Beccaria on Crimes and Punishments
Beccaria and the Age of Enlightenment
During the 18th century, a movement of intellectual change swept throughout Europe and eventually the rest of the known world. People of modern thought believed that human reason could be used to combat ignorance, superstition, and tyranny and to build a better world. These enlightened thinkers combined logic with something they called “reason” which consisted of common sense, observation, and their own unacknowledged prejudices in favor of skepticism and freedom ( The Enlightenment, Paul Brians, 5/18/2000). One of these intellectuals, Cesare Beccaria, had a lasting impact on the Enlightenment views of the justice system in Europe. In his treatise Crimes and Punishments, he argued for a clear interpretation of the laws for all citizens and a more concrete system in which the laws were based. He saw a need for mass reforms in what was considered a crime and in the way the punishments were handed out for those crimes. Beccaria also showed that through knowledge and education, crimes could be prevented, therefore decreasing the need for punishments overall. These proposals for reform were based on the ideals of the Enlightenment; that all individuals possess freewill, have equal ability to be enlightened, and the human motive of rational self-interest.
While Beccaria believed in the need for a criminal justice system and the right of the government to have laws and punishments, he did not view the current system to be a successful one. He felt that the government and its laws at the time were just a “few remnants of the laws of an ancient predatory people, compiled for a monarch who ruled twelve centuries ago in Constantinople, mixed subsequently with Longobardic tribal customs, and bound together in chaotic volumes of obscure and unauthorized interpreters” (Beccaria, pg. 3). He also felt that criminal laws should be based on rational thought and not passions. He stated that many of the current laws were just “a mere tool of
During the 18th century, a movement of intellectual change swept throughout Europe and eventually the rest of the known world. People of modern thought believed that human reason could be used to combat ignorance, superstition, and tyranny and to build a better world. These enlightened thinkers combined logic with something they called “reason” which consisted of common sense, observation, and their own unacknowledged prejudices in favor of skepticism and freedom ( The Enlightenment, Paul Brians, 5/18/2000). One of these intellectuals, Cesare Beccaria, had a lasting impact on the Enlightenment views of the justice system in Europe. In his treatise Crimes and Punishments, he argued for a clear interpretation of the laws for all citizens and a more concrete system in which the laws were based. He saw a need for mass reforms in what was considered a crime and in the way the punishments were handed out for those crimes. Beccaria also showed that through knowledge and education, crimes could be prevented, therefore decreasing the need for punishments overall. These proposals for reform were based on the ideals of the Enlightenment; that all individuals possess freewill, have equal ability to be enlightened, and the human motive of rational self-interest.
While Beccaria believed in the need for a criminal justice system and the right of the government to have laws and punishments, he did not view the current system to be a successful one. He felt that the government and its laws at the time were just a “few remnants of the laws of an ancient predatory people, compiled for a monarch who ruled twelve centuries ago in Constantinople, mixed subsequently with Longobardic tribal customs, and bound together in chaotic volumes of obscure and unauthorized interpreters” (Beccaria, pg. 3). He also felt that criminal laws should be based on rational thought and not passions. He stated that many of the current laws were just “a mere tool of