A Criminological Approach to International Prevention of Terrorism: A Particular Attention to Terrorist Financing in the Iranian Criminal Policy*

In a democratic society, the fight against terrorism is based almost exclusively on crime prevention. If the prevention of terrorism is addressed properly, there will be no need for a military strike because terrorists will not have the opportunity to carry out their goals and activities. One of the most related aspects of terrorism is the financing of its perpetrators and their activities. Accordingly, the present article aims to investigate the prevention of terrorist financing from the perspective of global criminology. Given that crime prevention is a significant component of criminal policy, which is aimed to limit the opportunity for perpetrators by making impossible or difficult the possibility of their criminal activities, the focus of preventive measures is on non-punitive sanctions or methods. However, criminalization of terrorism and its financing could be defined as a preventive measures based on penal mechanism, called ‘reactive prevention’. Consequently, an ideal pattern for international prevention of terrorism and terrorist financing is to promote the legislation within the domestic legal systems of all countries in the international community. By recognizing internationally-recognized norms and standards and implementing them in countries’ domestic legal systems, it could be expected that terrorism and terrorist financing would be prevented in a more effective manner.