Ceseare Beccaria's Capital Punishment In The 18th Century

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In the 18th century there were often severe and extreme punishment for crimes committed. Ceseare Beccaria, who is the founder of the classical movement, offered his theory in which he believed that there should be a rational and fair system for the organization of crime and punishment. He believed that crimes/offenses were attributed to bad laws and not bad people. Beccaria believed all people should be treated equally and what punishment is given to the poor should be given to the rich. He had the opinion it is better to prevent crimes than to punish them, his thoughts can be summed up as follows; certainty of the crime and how likely it is to happen, the swiftness of the crime and how quickly the punishment is inflicted, and the severity of the crime and how much pain is inflicted. When he talked about prompt punishment, he felt the faster a punishment could be administered after a crime the more just and useful it …show more content…

They also believe that crime can be controlled by the fear of the punishment they could receive. For this reason, deterrents should be created that slightly outweigh what would be gained from the crime. Classical Criminologist’s position on capital punishment is that it is not necessarily a deterrent, long-term imprisonment is a more powerful deterrent. Capital punishment fails to deter criminals that are determined to commit crimes and is of minimal deterrence value. Having criminals face a long and steady jail time is more effective in establishing moral habits than having the criminal put to death, we should choose the least severe punishment, which accomplishes the deterrence. Life imprisonment is the preferred mode of punishment for the worst crimes and will have more of a lasting impression than capital

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