Like Beccaria, he proposed a new classification of crimes for Virginia and then that the punishments be suited to each of the three categories of crime. It was clear that he was influenced by Beccaria when he articulated three cardinal principles. First was that punishment is an evil in itself and is justified only in so far as it rehabilitates criminals and prevents future crimes. Also, that the death penalty should be the last resort. Second was that punishments more severe than necessary defeat their purpose.
From what
Cesare Beccaria had some wonderful ideas on how to change his current criminal justice system. His heart was in the right place as to why he thought it needed reformed. However, times change and therefore so does the environment. What might have worked for him when he was alive, does not necessarily mean it works for us today. In an essence, what he did was revolutionary for his time.
Cesare Beccaria was seventeenth century writer, who wrote about his views and opinions of the criminal justice system. One of Beccaria 's beliefs was that the court system and laws should be used to keep safety and order. In order to make the judicial system better, Beccaria wanted to fix the corruption of the judges. In addition to this, Beccaria believed that knowing you would get punished was better than knowing that the punishment were terrible. Another of Beccaria 's beliefs was that the punishment should fit the crime.
In Tadros’ paper, “Wrongness and Criminalization,” he focused on the issues of the various definitions of wrongness and how such acts considered as wrong are criminalized, yet other wrong acts are not. Necessarily, there are other factors at play when deciding whether to criminalize a wrongful act. In a section of his paper, Tadros focused on the argument of criminalizing the possession of knives to ensure the safety of the public. In theory, this would be effective as those possessing knives in a public place would necessarily be violating the law, and be sanctioned.
Cesare Beccaria started his career as a professional who studied criminals and their crimes. It was a goal of Beccaria to change how criminals should be punished. Although Beccaria did not think getting married was a way to get out of committing crimes, he stood his ground for the deterrence for misconducts and penalties. Beccaria was an Italian criminologist who was famous all over the world at 26 years old (Bohm & Vogel, 2017). As stated by Bohm & Vogel (2017), “Beccaria’s treatise is the first succinct and systematic statement of principles governing criminal punishment” (para. 5).
Cesare Beccaria formed a society known as the "academy of fists". This group was "dedicated to waging relentless war against economic disorder, bureaucratic petty tyranny, religious narrow-mindedness, and intellectual pedantry. Beccaria's view of government was that it should work to prevent crime, rather than focus on punishment; and that effort spent on education and rewarding good behavior would reap better results and bring about greater happiness for all. In his criticism of the death penalty Beccaria appealed to two philosophical theories: social contract and utility. He argued that punishment is justified only to defend the social contract, and that the type of punishment chosen should serve the greatest public good ("Cesare Beccaria - New World Encyclopedia").
37). Beccaria provided three characteristics that influence a person’s likelihood of committing a crime: swiftness, certainty, and severity. These were the qualities that a potential offender would deliberate on before carrying out their transgression. He believed that a punishment should come as soon as possible after the crime, should have a strong impression on potential offenders, and should be worse than the benefits from the crime (Tibbetts, p. 38). As long as a punishment had all three characteristics, a rational person should be deterred from that behavior.
It is the means of understanding the human behaviour towards criminal activities and the ways through which it can be controlled. Moreover, the theory considers two factors that are situational factor and personal factor, which are the major reason behind formulation of the theory. Beccaria developed the theory to make it convenient for the people to understand the personal as well as situational factors through which crime rate is increasing. This is because it helps in minimising the rising impact of criminal
Most was derived from the assumption that behaviors such as; criminal and otherwise, are inherited. Which means that criminals are biologically different than non-criminals. One of the earliest explanations was known as Phrenology which was in the mid-1700’s to mid-1800’s, which viewed the shape and size of the brain and skull as determinants of criminal tendencies. The next early positivist explanation for deviance was in 1876, Cesare Lombroso’s theory of “Atavism” and “The Born Criminal” This was the 1st Major Application of this new science to the study of criminals and deviance.
Rational choice theory (RCT) assumes individuals choose to commit crime based on rational/logical thinking and calculations (maximizing profits and minimizing losses). An offender, such as a burglar, might plan to rob a home while the family is away (high profit from stealing and little chance of getting caught). To believe that this is the only reason why criminals offend is preposterous and myopic; it is only a small sliver of the basis of crime. Rational choices are implemented by offenders (sometimes), but other causes include but are not limited to: economic disparity, substance abuse, family factors, biological factors/genetic influences, mental illnesses, opportunity (easy target to hit), perceptions of the punishment (is the offender
