Beccaria and his ideas about crime and punishment.

He was born in Milan, Italy in 1738.

In 1764 when he was 26 years old, he published his crimes and punishment text.

And he did it anonymously.

He is considered the father of the criminology of his ideas about crime and criminal justices procedures.

He questioned some practices common in this time.

His essay criticized the ways in which criminal justice system operated.

There was not equality because of the corruption and arbitrariness of the system.

Richest people were treated different from poor people.

Central Principles of his work

  1. Punishment should be proportional to the harm that the crime caused. (Punishment should prevent crime)

  1. Punishment should be certain and swift. 

  1. Making the law and law enforcement public. (Law and trials should be published)

  1. Arguments against the death penalty (Not to make criminals pay violence with more violence. Beccaria believed that death penalty was momentary) 

  1. The law applies equally to all people. (Punishment should be the same for all people)

  1. The state does not have the right to torture. (Because no one is guilty until he or she is found to be guilty)

  1. Only the law can prescribe punishment. (The law decide what punishment should be imposed and any judge could change what the law says)

  1. Education is the most certain method of preventing crime.

By Ángeles Quetzalli Sánchez Durán.

His book was put in the black list of the Catholic Church during 200 years.

His ideas created the bases for all the modern criminal justice systems.