Alternative criminal penalties to imprisonment have emerged as a result of a long evolution of the criminal sanctioning system which has experienced several stages. The first stage had to do with cancelling corporal punishments (death cut out eyes, torture, castration, cutting the nose or tongue, etc.). The corporal punishments were abolished and replaced by deprivation of liberty. In the second stage, the convictions which imposed depravation of liberty were criticised from the point of view of criminology, penology and criminal policy, highlighting the isolation of the convicted of society, the physical and mental degradation through prolonged detention, the increasing cost of maintaining the penitentiary system, etc.
