NCJ Number
132749
Journal
Latin American Perspectives Volume: 18 Issue: 2 Dated: (Spring 1991) Pages: 114-125
Date Published
1991
Length
12 pages
Annotation
The Cuban Revolutionary Penal Law has been one instrument in the establishment of a socialist system in Cuba, and various changes have been introduced since Fidel Castro came to power in 1959.
Abstract
In the earliest years of Castro, Cuba's penal system was repressive, primarily to eliminate supporters of the Batista regime that preceded Castro and to deal with political attacks against the Castro regime. By 1979, however, the government realized that excessively restrictive penal laws were not stopping or reducing criminality but rather producing criminals. It was decided that other legal mechanisms were needed to preserve social order by effectively re-educating those who engaged in serious antisocial behavior. Misdemeanors were excluded from the Penal Code of 1979 and were instead covered by special legislation of an administrative nature. Under this legislation, the most serious offenses received the highest fines. The philosophy was not to punish severely but rather to persuade or educate people not to repeat offenses. Many social and economic disciplinary problems were transferred from the Penal Code to the Cuban Labor Code. Labor discipline measures ranged from a simple private or public admonition to dismissal. A decree law on the review of closed judicial cases was enacted to make it possible to reopen any case to determine if there had been mistakes, excessive severity, or other grounds for altering the sentence in favor of the convicted individual. The revised Penal Code of 1987 redefined certain behavior as misdemeanors or labor discipline violations, eliminated the death penalty for certain crimes, reduced some maximum and minimum limits of imprisonment, changed the fine system, and gave courts the freedom to punish with new alternatives to imprisonment. A new penitentiary system was developed, and emphasis was placed on crime prevention. 17 references and 7 notes