Assault, murder and theft are all considered common committed crimes, but the way people were punished for committing these crimes are very different compared to today. Punishment is defined as penalty as justice for a wrongdoing. These penalties were more cruel and violent than they are today. The development of punishment can be traced from Greek and Roman times, through the Middle Ages and up to the Age of Enlightenment. To start things off, during the Greek and Roman Times, there was no such thing as a nice punishment. There was a strict and barbaric code used throughout the Roman times. This code was the basis for many other empires code of laws. There was no probation, community service, or fines to make life easier. Torture and execution was the only punishment available for any age during these ancient times. During the roman era, if you got …show more content…
There were many changes in criminal theory that was brought about. Enlightened reformers moved away from corporal punishment. They sought to propose a penal system that would be useful and fair to the prisoner as well as the victim. Both the victim and the perpetrator has to be taking into account when constructing a fair punishment. Most of these reform proposals are collected in a treatise by the Italian jurist Cesare Beccaria. Beccaria was the founder of the Classical movemen. The classical movement aimed to present a more rational and fair system when it came to punishments. A major contribution Beccaria made was the concept that you should be punished according to your crime. Before this concept was taking into account, a person who stole fruit received the same punishment as a person who murdered someone. Beccaria stated that "No man can be judged a criminal until he be found guilty; nor can society take from him the public protection, until it have been proved that he has violated the conditions on which it was