As we discuss earlier, the root of punishment tend seem

to be based on the desire for revenge. For this intent

emerged a number of barbaric and cruel punishment.
But way back 1700s, a new mind-set begun to develop
through out the Europe.
This period is referred to as “The Age of Enlightenment,”
that many of most famous philosopher of modern western
history found their place and left their mark. (Carlson,
Roth, and Travisono, 2008). This was the emergence of
well-know thinkers and reformers as well as advocators of
humane treatment for prisoners.
William Penn (1644–1718) was a founder of the state
of Pennsylvania and a leader of the religious Quaker.
He was an advocate of religious freedom and
individual rights (Carlson et. Al. 2008). He was also
instrumental of spreading the notion that criminal
offenders were worthy of humane treatment. The
Quaker movement in penal reform did not just exist in
America it also took hold in Italy and England. In the
process, it influence other great thinkers such Cesare
Beccaria, John Huward and Jereme Bentham.
The Quakers followed a body of laws called the great
law, which was more humane in approach than typical
English response to crime. According to the Great
Law, hard labor is more effective punishment than the
death penalty. This became a new trend in American
corrections, where hard labor was viewed as part of
actual punishment for serious crime rather than simply
being something that was done prior to the actual
punishment given to the offender (Johnston, 2009).
Voltaire condemned punishment
for violations of religious ceremony
or dogma, sarcastically calling
them "local crimes" as opposed to
acts universally condemned. He
also criticized the lighter
punishments meted out to the
aristocracy and the arbitrary
sentences handed out by judges
with overly wide discretion.
Wikipedia
Cesare Bonesana di Beccaria, Marquis of
Gualdrasco and Villareggio was an Italian
criminologist, jurist, philosopher, and
politician, who is widely considered as the
most talented jurist and one of the greatest
thinkers of the Age of Enlightenment. Born:
15 March 1738, Milan, Italy
Beccaria is best known for his 1764 work On Crimes and
Punishments in which he advocated an end to torture and
the death penalty.
“No man can be judged a criminal until he be found guilty;
nor can society take from him the public protection, until it
have been proved that he has violated the conditions on
which it was granted. What right, then, but that of power,
can authorize the punishment of a citizen, so long as there
remains any doubt of his guilt? The dilemma is frequent.
Either he is guilty, or not guilty. If guilty, he should only
suffer the punishment ordained by the laws, and torture
becomes useless, as his confession is unnecessary. If he
be not guilty, you torture the innocent; for, in the eye of the
law, every man is innocent, whose crime has not been
proved.” – Cesare Beccaria
Beccaria condemn death penalty on two ground: he
claimed that the State does not posses any kind of
spiritual or legal right to take life. Second, he said, the
death penalty was neither useful nor necessary as a
form of punishment. Beccaria also contended that
punishment should be viewed as having preventive
rather than retributive function. He believe that it was the
certainty of punishment not the severity that achieved a
preventive effect, and that in order to be effective,
punishment should be prompt.
Due to Beccaria’s believe and contention, he became
viewed as the father of classical Criminology. Among
other things, Beccaria advocated for proportionality
between the crime that was committed by the offender
and the specific sanction that was given. Since not all
crime are equal, the use of progressively greater sanction
became an instrumental component in achieving this
proportionality. Classical Criminology, in addition to
advocating proportionality, emphasize that punisment
must be useful, puposeful, and reasonable.
Classical Criminology, in addition to advocating
proportionality, emphasize that punishment must be
useful, purposeful, and reasonable. Beccaria contended
that humans were hedonistic - seeking pleasure while
wishing to avoid pain – and that this required appropriate
amount of punishment to counter balance the rewards
derived from criminal behavior.
John Howard (1726-1790): The making of the
penitentiary

Howard was appointed as a sheriff of Bedfordshire in 1773.

one of his duty as sheriff was that of prison inspector. While
conducting his inspections Howard was appalled by the
insanitary condition that he found . Further, he was shocked
and dismay by the lack of justice in a system where offender
paid their gaolers (an old English spelling of jailer) and were
kept jailed for non payment even if they were found to be
innocent for their alleged crime.
Howard examined prison condition throughout
Europe in a wide variety of settings. He was
particularly moved by the condition that he found on
the English Hulk and was an advocate for
improvements in the condition of these and other
facilities. Howard was impressed with many of the
institution in France and Italy. In 1777, he used those
institution as sample from which he drafted his State
of Prison Treaties which was presented to
parliament.
Jeremy Bentham (1748—1832)

Jeremy Bentham was an English philosopher, jurist,

and social reformer regarded as the founder of modern
utilitarianism.

He is primarily known today for his moral philosophy, especially his

principle of utilitarianism, which evaluates actions based upon their
consequences. He famously held a hedonistic account of both
motivation and value according to which what is fundamentally
valuable and what ultimately motivates us is pleasure and pain.
Happiness, according to Bentham, is thus a matter of experiencing
pleasure and lack of pain.
Jeremt Bentham was the leading reformer of Criminal
Law in England during the late 1700s and early 1800s,
and his work reflected the vast changes in
Criminological and Penological thinking that were taking
place at the time. Born roughly a decade after Beccaria,
Bentham was strongly influence by Beccaria’s work. In
particular, Bentham was a leading advocate for the use
of graduated penalties that connected the punishment
with the crime. Naturally, this was consistent with
Beccaria’s ideas that punishment should proportional to
the crime committed.
Article 71. Graduated scales. - In the cases in which the
law prescribes a penalty lower or higher by one or more
degrees than another given penalty, the rules prescribed in
article 61 shall be observed in graduating such penalty
The lower or higher penalty shall be taken from the
graduated scale in which is comprised the given penalty.
The courts, in applying such lower or higher penalty, shall
observe the following graduated scales:
SCALE NO. 1
1. Death,
2. Reclusion perpetua,
3. Reclusion temporal,
4. Prision mayor,
5. Prision correccional,
6. Arresto mayor,
7. Destierro,
8. Arresto menor,
9. Public censure,
10. Fine.
SCALE NO. 2

1. Perpetual absolute disqualification,

2. Temporary absolute disqualification
3. Suspension from public office, the right to vote
and be voted for, the right to follow a profession or
calling,
4. Public censure ,
5. Fine.
Article 72. Preference
 CLASSIFICATION OF PENALTIES

NAME TYPE ENTIRE LEGHNT

Reclusión perpetua Afflictive penalty 20 years and 1 day to

40 years

Reclusión temporal Afflictive penalty 12 years and 1 day to

20 years

Prisión mayor 6 years and 1 day to 12

Afflictive penalty years

Prisión correccional Correctional penalty 6 months and 1 day to

6 years
NAME TYPE ENTIRE LEGNTH

Arresto Mayor 1 month and 1 day to

Correctional penalty 6 months

Arresto Menor Light penalty 1 day to 30 days

Bond to Keep the The bond to keep the

Peace peace shall be
required to cover
such period of time
as the court may
determine.
 Scale

Penalties common to the three preceding classes:

• Fine, and
• Bond to keep the peace.

Principal Penalties Capital punishment:

• Death.
Accessory Penalties
• Perpetual or temporary absolute disqualification,
• Perpetual or temporary special disqualification,
• Suspension from public office, the right to vote and be
voted for, the profession or calling.
• Civil interdiction,
• Indemnification,
• Forfeiture or confiscation of instruments and proceeds of
the offense,
• Payment of costs.
Prescriptive Periods of Crimes

The prescription of crimes depends on what penalty is

imposed unless it provides for a specific penalty. The
following are the prescriptive periods:

1. Those punishable by death, reclusion perpetua,

reclusion temporal - 20 years
2. Those punishable by other afflictive penalties -10
years
3. Those punishable by a correctional penalty shall
prescribe in ten years; with the exception of those
punishable by arresto mayor, which shall prescribe in five
years.
4. Those punishable by arresto mayor - 5 years
5. Libel or other similar offenses - 1 year
5. Oral defamation or slander by deed - 6 months
6. Light offenses - 2 months
The period of prescription shall commence to run from
the day on which the crime is discovered by the
offended party, the authorities, or their agents, and
shall be interrupted by the filing of the complaint or
information (Article 91, Revised Penal Code).
On the other hand, the prescriptive periods for violations
penalized by special laws and ordinances are found in
Section 1 of Act 3326, to wit:
Act 3326
Section 1. Violations penalized by special acts shall, unless
otherwise provided in such acts, prescribe in accordance with the
following rules: (a) after a year for offenses punished only by a fine
or by imprisonment for not more than one month, or both; (b) after
four years for those punished by imprisonment for more than one
month, but less than two years; (c) after eight years for those
punished by imprisonment for two years or more, but less than six
years; and (d) after twelve years for any other offense punished by
imprisonment for six years or more, except the crime of treason,
which shall prescribe after twenty years. Violations penalized by
municipal ordinances shall prescribe after two months.
The period shall begin to run from the day of the
commission of the violation of the law, and if the same
be not known at the time, from the discovery thereof and
the institution of judicial proceeding for its investigation
and punishment (Section 2, Act 3326).
CLASSIFICATION OF CRIMES AS TO GRAVITY

I. The basis is the penalty prescribed by the RPC and not

the actual penalty imposed by the court. If both
imprisonment and fine are prescribed as penalties, it is
the penalty of imprisonment which is used as basis.

II. The classifications are:

A. Light- the penalty is imprisonment of one day to
thirty days or fine of not more than P200.00

1. They are punished only in their consumated stages

except with respect to light felonies against persons or
property. The reason is because they produced such
light or insignificant results that society is satisfied if
they are punished even if only in their consummated
stage.
2. Only principals and accessories are liable

B Less Grave: by imprisonment of more than one month

but not more than 6 years or fine of P200.00 but not more
than P6,000.00

C. Grave: the imprisonment is more than 6 years or fine

of more than P6,000.00. They are either 1. Heinous- the
penalty is reclusion temporal to reclusion perpetua or 2.
Non heinous.
Importanc of the classification is in relation to 1)
prescription of crime, 2) complexing of crime, 3)
imposition of subsediary penalty, 4) determination of
who are liable for the offense, 5) determinatiion of what
stage is punishable, 6) determination of the period of
detention of a person lawfully arrested without warrant

Source:http://www.nwrb.gov.ph/index.php/about/gender-
development/laws-on-women/587-the-revised-penal-codes