The new law defines set procedures for dealing with recidivists, probation, and extenuating circumstances for offenses committed. Sentences are prescribed for a certain number of offenses, e.g., murder, assassination, parricide, and rape. The list thus successfully stigmatizes all crimes involving physical violence, although certain crimes with dangerous potential, e.g., robbery, have been omitted. The author argues that the legal modifications do not represent an instrument of social repression because no new offenses have been created by the legal reforms and because principles such as mitigating circumstances have reduced the danger of social repression resulting from biases in criminal law to the lowest level ever. The legal revisions represent an attempt to simplify the excessively technical definitions of offenses that evolved from the Penal Code of 1810 and to reduce the repressive nature of penalties. Furthermore, in the wording of the new laws, emphasis has shifted from the offender who committed the offense to the offense itself. Specific changes in separate articles of the penal code are presented in detail and notes are supplied. For part two of the article, see NCJ-90776.