What was Beccarias conception on crime and punishment, and how does this differ from Durheims conception?
Cesare Beccaria or Caesar, Marchese Di Beccaria Bonesana (March 11, 1738 – November 28, 1794) was an Italian criminologist and economist. His work was significant in the development of Utilitarianism. Beccaria advocated swift punishment as the best form of deterrent to crime. His best known work was his treatise On Crimes and Punishments (1764), which condemned torture and the death penalty and was a pioneering study in the field of criminology. He argued that capital punishment was neither useful as a deterrent, nor was it necessary or ethically appropriate for the state to take the life of any of its citizens. His 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. Beccaria’s ideas, although not adopted in their entirety, were nonetheless highly influential in reforming European laws, and in forming the United St
