Cesare Beccaria's Essay On Crimes And Punishments

232 Words1 Pages
Based off of Cesare Beccaria beliefs and reformed theories, he was able to determine what causes criminal behavior in his famous published piece, An Essay on Crimes and Punishments in 1764. His idea of criminology was that “laws are the conditions under which independent and isolated men united to form a society (Baccaria, 1992, pg.6).” In meaning that the designated law officials would come together and form the punishments or penalties to the crimes that were being committed. Through the thought of classical theory, theorists believed that people where rational and that they would seek out their pleasure and minimize their pain (Paternoster, 2010). Crime would be committed if the criminal knew it would be an advantage for them. From those