Enlightenment has always been, is and will be the most important step in the cultural development of any country. Even in the XVII century the death penalty was used, for example, for witchcraft - an unproven act. Just because no one thought to revise the criminal law system. It’s always easier to act according to an established scheme, isn't it?
18th century history plays a crucial role in the development of criminal law and litigation. Over the years, the views on crimes and punishments established over the centuries have undergone severe reformation. Outdated theories about the need for severe retribution, even for minor offenses began to seem pointless.
Here, one must pay tribute to the person who wrote the whole book about the unreasonableness of the existing criminal system, harshly criticizing the actions of law enforcement agencies and the methods of the Inquisition. This is an Italian thinker whose name is Cesare Beccaria. At the age of 25, he wrote a treatise that made him rethink the true meaning of crime and punishment.
Who is Beccaria?
Born and lived in Milan. Cesare Beccaria Bonesano (March 15, 1738 - November 28, 1794) is an Italian thinker, publicist and legal scholar, a great humanist and reformer of law. Beccaria graduated from the Faculty of Law, but after training he took up literary activity. In 1764, the pamphlet book On Crimes and Punishments was published, which determined its place in the world history of criminal law and legislation.
Cesare Beccaria "On Crimes and Punishments"
In his book, the leader of the Enlightenment did not just talk about the injustice of punishment, the arbitrariness of feudal justice and irrational cruelty in judicial practice. Beccaria justified every word and in every possible way proved why such measures are unacceptable. He called for the eradication of the feudal system, in particular, the abolition of torture, since in this case, the innocent would agree with the acts incriminated to him than an inveterate bandit.
Instead of brutal court orders and arbitrariness, Cesare Beccaria did not just offer humane and fair measures to deal with the crime and sentencing. The principles set out by him represented the criminal law as the most rational. Beccaria believed that only after the abolition of the privileges of the nobility and the clergy, when all people will be equal before the law, and also by reducing criminal repression, excluding punishments for witchcraft, heresy and the like, it will be possible to achieve effective legal proceedings.
The influence of the treatise on criminal policy
The book had a great influence on the judicial system. The ideas of the young humanist turned the thinking of the European community in the XVIII century and for over 200 years they have been ideological in the field of building a criminal policy.
It is easy to guess that after the publication of this book, noise rose. Supporters of the old court order were categorically against the transformation of the criminal punishment system. But it was the hype that drew the attention of Europe to the published treatise. Cesare Beccaria had both allies and opponents, who in every possible way proved the impossibility of applying the new regime in reality.
The debate lasted a long time, and only a sober assessment of the forensics helped establish the true value of the treatise. Scientists recognized him as a powerful lever that pushed the old criminal legislation out of place, and began to lay the foundation for a new one in return. Cesare Beccaria turned his understanding about both crimes and punishments, both about the trial and about pre-trial practice.
Criminological ideas
The young lawyer begins his book with rather harsh “remarks” regarding the legislation of that time, which consisted of centuries of laws overlapping each other, which made it unclear and contradictory. The amendments were more than serious. Now the crime was not considered an act against God, but it became damage to society, for which everyone had to bear responsibility.
The second important point is that one punishment cannot be applied for two completely different crimes. The goal is not punishment or revenge, but atonement. In the sequel, the author gives a classification of crimes, starting with serious, ending with lungs.
His criminological ideas were also expressed in the following:
- Crime is much more important to prevent. Beccaria offered to seriously engage in enlightenment and to cultivate respect for the law in people.
- In pre-trial practice, violence should not be used. Torture entails a guilty plea not guilty, therefore, the real criminal goes unpunished.
- Evidence base. Here, special attention is paid to witness testimony that all sane people can give. The degree of truthfulness is determined by the method of assessing the benefits of telling the truth or falsehood.
- Jury trial. It was Cesare Beccaria who put forward the idea of attracting assessors from among ordinary citizens, considering open meetings a guarantee of a fair verdict.
About the death penalty
Special attention is paid to the abolition of the death penalty. Beccaria considered it unlawful, because there is a struggle between society and man, when the crowd for some reason considers the destruction of the second useful and necessary. And this is wrong.
The death penalty in the understanding of Cesare is a powerful shock to the human psyche, but fleeting. Much more instructive than severity is duration. Only when a person is deprived of liberty and turns into a working animal, redeeming his guilt before society by labor, can one keep others from committing crimes.
The abolition of the death penalty and its replacement with life imprisonment is what really impresses. Not a single person, being in their right mind, will go to the complete and eternal loss of freedom, no matter what benefits they offer him in return. Fear of spending life behind bars will deter even the most determined person from committing a crime.
Finally
The publication of the book On Crimes and Punishments helped Beccaria take its place in the history of the 18th century. He was able to change the very essence of judicial practice, moving it away from religion and philosophy. It is thanks to him that there is such a thing as the presumption of innocence.
Beccaria reached the essence of the crimes, substantiated the importance of proportionality of the committed act and punishment for it, the need to renounce torture and the death penalty. The great leader of the Enlightenment, he made the criminal punishment fair, and his teachings formed the basis of criminological theories in the criminal codes of many countries of the world.