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").
He advocated that punishment needed to have a preventive deterrent, not a retributive, function. Based on that argument, the association between a crime and its punishment should be stronger. To achieve that, Beccaria proposed swift and prompt punishment. When a punishment quickly follows a crime, the link between the two grows stronger, which in turn should deter others from committing the same crime: Beccaria also argued against the severity of punishment, claiming that it is certainty, not severity,
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The buildings, too, could prove fatal. Few were purpose-built facilities; many were dilapidated residences that had been quickly fitted with bars and padlocks. Hygiene was appalling open sewers often ran through the facilities and rarely were there fresh provisions or clean water. For other offenses there were four broad classes of punishment: fines, public shame, physical chastisement, and death. Most misdemeanors were punished with fines, as is the case today. Some more serious crimes were punished with public shame, whether with a demand for a public confession, a term in the stocks, or a mark to identify the malefactor's