What was beccarias theory

However, Beccaria and other authors referred above all to the often disproportionate nature of this sanction to their crime. Many people were then executed for less serious crimes or even killed unjustly. Beccaria wanted to fight this grievance. However, a stance which in principle is opposed to the death penalty — as it now prevails in many countries, particularly in Europe — cannot be associated with the classical school of criminology, even though they have often been interpreted in this way in the past.

After all, Romilly, Feuerbach and Beccaria referred to offences that would still be eligible for the death penalty. This phenomenon can be explained by the demand for the preventive effect of criminal law, which emerged at the time. According to Beccaria, punishment may only be used if and when it serves to prevent crime.

Since man is seen as a free and responsible being, deterrence is the only imaginable form of crime prevention. The first consequence of this is that secret trials must be abolished and court proceedings accelerated in order to discourage the apparently high level of crime investigation and effective suspension of justice.

It also follows, however, that certain particularly serious crimes must continue to be punishable by the death penalty in order to comply with the requirements of proportionality and prevention. However, Beccaria stresses that the vast majority of criminal offences should be punishable by imprisonment, since too frequent use of the death penalty leads to brutalisation of society and therefore no longer has a deterrent effect.

According to the tradition of classical criminology, Bentham assumes that this form of constant surveillance must lead to a conformist way of life for the prisoners within the walls, since it would be extremely irrational to behave criminally in the conscious presence of a guard.

There was no such thing as a specially developed classical theory of crime. The classical theory of crime is rather a summary of the mostly political ideas of Beccaria and his contemporaries, presented and interpreted in retrospect by recipients. However, the significance of Beccaria and classical criminology in addition to their influences on crime policy can be justified above all by their diverse current perceptions rational choice, deterrence, routine activity approach.

Thus, the classical school is not only the oldest school, but probably also the most constant, whose relevance is repeatedly confirmed in neoclassical studies. In terms of content, classical theory weakens the incompatibility of the assumptions that although people are free and responsible for their actions, they are at the same time subject to supernatural, later social causes that lead to their deviant behaviour.

However, this contradiction is again due to the fact that Beccaria and Co. On the one hand, it was necessary to mention society as the focus of criminal activities in order to achieve a certain understanding of the perpetrator and thus a renunciation of excessively harsh punishments this was also associated with criticism of the judges and the judicial proceedings.

On the other hand, the emphasis on the equality and freedom of all human beings was also important in order to underline the utilitarian and enlightenment thought prevailing at that time and to establish it in criminal law. He tended to vacillate between fits of anger and bursts of enthusiasm, often followed by periods of depression and lethargy.

He was shy in social settings, but cherished his relationships with friends and family. In , Beccaria extended his family by proposing to Teresa Blasco. Teresa was just 16 years old, and her father strongly objected to the engagement. A year later, the couple eloped. Also among those people that Beccaria held particularly dear were his friends Pietro and Alessandro Verri. To this effect, academy members encouraged Beccaria to read French and British writings on the Enlightenment, and to take a stab at writing himself.

In actuality, the treatise was extremely well-received. Catherine the Great publicly endorsed it, while thousands of miles away in the United States, founding fathers Thomas Jefferson and John Adams quoted it. Once it was clear that the government approved of his essay, Beccaria republished it, this time crediting himself as the author.

According to Beccaria — and most classical theorists — free will enables people to make choices. Beccaria believed that people have a rational manner and apply it toward making choices that will help them achieve their own personal gratification. But, because people act out of self-interest and their interest sometimes conflicts with societal laws, they commit crimes. The principle of manipulability refers to the predictable ways in which people act out of rational self-interest and might therefore be dissuaded from committing crimes if the punishment outweighs the benefits of the crime, rendering the crime an illogical choice.

In "On Crimes and Punishments," Beccaria identified a pressing need to reform the criminal justice system, citing the then-present system as barbaric and antiquated. He went on to discuss how specific laws should be determined, who should make them, what they should be like and whom they should benefit.

He emphasized the need for adequate but just punishment, and went so far as to explain how the system should define the appropriate punishment for each type of crime. Unlike documents before it, "On Crimes and Punishments" sought to protect the rights of criminals as well as the rights of their victims.

The thorough treatise included a discussion of crime-prevention strategies. In addition to his fascination with criminal law, Beccaria was still drawn to the field of economics. For the next two years, he also served as a lecturer there. Based on these lectures, Beccaria created an economic analysis entitled "Elements of Public Economy.

This public position enabled him to strive for the same goal — economic reform — that he had set with "the academy of fists" so many years ago. While in office, Beccaria focused largely on the issues of public education and labor relations. He also created a report on the system of measures that led France to start using the metric system. His work in analysis helped paved the way for later theorists like Thomas Malthus. However, Beccaria failed to match the astronomical level of success he had previously achieved in the criminal justice field.

While retaining his career in economics, in Beccaria served on a committee that promoted civil and criminal law reform in Lombardy, Italy. Near the end of his life, Beccaria was depressed by the excesses of the French Revolution and withdrew from his family and friends. He died on November 28, , in his birthplace of Milan, Italy.