Penology studies the mechanisms of punishment and rehabilitation
Penology is a scientific discipline oriented to the punishment systems established by criminal law . It is an auxiliary science that is responsible for examining how criminal penalties and precautionary measures are established, systematized, applied and executed .
Punishment and rehabilitation
In a broad sense, penology studies the mechanisms of punishment and rehabilitation of criminals . Many times penology is associated with penitentiary law , although this is limited to the sentence of imprisonment while penology also considers the application of penalties that lead the convicted person to serve his sentence outside of a penitentiary establishment.
Penology, in short, examines the sanctions that are applied to a prisoner, this punishment being understood as the limitation or deprivation of a right . By extension, penology aims at the prevention of crime and the correction of behavior that does not conform to the law.
Origin of the term
The idea of penology has its origin in penology , a word from the English language coined by the jurist Francis Lieber in 1834 , whose given name in Germany was Franz , he also dedicated himself to philosophy, politics and teaching. When he created the concept of penology, he did so understanding it as an independent and well-defined discipline , just as its defenders conceive it today.
Later, throughout the rest of the 19th century, its content was reduced when the doctrine of France came into play and it was then that confusion with penitentiary science began, because it focused only on penalties that deprived freedom. Currently, the concept contemplates the regimes of semi-liberty and freedom of convicted individuals, with which its interest reaches the different resources that are used to prevent and repress crimes , even beyond the penitentiary environment.
Semi-freedom
This concept is key to differentiating the conception that penology has had throughout history, particularly the contrast between the end of the 19th century and the present. Another way to call semi-freedom is third degree , a classification of the open regime that applies to those people who can serve their sentence outside of a penitentiary center. In short, he comes closer to freedom because he does not have to be imprisoned, but he does not fully achieve it because there are certain immovable obligations .
For semi-freedom to be successful, the collaboration of different institutions and organizations is necessary to help the person while ensuring that they comply with their obligations . Among the principles on which this concept is based we can point out the following:
* control measures are reduced;
* a sense of responsibility is promoted;
* the individual's life is socially normalized, because he can integrate once again;
* collaborates with the restructuring of the family group.
Currently it also contemplates "semi-freedom"
Out of the dictionary
It is important to keep in mind that the term penology is not part of the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ) and that its meaning is often a source of debate among specialists. That is why its scope and limitations are not precise and vary according to different postures.
This absence from the dictionary is not arbitrary nor does it respond solely to linguistic issues, but is related to the aforementioned confusion between this concept and that of penitentiary law , more precisely with penitentiary science . Having borrowed the term from the English language is not a rare occurrence in our language, which is made up of various similar examples, some that have been adapted to our phonemes and others that are simply written in the same way but are pronounced "as each one can.