Currently in the legal circles there is debate about the need for a classification of criminal acts on crimes and misdemeanors. Legislative solution of this issue would require changing the entire structure of the Russian penal sytem. Within this framework it is very interesting an analysis of the Spanish criminal legislation providing for a differentiated punishment system, which allows the court to be more flexible in approaching the question of bringing the guilty person to criminal liability.The system of punishment in the Criminal Code of Spain is built taking into account the gravity of the commited crime and depends on the division of criminal offenses into crimes and misdemeanors. By their nature and lengh of punishment crimes are subdivided into strict, less strict and small crimes (misdemeanors). The Criminal Code of Spain provides for the possibility of postponing the execution of a sentence in the form of deprivation of liberty. Along with punishment, the criminal law also provides for broad application of security measures.The Criminal Code of Spain defines misdemeanors, regulates the issues of appointing and executing punishments provided for offenses.The author analyzes the provisions of the Criminal Code of Spain, fixing the system and types of punishments, other measures of a criminal-legal nature, examines the specifics of the appointment and execution of punishments (other measures), as well as the structure of the penitentiary system of Spain.