research concluded with several recommendations, most notably the need to update penal legislation to keep pace with social and technological developments.