Work · Empiricism, Enlightenment & Liberalism
On Crimes and Punishments
Grounds the right to punish in the social contract and the common good and concludes that punishments must be certain, prompt and proportionate, without torture or the death penalty.
Introduction
Beccaria wrote “On Crimes and Punishments” in 1763–64 in the circle of the Verri brothers, who discussed the cruelty of the criminal justice of the time and encouraged and edited the work; it appeared anonymously in Livorno in 1764. In short chapters it grounds the right to punish in the social contract: each citizen surrenders only the least portion of liberty needed for common security, and any punishment beyond that is abuse. Laws should be clear, printed and known to all; judges should not interpret them; secret accusations and torture are to be abolished; punishment must be prompt, certain and proportionate, and it is better to prevent crimes, through education and good laws, than to punish them. A chapter argues against the death penalty. Morellet’s French translation (1766), with a rearranged text, and Voltaire’s commentary made it a European book; reforms in Tuscany, Austria and Russia drew on it, and in 1766 it was placed on the Index.
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- The Spirit of the Laws1748 · Montesquieu
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