Cesare Beccaria was born 15 March 1738 in Milan. He was an Italian criminologist and economist. He was educated at a jesuit school. After he went at the university of Padua where he discovered and was he was really astonished about the writings of the French enlightenment., one example was Baron de Montesquieu.1 When he was older he became friends with two brother Pietro and Alessandro Verri, they formed and intellectual circle called “the academy of fists”. In 1674 he published his famous criminology essay called “on crimes and punishments”. observing the criminal justice system Beccaria noticed how few studies had been developed on the subject, therefore he creates one of his most influential work for the enlightenment in which he appels to two different theories: the social contract and utility.
His ides:
He was strongly against death penalty and regarded it as futile. He focused on both, the rights of the criminal and the rights of the victim.
Beccaria had a personal opinion on the social contract and on the rule of law debate which originated with Rousseau and Montesquieu. He thought that law’s were supposed to preserve the social contract, however he also recognized human nature as being self-centered, thus pushing humans to go against laws and commit crimes.
Legacy:
His book, on crime and punishment, laid the foundations for modern criminology. At first he published it anonymously, scared of the controversy that the book might stir up. However, it received a lot of appreciation. Catherine the Great, adopted some of its ideas and it was quoted by the American founding fathers when writing their constitution.
Almost before we knew it, we had left the ground. All their equipment and instruments are alive.Mist enveloped the ship three hours out from port. The spectacle before us was indeed sublime.A red flair silhouetted the jagged edge of a wing.
