Inconsistency in Ta’zir Punishments in Islamic Juveniles’ System

Abstract

When I was a paralegal in Saudi, I regularly came across many imprecise observations that tended to generalise about gross and severe lashings or jail sentences, ignoring the fact that this topic is very sensitive and highly complex. A great deal of information about juveniles' Ta'zir (i.e. corrective) punishments in Islam, e.g. the types, age group, gender, associates and previous convictions of the punished juveniles, has been obtained through the examination of verdicts. Correlating this data would, in theory, lend statistical and quantitative support to previous findings in past papers. Of particular interest is whether these results prove the inconsistency between three elements: crime, punishment, and the different circumstances of the juvenile offender (e.g. gender, associates, age group, previous convictions). This statistical analysis allows an extension of academic knowledge of the Islamic juveniles' system, beyond individual cases, so as to develop a more comprehensive analytical view about it.