The Historical Development of Punishment

Abstract

The study aims to identify the nature of punishment and its historical development, as this study uses the analytical method and the historical method. This study is divided into two sections, where the first section deals with the nature of punishment, which includes the concept of punishment, its characteristics and elements, as well as its purpose and types, and the effects of distinguishing it from other penalties. The second section deals with the historical development of punishment and includes the punishment in primitive, middle and modern era. In conclusion, the study reaches a set of results, including: the most important characteristics of the punishment : the legality of the punishment, the jurisprudence of the punishment, the personality of the punishment, the equality of punishment, the punishment commensurate in its nature and its scope with the personality of the offender, and the most important elements of punishment are the pain that afflicts the criminal, and the relationship of punishment with the convict, and the results shows that one of the most important types of punishment is the original punishment such as capital punishment and freedom-depriving punishments, and in accessory and complementary punishments. The results show that the punishment has developed in modern era through four sides: Reducing the severity of the applicable penalties. The tendency to take away freedom as the basis for punishment, and the emergence of new ideas that replaced it, such as the idea of ​​reforming and rehabilitating the criminal, and the authority of the judge in assessing the punishment. In conclusion, the researcher recommends the necessity of conducting more scientific researchers and studies that deal with the issue of punishment, especially in Palestinian law, due to the scarcity of such researches.