Forgiveness Works: The Art of Forgiveness in Iranian Criminal Law

AVACGIS Guest Lecture Series with Arzoo Osanloo (University of Washington)

Wednesday, April 13, 2022 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM EDT
Zoom Virtual Meeting

Iran's criminal justice system, drawing on both law and religion, permits victims' families to forgo retributive sanctioning of perpetrators, including in cases of intentional murder. In this talk, Dr. Arzoo will explore the cottage industry around "forgiveness work" that has emerged from these laws, and which aims to persuade victims' families to forgive and thus spare the life of an offender. Drawing on art, poetry, faith, reason, and cultural traditions, the diverse social actors who make up this cottage industry aim to shift the broader societal conditions and to bring about a more compassionate society - from the ground up.

Arzoo Osanloo is a professor in the Department of Law, Societies, and Justice and the Director of the Middle East Center at the University of Washington. She is a legal anthropologist and previously worked as an immigration and asylum attorney. She is the author of Forgiveness Work: Mercy, Law, and Victims’ Rights in Iran (Princeton University Press, 2020), which won the Herbert Jacob Book Prize for new, outstanding work in law and society scholarship. Forgiveness Work examines Iran’s criminal justice system through its emphasis on victims’ rights, forgiveness, and mercy. She is also the author of The Politics of Women’s Rights in Iran (Princeton University Press, 2009), which analyzes the politicization of women’s “rights talk” there. In addition to her monographs, she has published widely in peer-reviewed journals and collected volumes in her fields. She is currently working on a new project that explores the impact of sanctions on Iranians. She is co-PI on the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar (2019-22), Humanitarianisms:Migrations and Care through the Global South.