Enlightenment & Revolutions
Cesare Beccaria
1738–1794 · Justice reform
Punishment should be proportionate, public and minimal.
In their words
“It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them.”
On Crimes and Punishments, published in 1764, argued that laws exist to secure the greatest liberty for the greatest number, that torture and capital punishment are both useless and illegitimate, and that certainty of punishment deters better than severity does. It was read across Europe, rewrote penal codes, and gave abolitionism its first systematic argument.
Why it matters for freedom
He argued punishment must be limited by law, which is the first brick of every later right of the accused.
Who they stood against
torture, the death penalty, and a criminal law written for the sovereign