Beccaria 's Of Crimes And Punishment

Italian philosopher Cesare Beccaria is closely connected to rational classical criminology. Beccaria believed in fair and certain punishment to deter crime because he thought people were self-centered and egotistical. Fear of punishment would stop them from committing crimes. Beccaria thought that

Criminology is a field that has been researched prolong. Most of the information explaining crime and delinquency is based on facts about crime (Vold, Bernard, & Daly 2002, p.1). The aim of this paper is to describe the theories of crime and punishment according to the positivists Emile Durkheim and Cesare Lombroso, and the classical criminologist Marcese de Beccaria. The theories were developed as a response to the industrialisation and the modernisation of the societies in the 18th and 19th centuries and were aiming to create a rational society and re-establish social solidarity (Vold et al 2002, p.101). The criminological perspectives of crime and punishment will be discussed in a form of dialogue between the three theorists exploring

The legitimacy of the use of capital punishment has been tarnished by its widespread misuse , which has clouded our judgment regarding the justifiability of the death penalty as a punitive measure. However, the problems with capital punishment, such as the “potential error, irreversibility, arbitrariness and racial skew" , are not a basis for its abolition, as the world of homicide suffer from these problems more acutely. To tackle this question, one must disregard the currently blemished universal status quo and purely assess the advantages and disadvantages of the death penalty as a punitive measure. Through unprejudiced examination of the death penalty and its consequential impacts, it is evident that it is a punishment that effectively serves its retributive, denunciatory, deterrent, and incapacitative goals.

The way that we deal with criminals today is center and established based on how Cesare Beccaria defined and stated it. Who is Cesare Beccaria? Cesare Beccaria is an Italian scholar born in Milan, Lombardy, Italy on Saturday March 14, 1738. He died at the age of 56 in the same city on Friday, November 28, 1794. Cesare Beccaria was an Italian criminologist, a jurist, a philosopher, and a politician who is widely considered as the most talented jurist [3] and one of the greatest thinkers of the Age of Enlightenment. Recognized to be one of the fathers of classical criminal theory and modern penology, he is well remembered for his writings on “On Crimes and Punishments” written in 1764, which condemned torture and the death penalty, and was a founding work in the field of penology and the Classical school of criminology by promoting criminal justice. (citation)

Beccaria is known for being the founder of the Classical School. He wrote An Essay on Crimes and Punishment that was based on transforming punishment to corrections. He proposed reorientation of criminal laws toward more humanistic goals. On page thirteen of our textbook it shows the four of his newer ideas that were incorporated into the French Code of Criminal Procedures and in the French penal Code.

Over the years, crime has been prevalent in society. Today’s Criminal Justice System adopted Cesare Beccaria’s reform from the Classical School of Theology. Beccaria’s ideas have been implemented into the reformed criminal justice system to exercise effective punishment. When a crime has been committed, the punishment is to equal the crime committed. The idea of effective punishment in today’s society has one goal of deterring others and to be for the public good of society. Beccaria believed in utilitarianism and thought of it as a more rational approach for crime and punishment. Utilitarianism purpose is the produce happiness and prevent pain and it was the ideal goal for society. Despite the influence of Beccaria’s idea on the criminal justice system, certain procedures have been incorporated that do not fit his criteria of effective punishment such as plea bargaining.

However, Classical school also emphasize new principles of criminal justice, including social system of penalty, legitimacy and legality of crimes. In this sense, no punishment without laws, individualization of punishments, legislative criminalization of acts, and fixed punishments graded in proportion to the gravity of crime. Many arguments were made on crimes and punishment, concerning

The classical perspective founded by Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham; stated that at people choose to commit crime after they considered the pros and cons that could be associated with a crime, and believed that the pros outweighed the cons (Tonry,2014). The theory relied on deterring criminal acts by assuring that the consequences of crime are absolute, harsh, and quickly administered (Tonry,2014).

This paper defines and analyzes Beccaria's concept of deterrence and the three key elements of punishment. The concept of deterrence is a classical school and rational choice model that emphasis punishment in order to deter crime. The three key elements of punishment used in order to deter crime include: the swiftness of punishment, the certainty of punishment, and the severity of punishment. It discusses which of these elements Beccaria thought was the most and least important, as well as my personal opinions. Also included in this paper are real-life examples of deterrence and the elements of punishment that they use.

Everyone has a free will to do whatever they want. People can choose or not to commit a crime. Classicalism developed its ideas from John Locke. He states that all men are created equal. Classicalism requires certainty and promptness. Fear requires certainty, where promptness is essential to make a lasting impression. Classicalism started in the eighteenth century. Cesare Beccaria argued for justice based on equality. When law enforcement was unjust and punishment was brutal, the people demanded justice for equality and punishment that was civilized. The whole idea for equality influenced the American Revolution, which its declaration explained that all men are created equal. I support this theory because it gives out an equal amount of punishment based on the crime; basically the crime is proportional with the punishment. Secondly classicalism removes criminals off the street by placing them in jail or prison for public safety. By reducing crimes the system is tough on the smaller crimes to prevent bigger crimes from happening. Plus having unequal approaches to punishment does not serve justice at all. I say this because

When it comes to the issue of crime prevention, Beccaria did not believe that the best way to reduce crime was to increase laws or increase the severity of punishment, since doing so would merely create new crimes and “embolden men to commit the very wrongs it is supposed to prevent” (Becarria [1764] 1963).

There are multiple strengths and weaknesses that stem from classical criminological theory. To understand these more clearly, one must also understand the system of law and order that was present in society when Beccaria constructed this theory. The leading theory on the causality of crime at the time was demonic possession; punishments included public executions and torture (Cullen et al The Origins of Modern Criminology 21). Kings were judge and jury in society, arbitrarily handing out punishments to crimes on an inconsistent basis. Knowing this, the strengths and weaknesses of the classical criminological theory become clearer. Determining personal responsibility and accountability to offenders was a serious strength versus the idea of demonic possession. Having laws in a society that are known and certain is another strength in light of inconsistent rulings by kings. Adequately severe punishments can also be considered a strength versus the torture and executions faced by criminals for any crime that could be committed. Along with these strengths are multiple weaknesses. The idea that all crime is committed to increase pleasure is a serious weakness that does not account for the realm of possible circumstances offenders face. Classical criminological theory does not account for any societal or biological factors that can come into play or influence potential offenders. Another weakness is the idea that deterrence

Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794) is probably most well known as the founding father of the school of classical criminology. He protested against the current legal system and pushed for those in power to see that individuals are rational beings and deserve rational repercussions. In his most popular work; Essay on Crimes and Punishments, he protested against the cruel punishments and suggested that they must only be equal to that of the crime itself and revolutionised the criminal justice system with his ideals on how to make the most effective punishment, without maximum damage of the individual. He believed that “Punishment is only justified to the extent that the offender has infringed the rights of others or injured the public good.” (Newburn, 2013) Although Beccaria viewed crime as an act of free-will and rational choice he did see that some individuals were pre-rational (meaning they were unable to be rational), for example children and also that there are sub-rational people (individuals with some rationality but not a full rational mind), this for example can be people with mental afflictions or diseases. Moreover he did not see that there can be a cause for crime which is due to situational problems, i.e. a big change in a person’s life which can cause them to commit crime, like death, financial problems, and birth of a child, family altercations and much more. Although Beccaria was not always right with his beliefs he was the

It is better to try and prevent crimes than it is to punish them, this is achieved by good legislation which guides men to their greatest, or least unhappiness possible (Beccaria, 1767). As mentioned previously, Beccaria’s utilitarian ideology has shaped the justice system in western societies for many decades. Therefore, Beccaria can be described as a very influential thinker. Without his contribution we could still have a system of capital punishment, and that is a worrying thought. However, we now seem fixed with utilitarian justice. It may be argued that it is now time to move towards restorative justice. There are also those such as Tullock (1974), who argue for a return to harsher sentencing. Some states in the US still consider the death penalty to be a legitimate punishment. So it can be said that Beccaria is undoubtedly a key thinker in criminology, but as with all key thinkers he is not without his critics.

Capital punishment is beneficial to the community. It provides the society with a sense of security. The death penalty contains a positive influence on the future. A heavily debated topic is, “Does capital punishment deter people more than a life sentence to prison?” An explanation on why will be covered later. An issues many people have with capital punishment, is when it is just or not just. This is a topic many stray away from, because it is difficult to decide. Finding the right consequence for an action is difficult. While this paper is for the use of capital punishment, it is clearly not needed for every crime, or even every murder. Overusing capital punishment, such as using it for every murder, will negatively impact the country, and not using it has the same effect.