An Essay On Crimes and Punishment
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An Essay on Crimes and Punishment is a seminal work by Cesare Beccaria, published in 1764. It advocates for significant reforms in the criminal justice system, challenging the prevailing practices of torture, secret proceedings, and arbitrary punishments.1
Beccaria argued that the primary goal of criminal law should be crime prevention, not retribution. He proposed that punishments should be proportionate to the offense and only severe enough to maintain social order, asserting that the certainty of punishment is more effective than its severity. He was a pioneer in advocating for the complete abolition of capital punishment. His ideas, rooted in Enlightenment principles, influenced legal reforms across Europe and the United States, emphasizing fairness, deterrence, and rehabilitation.12
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