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CHAPTER 5
• Ancient Forms of Punishment
• Justification of Punishment • Contemporary Forms of Punishment • Theories Justifying Imposition of Punishment Ancient Forms of Punishment 1. Death Penalty - affected by burning, beheading, hanging, breaking at the wheels, pillory and other forms of medieval executions. • Burning - is a punishment for and warning against crimes such as treason, heresy, and witchcraft. • Beheading - a mode of executing capital punishment by which the head is severed from the body. • Hanging - The traditional method of execution involves suspending victims from a gallows or crossbeam until they have died of asphyxiation. • Breaking at the Wheels - done by breaking the bones of a criminal or bludgeoning them to death. • Pillory - a wooden framework used to imprison someone and expose them to public ridicule.
2. Corporal Punishment (Physical Torture) - affected by maiming,
mutilation, whipping and the other inhumane or barbaric forms of inflicting pain. • Maiming - to injure a person so severely that a part of their body will no longer work as it should • Mutilation -is severe damage to the body that has a subsequent utterly ruinous effect on an individual's quality of life. • Whipping - the punishment of being hit by a whip. 3. Social Degradation – putting the offender into shame or humiliation. 4. Banishment (Transportation) 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. Justification of Punishment 1. Retribution – the punishment should be provided by the state whose sanction is violated, to afford the society or the individual the opportunity of imposing upon the offender suitable punishment as might be enforced. Offenders should be punished because they deserve it. 2. Expiation or Atonement – it is punishment in the form of group vengeance where the purpose is to appease the offended public or group. 3. Deterrence or Exemplarity – punishment gives lesson to the offender by showing to others what would happen to them if they violate the law. Punishment is imposed to warn potential offenders that they cannot afford to do what the offender has done. 4. Incapacitation (Social defense) and protection – the public will be protected if the offender has being held in conditions where he cannot harm others especially the public. Punishment is affected by placing offenders in prison so that society will be ensured from further criminal depredations of criminals. 5. Reformation or Rehabilitation – it is the establishment of the usefulness and responsibility of the offender. Society’s interest can be better served by helping the prisoner to become law abiding citizen and productive upon his return to the community by requiring him to undergo intensive program of rehabilitation in prison. Contemporary Forms of Punishment 1. Imprisonment – putting the offender in prison for the purpose of protecting the public against criminal activities and at the same time rehabilitating the prisoners by requiring them to undergo institutional treatment programs. 2. Parole – a conditional release of a prisoner after serving 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 whereby a defendant after conviction of an offense, the penalty of which does not exceed six years imprisonment, is released subject to the conditions imposed by the releasing 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, prohibiting him to get near or enter the 25 km perimeter. 6. Community Service- commonly imposes to those simple infractions of laws. Theories Justifying Imposition of Punishment 1. Prevention Theory – the state must punish the criminal to prevent or suppress the danger to the state arising from the criminal acts of the offender. 2. Self Defense Theory – the state has the right to punish the criminal as a measure of self-defense or as to protect society from the threat and wrong inflicted by the criminal. 3. Reformation Theory – the object of punishment is to correct and reform the offenders. 4. Exemplary Theory – the criminal is punished is to serve as an example to deter others from committing crimes. 5. Justice Theory – the crime must be punished by the state as an act of retributive justice a vindication of absolute right and moral law violated by the criminal.
