Scholarly Review of An Essay on Crimes and Punishments by Cesare Beccaria (1764)
Cesare Beccarias An Essay on Crimes and Punishments (1764) is one of the most influential works in the history of criminology and legal reform. This seminal text was written during the Enlightenment, and is lauded for paving the way for contemporary criminal justice systems, and in particular for its opposition to the death penalty and the use of torture. The work calls for a justice system grounded in the humane treatment of offenders. Beccarias seemingly revolutionary ideas (at the time) still resonate among scholars and theorists in the field and fill modern discussions surrounding crime and punishment.
Historical Context and Significance
The 18th century still held to traditions in criminal justice which relied heavily on punitive measures such as torture and the death penalty. Beccaria promoted Enlightenment principles that emphasized humanism and reason not based on religious principles but rather on humanistic ideals. Thus, he challenged the norms of the old-world culture of Europe. An Essay on Crimes and Punishments quickly gained recognition and has been viewed as a seminal text for legal theorists and reformers throughout Europe. This was especially true for figures like Voltaire, who provided commentary on the text. The work was just as important for later criminological theories and reformers who have called for overhaul of legal systems so that they are more equitable, transparent, and humane.
The preface of the book emphasizes the need for reducing penal laws to a standard of Enlightenment-based reason. This introduces the reader to Beccaria's core argument: that penal systems should be crafted not to satisfy the so-called vengeful instincts of old-world society but to maximize social welfare through Enlightenment thought and more humanistic punishment.
Arguments and Themes
Opposition to Torture and the Death Penalty
Beccaria (1764) is clearly opposed to the methods of punishment practiced prior to the Enlightenment era. For example, he describes how under Louis IX, profaners would have their tongues pierced with a hot rod. He decries this as excessive arguing that the offender deserved chastisement, but did he deserve such excruciating torture, and the most horrible death? (p. 90). In fact, Beccaria often excuses such offenses as being the unruly excesses of youthmeaningless, really, and hardly justifying torture such as the removal of ones upper lip. What Beccaria is doing, however, is judging a different era and time and culture according to the standards of Enlightenment philosophy. What he views as a minor offense, would have been viewed much differently during the time of St. Louis.
Yet there is...
It would be argued, then, from the perspective of one such as St. Louis that Beccarias staunch opposition to the use of torture and the death penalty is one of the most radical elements of his essay. For St. Louis,
profanity and blasphemy were not only sins against God but also crimes against the order and
stability of a Christian society. However, that Christianity society had weakened to such a point that by the 18th century its entire reason for being seemed in peril (and in fact would be violently attacked during the
French Revolution at the end of that century) (Delia, 2021). To men like Voltaire and Beccaria, the old-world hierarchies were no longer relevant (Quastana, 2023). Beccaria himself with his treatise on crimes and punishment is paving the way for this overthrow of the old-world order...
…for proportionality in punishment has been integrated into legal systems across the globe, influencing the creation of sentencing guidelines and the development of more equitable legal frameworks. His ideas also contributed to the rise of the
human rights movement, which seeks to ensure that legal systems
respect the inherent dignity of all individuals, even those who have committed crimes.
Beccarias work has also been important in the development of criminology as a distinct field of study itself. His work is a seminal influence in rationality and prevention and can be seen as important in the later criminological theories that seek to understand the causes of criminal behavior and develop strategies to reduce crime through education and rehabilitation rather than through punitive justice (Fosse, 2020).
Conclusion
Cesare Beccarias An Essay on Crimes and Punishments remains one of the earliest and most important works in the modern field of criminology. His arguments against torture and the death penalty, as well as his insistence on proportionality in punishment and the prevention of crime, have had resounded across centuries even into our own. Although some aspects of his work may appear idealistic or less applicable to our contemporary world, as well as unsympathetic to the past, Beccaria nonetheless advanced the ideals of humanism within modern society in the field of law and justice. He helped to elevate Enlightenment era humanism to the level of policy, that has stretched from the 18th century to the 21st. The relevance of Beccarias work lies in its call for a justice system based on humane treatmenta system that values the prevention of crime over punishment of unruly passions that mean little in the bigger sense. He calls for treating all people with dignity, and exercising more of the virtue and charity that the old-world espoused in theory if not so much in…
