Thomas Paine's Arguments Against The Criminal Justice System

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

During the ratification of the Constitution, Paine was in France helping the revolution, so he was not able to campaign against the document in the United States. Nevertheless this did not stop him from voicing his critiques. Many of Paine’s complaints about the Constitution stem from the differing viewpoints the founding fathers had on human nature versus his own. Whereas Paine had faith in man’s ability to reasoning and self-governing, the founding fathers saw mankind as selfish and inclined towards conflict, incapable of making governing decisions on their own (Parsons, William B 95). It is this belief of the founding fathers that led them to create many of the standout features of the constitution. These features include the bicameral legislature, the powerful executive position, the need for a judiciary branch, and the series of checks and balances put in place throughout government. Paine saw many of these features as unnecessary and crippling to a true democratic system. He stressed the fact that the only true important branch of government was the legislative branch, which would be run by the will of the people in representation. Paine believed that the Constitution took too much power away from the people and hindered the democratic system. According to Paine, all men are equally capable of reasoning, so having a powerful executive position like the president, or a judiciary branch made up of a few wise men made to interpret the laws governing the people, were both backwards and unneeded (Parsons, William B 97). Because of his basic faith in human capabilities to self-govern, Thomas Paine was opposed to the Constitution and the many “big government” features it contains. Although the Constitution still supports a democratic system, it was not Democratic up to Paine’s standards and he

In the work of Thomas Paine, "Common Sense" Paine mentions throughout of the working for a positive government with the idea of equality. Thomas Paine writes different excerpt that give theories and idea with the goal of implementing those ideas into a government that may be just and fair. Paine reflects on the English constitution specifically the crown. Paine also provide an insight to having a higher power to run a government. Paine also criticizes the idea of monarchy and hereditary succession. Complications would ultimately arise through his ideas and theories due to the differences in religions.

The criminal justice system is composed of three parts – Police, Courts and Corrections – and all three work together to protect an individual’s rights and the rights of society to live without fear of being a victim of crime. According to merriam-webster.com, crime is defined as “an act that is forbidden or omission of a duty that is commanded by public law and that makes the offender liable to punishment by that law.” When all the three parts work together, it makes the criminal justice system function like a well tuned machine.

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.

Capital Punishment is a moral controversy in today’s society. It is the judicial execution of criminals judged guilty of capital offenses by the state, or in other words, the death penalty. The first established death penalty laws can date back to the Eighteenth Century B.C. and the ethical debates towards this issue have existed just as long. There is a constant pro-con debate about this issue, and philosophers like Aristotle and Mill have their own take on this controversy as well. Aristotle is against capital punishment, while Mill believes it is morally permissible.

Thesis: Paine’s ideas were mainly about wanting to change the form of government to republicanism

In the years leading up to the revolutionary war, there was much conflict over the rights and wrongs of the British Empire towards the colonists. There were a few important factors and a few more minor factors that influenced patriots’ decisions to turn against their homeland and beloved monarch back in England. Thomas Paine’s childhood in England left a strong impact on him and influenced his mindset when he turned against the British. The unfairness of political and societal norms made him desire a new society that disregards social classes and allows more people to vote. Again, much of his decision to turn patriot, and his writings convincing most others to turn patriot was caused by life circumstances of being on the bottom rung of society and suffering the injustices of the government towards the common folk.

The main summary of Cesare Beccaria’s ‘of crimes and punishment’ was best said in a statement by Beccaria himself which was ‘In order that any punishment should not be an act of violence committed by one person or many against a private citizen, it is essential that it should be public, prompt, necessary, the minimum possible under the given circumstances, proportionate to the crimes, and established by law. ' (Beccaria, C. 2003 pg. 24) Beccaria’s theory was that punishment should only be used to prevent an offender from reoffending and non-offenders from ever offending. This was done by looking at the severity of the punishment, that the punishment should match the crime and should not exceed severity than what is needed to achieve the deterrence of crime. Beccaria is extremely against the idea of torture being used and debates that it should never be used against someone who is still in the stage of being innocent until proven guilty; he is also opposed to the use of capital punishment unless used in extreme restricted situations.

When it comes to the United States, (U.S), the majority of the American people love their seconded amendment rights. As stated in the textbook, Constitutional Law and the Criminal Justice System by J. Scott Harr, Karen M. Hess, Christine Orthmann, the second amendment of the United States Constitution, for the most part, protects the U.S. citizens rights to “keep and bear arms” (Harr, Hess, Orthmann, & Kingsbury, 2015, p. 167). That being said, each state in the U.S. will vary in their firearms laws. For instance, some states make it easier for their residence to purchase or use a firearm; other states may have stricter laws that require a more scrutinized screening process. To be more specific, most states vary in elements, such as the exceptions to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, the waiting period on purchasing firearms; if someone needs a license to own or purchase a gun; if registration is required; and if a record of the firearm sales is sent to the local police. Other factors that will differ from state to state would include, if some firearms are permitted or not allowed to be sold or owned by a state, the concealed carry laws, hunter protection laws; range protection laws, and finally, not all states have firearm injury lawsuit preemption.

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).

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

In the 18th century Cesare Beccaria- an Italian philosopher, doomed the concept of torture and death penalty by introducing the term "criminology" to the world. At present, nearly all countries in the world have adopted the criminal justice system. Criminal justice consists of two tools: Law and Order. On the road to maintain Law and Order, penalty like Prison Term has been espoused. Prison Term could be defined as the length of incarceration for an offender, where the legnth varies from few days to months in a prison. It also embraces life terms in case of serious crimes like manslaughter, rape, murder, armed robbery, and kidnapping. However in the past two decades, increase in a crime rate and prisoners in incarceration indicate the