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On Crimes and Punishments

Cesare Beccaria

1764; English translation by James Anson Farrer, 1880 · 18th Century · Political Theory · Italian

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Abstract

Written: 1764
Setting: Mid-eighteenth century; Milan and Livorno (Italy)
Author: Cesare Beccaria; trans. James Anson Farrer (1880)
Country: Duchy of Milan (Italy)
Language: Italian
Genre: Legal and political treatise
Form: Forty-two short chapters
Recommended: Grades 9–12 (Clear argument; some discussion of torture and execution.)

Foundation. Beccaria traces law to a bargain among citizens, who give up a small share of their freedom for safety; punishment is legitimate only within the limits of that bargain. Any penalty beyond what is needed to protect that shared safety is, in his view, an abuse of power.

Rules for lawmakers. Penalties must be set by statute, stated plainly in the language people speak and applied by judges without personal reinterpretation. When citizens can read and understand the code, he argues, fewer offences are committed.

Measure. A penalty should match the injury a crime does to the public. Swift and sure consequences discourage offenders more than terrible ones that may be avoided.

Abuses. Torture to force confessions, anonymous accusations, compulsory oaths and seizure of family property are all condemned as unjust and useless. Torture, he says, tests a suspect's endurance of pain rather than the truth, so it frees the hardy and condemns the frail.

Death penalty. The sixteenth chapter denies that the state may take life, except in extreme emergencies, and claims that lifelong labour is a stronger deterrent than a brief execution. He also warns that public executions teach cruelty to the spectators they are meant to restrain.

Legacy. The treatise, spread by a French version with Voltaire's notes, influenced rulers and reformers from Russia and Tuscany to the American founders. Its principles echo in later bans on cruel and unusual punishment, and the closing chapters urge that crime be prevented through education.

Key figures

Cesare Beccaria: Milanese author
Pietro Verri: Milanese economist and friend who encouraged the book
Voltaire: French writer who wrote a commentary on it
James Anson Farrer: English translator (1880)

Summary

On Crimes and Punishments (Dei delitti e delle pene) is a short Italian treatise that became one of the most influential books in the history of criminal law. Cesare Beccaria published it anonymously at Livorno in 1764. A French translation of 1766, with a commentary by Voltaire, carried it across Europe, and it was soon read in Britain and America. The translation used here is James Anson Farrer's of 1880. Beccaria begins with the origin of law in a social contract: people surrender a small part of their liberty to enjoy the rest in safety, and the right to punish rests only on that surrendered portion. From this he draws a series of rules. Only laws, made by the legislator, may fix crimes and penalties, and judges should apply them rather than interpret them by their own feelings. Laws should be clear, written in the common language and known to all, because ignorance and uncertainty encourage crime. Punishments should be proportioned to the harm done to society, and they deter best when they are prompt and certain, not when they are cruel. On this basis Beccaria condemns many practices of his time. He attacks torture used to extract confessions, arguing that it punishes people not yet proved guilty and favours the strong over the innocent who are weak. He criticizes secret accusations, oaths forced on the accused and the confiscation of a criminal's property, which punishes his innocent family. Most famously, in Chapter XVI he argues against capital punishment, holding that no one would have given society the right to kill him and that long penal servitude deters more effectively than the brief spectacle of execution. He closes with the means of preventing crime: clear laws, enlightenment, honest magistrates, rewards for virtue and, above all, education. The book helped bring about the abolition of torture in many European states and the reform of criminal codes. Catherine the Great of Russia drew on it, and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany abolished the death penalty in 1786. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson read it, and its ideas echo in the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishments. Readers may weigh its arguments against the biblical and classical traditions of just punishment.

Plot or Argument

The origin of punishment
Chapters I–IV: laws arise from a social contract; only the legislator may fix penalties, and judges must not reinterpret the law.
Measuring crimes and penalties
Chapters V–XI: laws must be clear and known; penalties must fit the harm to society.
Torture and procedure
Chapters XII–XV: Beccaria condemns torture, secret accusations and needless cruelty in punishment.
Capital punishment
Chapter XVI argues that the death penalty is neither useful nor just and that lasting servitude deters better.
Particular crimes
Middle chapters treat banishment, confiscation, theft, smuggling, debt, asylum, suicide and other offences.
Prevention
Chapters XLI–XLII: it is better to prevent crimes than to punish them, chiefly by clear laws and education.

Lessons

Certainty over severity
Beccaria argues that a mild punishment that is sure to come deters more than a cruel one that may be escaped. Justice should be steady, not savage.
- Why does Beccaria think certainty matters more than cruelty?
- Do you agree? Give an example.
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Innocent until proved guilty
Beccaria insists that no one may be punished as guilty before a judge has decided the case. Torture violates this rule.
- What is Beccaria's argument against torture?
- Why is the presumption of innocence important?
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Prevention is better
The book ends by urging laws, education and virtue that keep crimes from happening. Good societies form good citizens.
- What means of preventing crime does Beccaria suggest?
- What role should families, churches and schools play in preventing crime?
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Weighing the argument
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- On what does Beccaria base the right to punish?
- How does Romans 13 describe the purpose of punishment, and how does it compare with Beccaria's view?
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Context

In the mid-eighteenth century European criminal law still used judicial torture, secret trials, harsh corporal punishment and frequent execution. Enlightenment writers such as Montesquieu had begun to criticize these practices.

Composition

Beccaria wrote the book in 1763–1764 in Milan, in discussions with Pietro and Alessandro Verri and their circle, who encouraged and helped edit it. It was published anonymously at Livorno in 1764.

Reception

The book went through many editions and translations; André Morellet's French translation of 1766 rearranged the text and carried Voltaire's commentary. The Catholic Church placed it on the Index of Forbidden Books in 1766. Reformers across Europe and America cited it.

Justice Law Crime / Punishment Power / Politics Virtue Ethics

Comparisons

The Spirit of the Laws
Montesquieu, whom Beccaria admired, had argued that punishments should be moderate and fit the crime.
Commentaries on the Laws of England
Blackstone cites Beccaria in his discussion of punishment.
The Founding Documents
The Eighth Amendment bans cruel and unusual punishments, an idea Beccaria helped spread.

Quotes

“It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them.”

— Cesare Beccaria, On Crimes and Punishments, Chapter XLI, trans. James Anson Farrer (1880).Quote card

Liberalism, Chapter 1, section 1 ('Property')
The program of liberalism, therefore, if condensed into a single word, would have to read: property, that is, private ownership of the means of production Mises names private ownership of productive property as the central demand of liberalism.
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— Cesare Beccaria, On Crimes and Punishments, Chapter XII, trans. James Anson Farrer (1880).Quote card

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For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

Beccaria's idea of the social contract.
The link between certainty and deterrence.
Arguments against torture.
Arguments against the death penalty.
The emphasis on prevention.

Key terms and names

Social contract: The idea that political society rests on an agreement among individuals to give up some liberty for security.
Deterrence: Discouraging crime by the threat of punishment.
Proportionality: The principle that a punishment should match the seriousness of a crime.
Presumption of innocence: The rule that an accused person is treated as innocent until proved guilty.

Seminar Questions

Comprehension According to Beccaria, where does the right to punish come from?
Comprehension Why does Beccaria say laws should be written in the common language?
Interpretation Why does Beccaria think the certainty of punishment matters more than its severity?
Interpretation How does Beccaria argue that torture favours the guilty strong over the innocent weak?
Interpretation Is Beccaria's argument against the death penalty convincing? Why or why not?
Interpretation Why does Beccaria end the book with education rather than punishment?
Big Question What is the purpose of punishment: deterrence, justice, reform or something else?

Faith Connections

Romans 13:3–4 (Scripture)
The ruler bears the sword as "a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil": a biblical account of the purpose of punishment.
Deuteronomy 19:15 (Scripture)
"At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established": evidence rather than forced confession.
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica I-II, q. 95 (Great Conversation)
Human law must be derived from natural law, which limits what rulers may command.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: Punishment is justified only to protect society, so it must be lawful, proportionate, prompt and certain, never cruel; torture and the death penalty fail this test, and prevention is best.

Rhetorical device: rhetorical question. "What kind of right can that be which men claim for the slaughter of their fellow-beings?" (Chapter XVI).

Debate: Resolved: that the certainty of punishment deters crime better than its severity.

Memory Work

It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them.
Chapter XLI, trans. James Anson Farrer (1880). A short summary of Beccaria's whole program.

Writing Prompts

Essay: Explain Beccaria's main principles of criminal law and evaluate one of them.

Comparison with The Spirit of the Laws: Compare Beccaria's and Montesquieu's views on moderate punishment.

Medical Lens

Discusses judicial torture and the pain of punishment.

Pain

Chapter XII
The argument against using pain to extract confessions.
Pain

Creative Prompts

Essay
Evaluate Beccaria's argument against capital punishment in Chapter XVI.
Dialogue
Write a dialogue between Beccaria and an eighteenth-century judge who defends torture.
Classroom
List Beccaria's rules for good criminal laws and find which ones appear in the U.S. Bill of Rights.