regions, in saline or alkaline regions, and in dry regions with extremely inconvenient transportation. It has encountered great difficulties in technology and material supplies. The cadres who engaged in reform through labor work lead the offenders to scarcely populated, barren land. They eat simple food and sleep in the open. By means of hoes and ploughs they surround the lakes with fields, dig ditches for removing the alkali, open rivers and canals and ultimately conquer the rivers, lakes, salt, alkali, and dryness, reform nature, open up a large amount of barren land, and produce much food, cotton, and livestock.

In the last few years various work teams have participated in the construction of many well-known railroads and water utilization projects. House construction work teams were mainly [formed] for the purpose of serving basic construction of reform through labor production.1

18

In this statement and others of a similar tone the Communist Chinese obviously do not shut their eyes to the fact that offenders constitute a ready source of cheap labor to be used to the economic advantage of the regime.

The official argument of the regime sees the labor of offenders as being mutually beneficial, for, while it has economic significance to the regime, it has a profound psychological significance to the laboring offender. In the words of Meng Chao-liang, "reforming nature not only makes the vast [number of] cadres happy about their victory, it also makes a great majority of the criminals recognize the truth that labor creates the world." 10 From recognition of this truth, the laboring offender ideally progresses to recognition of the Marxist principle that it is through his labor that man also creates himself. Work, that which was once forced effort, is supposed to become voluntary once he realizes its profound significance to nature, society, and himself. The Communist Chinese tend to glorify labor, particularly physical labor, as something with intrinsic value in and of itself, as opposed to the view that regards a skill as a technique acquired by the individual which is very helpful to his adjustment and success in life.

B. Political and ideological education

Much has been written about the Communist Chinese techniques of political and ideological education and about the apparent success of these techniques in many cases. The first paragraph of Article 26 of the reform through labor Act gives a very sketchy outline of these techniques with reference to offenders:

Article 26. In order to expose the essence of crime, to eliminate criminal thoughts, and to establish new concepts of morality, collective classes, individual conversations, assigned study of documents, organized discussions, and other such methods shall be regularly and systematically used to educate offenders about admitting their guilt and observing the law, about current political events, about labor and production, and about culture.20

Communist Chinese descriptions of the techniques of political and ideological education in the case of offenders stress that the process begins with somehow bringing the offender to the point of admitting his own guilt, of seeing his punishment and reform as a good thing, and of adhering to the rules applicable to his life in confinement. Once he has admitted his guilt, he is encouraged to probe fully the question of why he became a criminal; such probing is done in terms of both the individual, specific factors and events in his life which were operative in his criminal behavior, and the general, societal influences so operative. He is encouraged to confess to all his "evil crimes" and to expose others he knows to be guilty. The progress of the regime in eliminating as fully as possible the societal factors which provided nourishment for his criminal tendencies is paraded before him in the form of personal testimony in the prison by outsiders, including members of his own family in some cases and former criminals who have reformed and now are leading an exemplary, new life: and in the form of organized visits to personally observe evidence of progress. Meng Chao-liang writes that "as a result of their observations many criminals, after comparing the new China with the old one, have been so moved as to ery bitterly and to express their determination to correct their past wrongs and to become new persons." The possibility of any offender's becoming a new man

18 Ibid., p. 600-601.

10 Thid., p. 601.

20 Ibid., p. 591.

21 Ibid., p. 599.

19 21

is constantly held before the prisoner. He is systematically schooled in the official ideology and the official interpretation of current affairs and policy.

Westerners commenting upon the techniques of ideological and political education in Communist China have divergent views. Many emphasize that the effectiveness of these techniques stems in large part from the mobilization of intense group pressure upon the individual who has been stripped of his various psychic defenses and whose conscious and unconscious guilt has been systematically exploited. The ideological and political education of offenders in confinement is sometimes viewed as merely an intensified extension of the techniques applied to almost the whole of the Communist Chinese population. Much emphasis is placed upon the painfulness of the process of political and ideological education when this process involves careful scrutiny and minute dissection of one's whole life history under intense pressure from the group to which one belongs to bring one's thought and one's understanding of one's whole life into conformity with the prevailing philosophy.

In contrast to these views, one Western psychiatrist, while recognizing both the painfulness and the group pressure, sees the "humanitarian, socialist morality" of Communist Chinese penal personnel as a major factor in the reform of criminals and gives expression to the various attitudes toward the prison and the penal function that are included in this morality. He concludes that "the fact that the prison keepers lived by the same ethical principles which they were attempting to teach the prisoners was undoubtedly the largest single factor in the re-education of so many delinquent individuals." 25

C. Rewards and punishments in the penal setting

In its Articles 67 through 72 the Act of the People's Republic of China for Reform Through Labor states various punishments which may be inflicted on the offender if, while serving his sentence, he fails to adapt to the reform regimen. These Articles read:

Article 67. In order to enable offenders to establish their merit and atone for their crimes, a reward and punishment system with clearly defined rewards and punishments shall be put into effect.

Article 69. In any one of the following situations offenders may, on the basis of the different circumstances of each case, be given warning, demerit, confinement to quarters or other such punishment: (1) They hinder the reform of other offenders; (2) they do not take care of or they damage instruments of production; (3) they are lazy or deliberately work slowly; (4) they engage in other acts that violate the rules of administration.

Article 71. On the basis of the seriousness of the circumstances of each case, organs of reform through labor shall [decide whether to] recommend that the local people's court sentence, in accordance with law, offenders who commit any one of the following crimes while they are being held by those organs: (1) Rioting or committing deadly acts or inciting others to commit deadly acts: (2) escaping or organizing escapes; (3) destroying construction work of important public property; (4) openly resisting labor despite repeated education; (5) engaging in other acts that seriously violate the law.

Article 72. When major counterrevolutionary offenders, habitual robbers, habitual thieves, and other offenders who, during the period of their reform through labor, do not labor actively but repeatedly violate prison rules, and the facts prove that they still have not reformed and that there is a real possibility that they will continue to endanger the security of society after release, before their term of imprisonment expires organs of reform through labor may submit to the people's security organ in charge the sugestion that their reform through labor be continued; after the suggestion is reviewed by the public security organ and after the offenders are sentenced by the local people's court in accordance with law, their reform through labor shall be continued.20

This last article thus holds forth the possibility of an offender's confinement continuing even after the expiration of his original sentence if he has given good reason to the view that he has failed to reform.

The incentives to reform, i.e., rewards for good behavior, are described in Articles 68 and 70, as follows:

Article 68. Offenders in any one of the following situations may, on the basis

Ibid., p. 617.

20 Ibid., p. 619.

regions, in saline or alkaline regions, and in dry regions with extremely inconvenient transportation. It has encountered great difficulties in technology and material supplies. The cadres who engaged in reform through labor work lead the offenders to scarcely populated, barren land. They eat simple food and sleep in the open. By means of hoes and ploughs they surround the lakes with fields, dig ditches for removing the alkali, open rivers and canals and ultimately conquer the rivers, lakes, salt, alkali, and dryness, reform nature, open up a large amount of barren land, and produce much food, cotton, and livestock.

In the last few years various work teams have participated in the construction of many well-known railroads and water utilization projects. House construction work teams were mainly [formed] for the purpose of serving basic construction of reform through labor production."

In this statement and others of a similar tone the Communist Chinese obviously do not shut their eyes to the fact that offenders constitute a ready source of cheap labor to be used to the economic advantage of the regime.

The official argument of the regime sees the labor of offenders as being mutually beneficial, for, while it has economic significance to the regime, it has a profound psychological significance to the laboring offender. In the words of Meng Chao-liang, "reforming nature not only makes the vast [number of] cadres happy about their victory, it also makes a great majority of the criminals recognize the truth that labor creates the world." 10 From recognition of this truth, the laboring offender ideally progresses to recognition of the Marxist principle that it is through his labor that man also creates himself. Work, that which was once forced effort, is supposed to become voluntary once he realizes its profound significance to nature, society, and himself. The Communist Chinese tend to glorify labor, particularly physical labor, as something with intrinsic value in and of itself, as opposed to the view that regards a skill as a technique acquired by the individual which is very helpful to his adjustment and success in life.

B. Political and ideological education

Much has been written about the Communist Chinese techniques of political and ideological education and about the apparent success of these techniques in many cases. The first paragraph of Article 26 of the reform through labor Act gives a very sketchy outline of these techniques with reference to offenders:

Article 26. In order to expose the essence of crime, to eliminate criminal thoughts, and to establish new concepts of morality, collective classes, individual conversations, assigned study of documents, organized discussions, and other such methods shall be regularly and systematically used to educate offenders about admitting their guilt and observing the law, about current political events, about labor and production, and about culture.20

Communist Chinese descriptions of the techniques of political and ideological education in the case of offenders stress that the process begins with somehow bringing the offender to the point of admitting his own guilt, of seeing his punishment and reform as a good thing, and of adhering to the rules applicable to his life in confinement. Once he has admitted his guilt, he is encouraged to probe fully the question of why he became a criminal; such probing is done in terms of both the individual, specific factors and events in his life which were operative in his criminal behavior, and the general, societal influences so operative. He is encouraged to confess to all his "evil crimes" and to expose others he knows to be guilty. The progress of the regime in eliminating as fully as possible the societal factors which provided nourishment for his criminal tendencies is paraded before him in the form of personal testimony in the prison by outsiders, including members of his own family in some cases and former criminals who have reformed and now are leading an exemplary, new life; and in the form of organized visits to personally observe evidence of progress. Meng Chao-liang writes that "as a result of their observations many criminals, after comparing the new China with the old one, have been so moved as to cry bitterly and to express their determination to correct their past wrongs and to become new persons." " The possibility of any offender's becoming a new man

18 Ibid., p. 600-601.

19 Ibid., p. 601. 20 Ibid., p. 591.

21 Ibid., p. 599.

is constantly held before the prisoner. He is systematically schooled in the official ideology and the official interpretation of current affairs and policy.

Westerners commenting upon the techniques of ideological and political education in Communist China have divergent views. Many emphasize that the effectiveness of these techniques stems in large part from the mobilization of intense group pressure upon the individual who has been stripped of his various psychic defenses and whose conscious and unconscious guilt has been systematically exploited. The ideological and political education of offenders in confinement is sometimes viewed as merely an intensified extension of the techniques applied to almost the whole of the Communist Chinese population. Much emphasis is placed upon the painfulness of the process of political and ideological education when this process involves careful scrutiny and minute dissection of one's whole life history under intense pressure from the group to which one belongs to bring one's thought and one's understanding of one's whole life into conformity with the prevailing philosophy.

In contrast to these views, one Western psychiatrist, while recognizing both the painfulness and the group pressure, sees the "humanitarian, socialist morality" of Communist Chinese penal personnel as a major factor in the reform of criminals and gives expression to the various attitudes toward the prison and the penal function that are included in this morality. He concludes that "the fact that the prison keepers lived by the same ethical principles which they were attempting to teach the prisoners was undoubtedly the largest single factor in the re-education of so many delinquent individuals." 25

C. Rewards and punishments in the penal setting

In its Articles 67 through 72 the Act of the People's Republic of China for Reform Through Labor states various punishments which may be inflicted on the offender if, while serving his sentence, he fails to adapt to the reform regimen. These Articles read:

Article 67. In order to enable offenders to establish their merit and atone for their crimes, a reward and punishment system with clearly defined rewards and punishments shall be put into effect.

Article 69. In any one of the following situations offenders may, on the basis of the different circumstances of each case, be given warning, demerit, confinement to quarters or other such punishment: (1) They hinder the reform of other offenders; (2) they do not take care of or they damage instruments of production; (3) they are lazy or deliberately work slowly; (4) they engage in other acts that violate the rules of administration.

Article 71. On the basis of the seriousness of the circumstances of each case, organs of reform through labor shall [decide whether to] recommend that the local people's court sentence, in accordance with law, offenders who commit any one of the following crimes while they are being held by those organs: (1) Rioting or committing deadly acts or inciting others to commit deadly acts: (2) escaping or organizing escapes; (3) destroying construction work of important public property; (4) openly resisting labor despite repeated education; (5) engaging in other acts that seriously violate the law.

Article 72. When major counterrevolutionary offenders, habitual robbers, habitual thieves, and other offenders who, during the period of their reform through labor, do not labor actively but repeatedly violate prison rules, and the facts prove that they still have not reformed and that there is a real possibility that they will continue to endanger the security of society after release, before their term of imprisonment expires organs of reform through labor may submit to the people's security organ in charge the sugestion that their reform through labor be continued; after the suggestion is reviewed by the public security organ and after the offenders are sentenced by the local people's court in accordance with law, their reform through labor shall be continued.28

This last article thus holds forth the possibility of an offender's confinement continuing even after the expiration of his original sentence if he has given good reason to the view that he has failed to reform.

The incentives to reform, i.e., rewards for good behavior, are described in Articles 68 and 70, as follows:

Article 68. Offenders in any one of the following situations may, on the basis

Ibid., p. 617.

26 Ibid., p. 619.

of different behavior, be given a commendation, material reward, merit mark, reduction of sentence, conditional release, or other such reward:

(1) They habitually observe discipline, diligently study, and really demontrate that they have repented and reformed;

(2) They dissuade other offenders from unlawful conduct, or information given by them denouncing counterrevolutionary organizations and activity inside or outside prisons is confirmed through investigation;

(3) They actively labor and fulfill or overfulfill production tasks;

(4) They have special accomplishments in conserving raw materials and taking care of public property;

(5) They diligently study technical skills and specially demonstrate inventiveness, creativity, or [ability in] teaching their own technical skills to others; (6) They eliminate disasters or major incidents and avoid loss [to the people];

(7) They engage in other acts that are beneficial to the people and the state." Article 70. The rewards and punishments prescribed in Articles 68 and 69 shall be announced and given after review and approval by a responsible officer of the organ of reform through labor. But, for reduction of sentence or conditional release, a recommendation of the organ of reform through labor must be submitted to the people's public security organ in charge for review and then sent to the local provincial or city people's court for approval, announcement and execution.28

A special type of incentive to reform in the case of those guilty of capital crimes is the suspended death sentence, to our knowledge, a unique feature of the Communist Chinese system. It is discussed in the Lectures on the General Principals of Criminal Law in the People's Republic of China as follows:

Furthermore, in our practice of struggle against counterrevolutionaries, we have also created a doctrine, i.e., "two years of suspension for a death sentence, execution pending the result of forced labor performed by the convict."

This provides a flagrant counter-revolutionary the opportunity to repent and to reform himself if immediate execution of his sentence is not necessary. After two years of suspension, whether his sentence should be finally executed or not will be decided by his achievements in labor reform. If during the period of suspension he has made concrete achievements in labor reform, sufficiently showing his hearty repentance, his death sentence may be reduced to life imprisonment or long-term imprisonment through definite procedures.

On the other hand, if he has refused to accept reform, his death sentence should be executed right after the expiration of that period. The practice in the past years has shown that most of the counter-revolutionaries who had been sentenced to death but were granted two years of suspension demonstrated their determination to reform themselves during the period of suspension. Consequently, they were commuted to life imprisonment or long-term imprisonment. This doctrine has not only insured healthy development of the movement of suppressing counter-revolutionaries, but has highly demonstrated the spirit of revolutionary humanitarianism in our criminal law and the state's policy of "uniting suppression with clemency." 29

CUBA

The Spanish Penal Code of 1870, extended to the Island of Cuba in 1879,1 remained in force during the independence of that country in 1901 until the year 1938. At this time, it was repealed by the Code of Social Defense, enacted pursuant to the provisions of Decree Law 802 of April 4, 1936, in force since October 8, 1938.

The Code is divided into four parts or Books. Book I contains general provisions of substantive penal law; Book II refers to specific felonies (delitos); Book III contains specific misdemeanors (contravenciones); Book IV governs the application of security measures. Matters concerning criminal procedures as well as execution of sanctions are not part of the Code; they are regulated by special statutes.