Cesare Beccaria Of Crimes And Punishments Summary
Cesare Beccaria: Of Crimes and Punishments
1. Beccaria treats justice as a “bond, which is necessary to keep the interests of individuals united” (18) so they will not return to the barbaric state. Some levels of punishment are necessary to maintain this bond. They are determined by laws, which judges use during making their decisions. Laws have direct definition of crimes and punishments, but their interpretation often depends on person’s attitude, “on his good or bad digestion; on violence of his passions; [or] on the rank and condition of the abused” (Beccaria 23). This diversity in laws’ interpretations can arbitrarily infringe individual liberties as judge can pass different sentences for one crime depending up such conditions as his attitude to the victim or criminal.
As laws are the major tool of justice the author suggests to focus on their content to ensure they protect individual liberties. “When the code of law is once fixed, it should be observed in the literal sense… the judge [should only] determine whether the action be, or be not, conformable with the …show more content…
Beccaria divided civil laws and laws of honour. While both categories create some type of punishment, honour crimes or duelling in this case are inconsistent with the view that the protection of liberty should be the motivation for crime and punishment. Duelling does not look like an action that fits to these features. People participate in such activities in an attempt to restore their esteem; inactivity leads “to a solitary existence, insupportable to a social creature, or [becoming] the object of perpetual insult” (Beccaria 43), according to their opinion. This behaviour does not match the mentioned conception as crime and punishment are not used for the protection of real individual liberties. Duelling becomes a result of contrived norms of specific parts of the society. They are not necessary, as other social levels show there are many possibilities to solve the conflict without such
1. Beccaria treats justice as a “bond, which is necessary to keep the interests of individuals united” (18) so they will not return to the barbaric state. Some levels of punishment are necessary to maintain this bond. They are determined by laws, which judges use during making their decisions. Laws have direct definition of crimes and punishments, but their interpretation often depends on person’s attitude, “on his good or bad digestion; on violence of his passions; [or] on the rank and condition of the abused” (Beccaria 23). This diversity in laws’ interpretations can arbitrarily infringe individual liberties as judge can pass different sentences for one crime depending up such conditions as his attitude to the victim or criminal.
As laws are the major tool of justice the author suggests to focus on their content to ensure they protect individual liberties. “When the code of law is once fixed, it should be observed in the literal sense… the judge [should only] determine whether the action be, or be not, conformable with the …show more content…
Beccaria divided civil laws and laws of honour. While both categories create some type of punishment, honour crimes or duelling in this case are inconsistent with the view that the protection of liberty should be the motivation for crime and punishment. Duelling does not look like an action that fits to these features. People participate in such activities in an attempt to restore their esteem; inactivity leads “to a solitary existence, insupportable to a social creature, or [becoming] the object of perpetual insult” (Beccaria 43), according to their opinion. This behaviour does not match the mentioned conception as crime and punishment are not used for the protection of real individual liberties. Duelling becomes a result of contrived norms of specific parts of the society. They are not necessary, as other social levels show there are many possibilities to solve the conflict without such