Module 3

Punishment

Punishment, in primeval sense, is the infliction of some sort of pain on

the offender for violating the law. In a legal sense, it refers to the individual
redress, or personal revenge. It is therefore defined as the system of redress
that the state takes against the offending member. It is a form of disapproval
for certain behaviors that involves imposing a penalty. Punishment is also the
infliction or imposition of a penalty as a form of retribution for an offense.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the discussions the students shall be able to:

 Search for the historical foundations of punishment;

 Recognize the different early forms of punishment;
 Understand the purposes of punishment;
 Identify the contemporary forms of punishment; and
 Learn the various Justifications of punishment.

History of Punishment

The earliest form of punishment was death, torture, maiming and

banishment. Ancient forerunners were very brutal in the exercise of
punishment. Tools such as knives, axes, whip, barnacles, collars and cuffs
were commonly used to inflict punishment along with confinement in cold,
dark, damp, vermin-infested dungeons. The jail was introduced in the Medieval
Europe as a place of confinement of persons arrested and undergoing trial, and
for those convicted of minor offenses such as drunkenness, gambling and
prostitution. Death, corporal punishment and banishment were still the
penalties for offenses which today are punishable by imprisonment. Later,
convicted offenders were chained to galleys to man the ships of war. England,
France and Spain used the transportation system of punishment by
indenturing their convicts to penal colonies where they served as slaves until
they completed their service of sentences.
 Transportation of offenders to penal colonies was practiced principally by
European countries that had acquired distant colonies because of the need to
import labor into these colonies. England, more than any other imperialistic
country in Europe, made extensive use of transportation. England first began
transporting prisoners in1718, by sending her convicts to American colonies
until the American revolution. When the colonies obtained their independence,
England diverted her convicts to Australia and New Zealand. England
abandoned transportation of prisoners in the last half of the 19 th century, after
much agitations and protests on the part of the colonies.

Definition of Punishment
 Punishment is a means of social control. It is a device to cause people to
become cohesive and to induce conformity.
 Punishment is the infliction of some sort of pain on the offender for
violating the law.
 Penalty imposed, as for transgression of law any pain, penalty, forfeiture
or confinement imposed by the court for a wrong doing.
Early Forms of Punishment

Primitive Era
1. Death penalty was carried out by hanging, immersing in boiling water,
burning and feeding offenders to wild animals.

 Since the earliest societies, capital punishments which are often

referred to as the death penalty, has been used as a method of crime
deterrence since the earliest societies. Historical records show that
even the most ancient primitive tribes utilized methods of punishing
wrongdoers, including taking their lives, to pay for the crimes they
committed. Murder often warrants this ultimate form of
punishment. “A life for a life” has been one of the most basic
concepts for dealing with crime since the start of recorded history.
 Written rules were created to notify the people about the penalties
they would face for participating in any of these misdeeds. One of
the earliest written document that supported the death penalty was
the Code of Hammurabi, which was written on stone tablets around
1760 BC. It contained 282 laws that were collected by the
Babylonian King Hammurabi, including the theory of an “eye for an
eye, a tooth for a tooth.”
 Several other ancient documents supported capital punishment,
including the Jewish Torah, the Christian Old Testament, and the
writings of an Athenian legislator named Draco, who proposed the
death penalty for a large variety of misdeeds in ancient Greece.
2. Corporal punishment entailed inflicting offenders with such penalties
as mutilation, disfiguration, flogging and maiming.
 3. Public humiliation subjected an offender to being shamed by shaving
off the hair, and branding them.
4. Banishment involved transporting offenders to barren, newly discovered
territory and banning them from reentering their homeland.

Brutal and Ruthless Medieval forms of Punishment

1. Iron Maiden – A box-like device with the front half hinged like a door
so that a person could be placed inside; when the door was shut,
protruding spikes both back and front pierced the body of the victim.

2. The Rack – One of the most painful forms of Medieval torture, the rack
consisted of a large rectangular wooden frame, with a roller at one or
both ends. Victim was positioned on the frame, his ankles were
fastened to one roller and the wrists to the other. As the interrogation
process progressed, a handle attached to the top roller was used to
gradually stretch the limbs away from the body, resulting in
excruciating pain.
3. The Scavenger’s Daughter – It was A- frame-shaped metal rack to
which the head was strapped to the top point of the of the A, the
hands at the midpoint and the legs at the lower spread ends;
swimming the head down and forcing the knees up in sitting position
so compressed the body as to force the blood from the nose and ears
it worked the opposite principle of the rack by compressing the body
rather than stretching it.

OTHER FORMS OF PUNISHMENT

 Death by Sawing Flogging

Feeding to Wild Animals The Brazen Bull

Branding

Guillotin
 The Garotte

Death by Hanging Electrocution

Death on Wheels

Premature Burial
 Stoning or Lapidation Quartered

Purposes of Punishment

1. Deterrence – A thing that discourages or intended to discourage someone

from doing something. It is based on the belief that the offender, when
punished and inflicted with suffering, would learn the lessons the hard way.
It serves as a warning ot others that crime does not pay and violating the
law has its consequences. the classical school contended that the intent of
punishment was not to torture the criminal or to undo the crime but to
prevent others from committing similar offenses. It also advocated that a
punishment should have only that degree of severity that is sufficient to
deter others. The concept of deterrence presumes that the person thinks
before he acts and that all he has to do is to think of the consequences and
then he will be deterred.
2. General Deterrence – The state tries to convince potential criminals that the
punishment they face will be certain, swift, and severe so that they will be
afraid to commit an offense.
3. Specific Deterrence – This involves convincing offenders that the pains of
punishment are greater than the benefits of crime so they will not repeat
their criminal acts.
4. Incapacitation – If dangerous criminals are kept behind bars, they will not be
able to repeat their illegal activities.
5. Retribution or Personal Vengeance – A punishment should be no more nor
less than what the offender’s actions deserve, and must be based on how
blameworthy the person is. It also refers to punishment inflicted on some as
vengeance for a wrong or criminal act.
6. Restitution – Convicted criminals must pay back their victims for their loss;
the justice system for the costs of processing their case; and society for any
disruption they may have caused.
7. Rehabilitation – If the proper treatment is applied, an offender will present
no further threat to society. It also refers to restoring someone’s health or
normal life by training and therapy after imprisonment, addiction or illness.
8. Recognizance – A bond by which a person undertakes before a court to
observe some conditions, especially to appear when summoned.
9. Atonement or Expiation or Group Vengeance – This is similar to retribution
wherein the penalty is commensurate with the gravity of the offense based
on the norms observed by the members of society. it has been described as
a form of group vengeance as opposed to the justification relied upon in
retribution of personal vengeance.
10. Protection – this has been regarded as a form of social defense
because members of society would gain protection by putting criminals
behind bars.
11. Reformation – It operates by attempting to reform and rehabilitate
law violators, allowing them to return to the community as
responsible and productive members of society.

Contemporary forms of Punishment

1. Imprisonment – The most common form of punishment. Putting

offenders in prison for the purpose of protecting the public and at
the same time rehabilitating by requiring the latter to undergo
institutional treatment program.
2. Payment of Fines – This is common to violations of minor offenses.
However, there are crimes where fines are imposed with
imprisonment.
3. Parole – It is defined as a procedure by which prisoners are
selected for release on the basis of individual response the progress
within the correctional institution and service by which they are
provided the necessary controls and guidance as they serve the
remainder of their sentence within the free community.
 4. Conditional Pardon – Executive clemency power to be exercised
exclusively by the Chief Executive/President. The imposition of
conditions is likewise within the discretion of the President.
5. Probation – it is a procedure under which an accused found guilty
of a crime is released by the court with conditions and subject to
the supervision of the probation officer.
6. Death Penalty – Sentencing a convicted person to death especially
to those who were convicted of heinous crime.
7. Corporal Punishment – Physical torture as punishment short to
death penalty are still practice in other states but not here in the
Philippines because of the constitutional prohibition for such
imposition.
8. Banishment – Otherwise known as transformation, this is carried
out by sending or putting away an offender either by a prohibition
against coming into a specified territory, such as island to where
the offender has been removed.
9. Community Service – Like payment of fines, this is commonly
imposed to those simple infractions of laws.

Justification of Punishment

1. Retribution – Personal vengeance

2. Expiation or Atonement – Group vengeance
3. Deterrence/Exemplarity – Imposing penalty to deter criminality
4. Protection/Social Defense – Shown by its inflexible severity to
recidivist and habitual delinquents
5. Reformation – deprivation of liberty as a form of punishment.

LEARNING EXERCISE NO. 3

Name: ____________________________________ Score: ___________

Student No.:____________ Rating: ___________

Course/Year & Section: __________________________ Date: ___________________

Essay

1. Why do we need to study the concept of punishment in understanding the entire

concept of correctional system? Kindly elaborate your answer.
_______________________________________________________________________________
3. Explain how the early forms and contemporary forms of punishment greatly differ
with each other as applied to the country’s criminal justice system.
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
 Rubrics for Written Tasks

Content Non- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Substantive

 substantive

Organization Very Poor 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Very Good

Vocabulary Poor Stock 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Rich Stock

Grammatical Frequent 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Rare

Accuracy Number of
Errors

Mechanics Poor 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Mastery of

Knowledge Convention
of
Conversion

OVERALL IMPRESSION 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Poor Fair Average Good Very Excellent

Good

Suggested Readings

1. Institutional Correction with Addendum on Act no. 4103: Instructional Manual

for Criminology Students (2nd ed.) by Carlito R. Panganoron Jr., William A.
Revisa and Joner C. Villaluz
2. Criminal justice system: Basic Concepts and Approaches by Porferio C.
Madelo Jr.
3. Institutional Corrections (1st ed.) by JSupt Wilmor T. Plopinio (Ret.)
4. Institutional Correction: The Institution-Based Correction in the Philippines by
Brian B. Guerrero and Ronith L. Molato

References/Sources

1. Panganoron Jr., C. R. , Revisa, W. A., & Villaluz, J.C. (2020). Institutional

correction with addendum on act no. 4103: Instructional manual for
criminology students (2nd ed.). Wiseman’s Books Trading.
2. Madelo Jr., P. C. (2013). Criminal justice system: Basic concepts and
approaches. Unit 302, 3rd Floor, DM Building # 32 Visayas Ave., Corner
Congressional Ave., Project 6, Quezon City. Wiseman’s Books Trading.
Wiseman’s Books Trading.
3. Plopinio, W. T. (2016). Institutional corrections (1st ed.). Novaliches, Quezon
City. ChapterHouse Publishing.
4. Guerrero, B. & Molato, R. (2017). Institutional correction: The institution-
based correction in the Philippines. Unit 302, 3rd Floor, DM Building # 32
 Visayas Ave., Corner Congressional Ave., Project 6, Quezon City. Wiseman’s
Books Trading.
5. www.google.com.
6. Http://www.workhouses.org
7. www.criminology.fsu.edu
8. www.cardcow.com
9. Sierenburg, P. (1998). The Body and the State: Early Modern Europe. In
Morris, Norval & Rothman, David J. The Oxford Hisory of the Prison: The
practice of punishment in Western Society. Oxford University Press. P. 44
ISBN 9780195118148
10. Welch, M. (2004). A Social History of Punishment and Corrections.
Corrections: A Critical Approach. MCgRAW-Hill. ISBN 0-07-281723-2