Cesare Beccaria: Of Crimes and Punishments.
The purpose of punishment, Beccaria believed, was to prevent the criminal from causing more damage to society, and to prevent others from committing the same crime. He discussed in his treatise the issues of the justice system that were in most need of reform.Beccaria’s manifesto against cruel punishment spread swiftly through Europe, igniting radical reforms of repressive and coercive institutions throughout the continent. Europe was at that time a profoundly hierarchical society, where a few privileged people ruled over the entire population with an arbitrary and unaccountable authority.Cesare Bonesana, Marchese Beccaria, 1738-1794 Originally published in Italian in 1764 Dei delitti e delle pene. English: An essay on crimes and punishments.
In 1764, Beccaria published an essay, “Dei delitti e delle pene” (“On Crimes and Punishments”). His writing was a reaction to the European criminal justice system that he viewed as brutal and ineffective.His 1764 publishing of Essay on Crimes and Punishments indicted the cruel and inhumane nature in which European jurisdictions dealt with crime in the 18 th century. His writings were the first criminological approaches to criminal behavior and societal response to be recognized.
Caesare Beccaria thoughts on crime and punishment was that it’s inhuman. Caesare had insight to what was the proper punishment for such crimes. He questioned whether the death penalty was really useful or necessary to maintain order in society. Is torture needed to insure that the laws are.
