Ancient and Contemporary Punishment

ANCIENT FORMS OF PUNISHMENT:

1. Death Penalty – effected by burning, hanging, beheading, breaking at the wheels, drowning and
other forms of medieval executions.
2. Physical Torture/corporal punishment – This is effected by mutilation, maiming, whipping and
other inhumane or barbaric forms of inflicting pain.
3. Social Degradation (public humiliation) – The purpose of this is to put the offender into shame or
humiliation.
4. Banishment or Exile – The sending or putting away of an offender which was carried out either by
prohibition against coming into a specified territory such as an island to where the offender has been
removed.
5. Other similar forms of punishment like transportation and slavery

EARLY FORMS OF PRISON DISCIPLINE

1. Hard labor - productive works

2. Deprivation - deprivation of everything except the essentials of existence
3. Monotony- giving the same food that is “off” diet or requiring the prisoners to perform drab or
boring daily routine.
4. Uniformity - “we treat the prisoners alike”, the fault of one is the fault of all
5. Mass movement - mass living in cellblocks, mass eating, mass recreation, mass bathing.
6. Degradation - uttering insulting words or language on the part of prison staff for the prisoners to
degrade or break the confidence of prisoners.
7. Corporal punishment - imposing brutal punishment or employing physical for to intimidate a
delinquent inmate.
8. Isolation or solitary confinement – non- communication, limited news “The lone wolf”

 CONTEMPORARY FORMS OF PUNISHMENTS

1. Imprisonment – putting offenders in jail or prison for the purpose of:

o protecting the public; and at the same time
o rehabilitating them by requiring the latter to undergo institutional treatment program.

Traditional purposes of imprisonment:


o to insure the presence of the accused during trial;
o to administer punishment by confinement or incarceration; and
o to secure the society from being molested by undesirable characters.

The legal grounds of detaining a person:


o commission of a crime; and
o violent insanity or any other ailment requiring compulsory confinement in a hospital
2. Parole – it is the conditional release of a prisoner granted by the Board of Pardon and Parole (BPP)
after he has served a part of his sentence in prison for the purpose of gradually re-introducing him to free
life under the guidance and supervision of a parole officer.
3. Probation – A disposition under which a defendant after conviction and sentenced is released subject
to the conditions imposed by the court and under the supervision of a probation officer.
4. Fine – An amount given as a compensation for a criminal act.
5. Destierro – The penalty of banishing a person from the place where he committed a crime.
6. Capital punishment – refers to the authorized execution of a convicted accused.       

1.
1. the electric chair
2. the firing squad
3. gas chamber
4. burning at the stake
5. being fed alive to lions and other animals
6. death by stoning
7. disemboweling
8. prisoners were often boiled alive
9. traitors were beheaded or drowned, and
10. the most famous execution in history, by nailing to a cross.

JUSTIFICATIONS OF PUNISHMENT

1. Retribution – Punishment of the offender was carried out in the form of personal vengeance. It gives
rise to “an eye for an eye” philosophy. The goal of this punishment is that the offender should
“payback” society for the harm he or she had caused.
2. Expiation or Atonement – This was in the form of vengeance, as distinguished from retribution,
where punishment is exacted publicly for the purpose of appeasing the offended public or group.
3. Deterrence or Exemplarity – Punishment gives lesson to the offender by showing to other what
would happen to them if they  violate a law.
4. Incapacitation and Protection – Punishment is effected to deprive an offender of the ability to
commit crimes against society, usually by detaining the offender in prison.
5. Reformation or Rehabilitation – Society’s interest can be best served by helping the prisoner
become law abiding citizen and productive upon his return to the community by requiring him to
undergo an intensive program and rehabilitation in prison.
6. Reintegration - maintaining the offender's ties to family and the community as a method of reform
so that he/she is able to reenter/function in the community upon release.

JURIDICAL CONDITIONS OF PENALTY

1. Productive of suffering – without however affecting the integrity of the human personality.
2. Commensurate with the Offense – different crimes must be punished with different penalties.
3. Personal – the guilty one must be the one to be punished.
4. Legal – it is the consequence of judgment according to law.
5. Equal – equal for all persons
6. Certain – no one must escape its effects
7. Correctional – it should be directed towards rehabilitation
PENALTIES AS TO GRAVITY (DURATION)

1. Life imprisonment
2. Reclusion perpetua - a term of 20–40 years
3. Reclusion temporal - 12 years and 1 day to 20 years imprisonment
4. Prision mayor - 6 years and 1 day to 12 years
5. Prison correctional - 6 months and 1 day to 6 years
6. Arresto mayor - 1 month and 1 day to 6 months
7. Arresto menor - 1 day to 30 days
8. Bond to keep the peace - discretionary on the part of the court
9. Destierro