Essays on Cesare Beccaria

In 1764, Cesare Beccaria published the book, On Crime and Punishment. His work provided the foundations of classical criminology. In classical criminology, benefits and consequences are argued to be behind all human behavior. Most people compare the future benefits and costs of particular actions before they commit a crime. The argument put forward is that individuals would not participate in any criminal action if the cost is relatively higher than the benefit (Marcello 3). This paper seeks to analyze the Beccaria’s classical school of criminology and how it changed the justice system in the western world. It also ...

In deterrence theory it is believed that people weigh the gains and consequences of violating or obeying the law. We have two classifications of deterrence theory: general and specific deterrence theory. General deterrence prevents general population crime. This is because one is punished as an example to the rest. This is because one has not yet performed the crime; the punishment is to show the horror of what would happen if they committed the crime, thus deterring them from even the thought whereas the pictorial representation of the horror of reccurpesion is very fresh and clear. For example ...

There are two forms of controlling behavior that members of a society are expected to display. The norms of society are the informal form while the laws of society are the formal form (Licht, 2008). Crime is an action that is a breach of the laws of society and may involve harm to society while a breach of the norms of society is known as delinquency. Of course, adults are not the only ones who commit crimes. Even juveniles, i.e. children and teens below the age of 18, can commit crimes, and a crime committed by a juvenile is referred to as juvenile delinquency ...

Social theories are ideas generated by scholars in attempting to explain the social structures of the society. These theories touch on issues such as religion, crime, education, politics, philosophy and many other aspects of the society. Each theorist has held divergent views on different issues and such scholarly debate is always constructive. Criminology and theories under the divergent delinquent acts and have been explored by several theorists. Theorists such as Ernest Burgess, Robert Park and Cesare Beccaria have expressed their theories in their works. This paper evaluates the life and works of Cesare Beccaria especially his theories on crimes ...