Module 3.

FORMS OF PUNISHMENT: ITS JUSTIFICATIONS AND JURIDICAL CONDITIONS

Teaching-Learning Activity/Lesson Proper:

Hand out/ PPT/ Discussion

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”

Supplementary reading: Check on the links below to gain more knowledge on the

ancient forms of punishment.

https://journal.com.ph/editorial/mysteries/10-ancient-methods-capital-punishment

https://www.history.co.uk/shows/britains-bloodiest-dynasty/articles/execution-in-
the?middle-ages

Contemporary Forms of Punishment:

1. Imprisonment – putting offenders in jail or prison for the purpose of:

a. protecting the public; and at the same time

b. rehabilitating them by requiring the latter to undergo institutional treatment

program.

Traditional purposes of imprisonment:

a)to insure the presence of the accused during trial;

b)to administer punishment by confinement or incarceration; and

c) to secure the society from being molested by undesirable characters.

The legal grounds of detaining a person:

a) commission of a crime; and

b) 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.
Capital punishment – refers to the authorized execution of a convicted accused.

Methods of imposing capital punishment:

a. the electric chair

b. the firing squad

c. gas chamber

d. burning at the stake

e. being fed alive to lions and other animals

f. death by stoning

g. disemboweling

h. prisoners were often boiled alive

i. traitors were beheaded or drowned, and

j. the most famous execution in history, by nailing to a cross.

Supplementary Reading. Enrich your knowledge on the methods of capital

punishment around the world by visiting the links below.

https://listverse.com/2018/09/18/10-ancient-methods-of-capital-punishment/

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.

*Supplementary Reading on Types of Deterrence. Read the articles on the link in

order

to be educated on the types of deterrence.

https://legaldictionary.net/specific-deterrence/

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

Punishment must be:

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 imprisonment.

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
Supplemental Reading on Duration of Penalties. Read the article presented in the
link

below.

https://batasnatin.com/law-library/criminal-law/crimes-and-penalties/1299-duration?
and-effects-of-penalties.html

Supplemental Reading on Destierro. Read more about destierro from the following

link.

https://www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1950/jun1950/gr_l-

2907_1950.html#:~:text=Under%20article%2025%2C%20destierro%20is,1%20day%20to%

206%20years.&text=Under%20article%2051%2C%20the%20penalty,its%20medium%20a

nd%20maximum%20period.

References:

https://batasnatin.com/law-library/criminal-law/crimes-and-penalties/1299-duration?
and-effects-of-penalties.html

https://www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1950/jun1950/gr_l-

2907_1950.html#:~:text=Under%20article%2025%2C%20destierro%20is,1%20day%20to%

206%20years.&text=Under%20article%2051%2C%20the%20penalty,its%20medium%20a

nd%20maximum%20period.

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1930/12/08/act-no-3815-s-

1930/#:~:text=%E2%80%94%20A%20pardon%20by%20the%20offended,Which%20are%

20Not%20Considered%20Penalties.