Cesare Beccaria: On Crimes and Punishments Socratic Seminar

1. What should be the basic underlying principle of a law, according to Beccaria? The law should be focused on how the greatest happiness is shared the greatest number, that is, where the laws benefit the most people possible. Laws should be made from an unbiased point of view for the better of the people, not just when the need arises or something evil happens. Laws decide whether or not the accused is convicted and punished, not the pity or bias of a judge.

2. Beccaria condemns the contemporary form of sentencing individuals. What is wrong with it, and how would he change it? The man who is accused should not be hated because he is accused. They should not be thrown into a prison cell with somebody who is convicted of a crime when they still have the chance of being innocent.

3. What is Beccaria’s opinion of the death penalty? He does not like it and doesn’t think its right (pg 93 RC). There are only two times when it may be necessary however. One is when he is endangering the nation and may produce a revolution in the government. The second is if they are causing others to commit crimes, and their death is the only way to stop that.

4. On Crimes and Punishments argues that capital punishment is not a deterrent. Why? What is a better deterrent?

5. On Crimes and Punishments is a work of the enlightenment. Think about some of the other documents of the same period: What general characteristics do they seem to share?