Beccaria developed in his treatise a number of innovative and influential principles:
- punishment had a preventive , not a retributive, function;
- punishment should be proportionate to the crime committed;
- the probability of punishment, not its severity, would achieve the preventive effect;
- procedures of criminal convictions should be public; and finally,
- in order to be effective, punishment should be prompt.
He also argued against gun control laws. He was among the first to advocate the beneficial influence of education in lessening crime.
from wikipedia
Are we there yet?
1764 Cesare Beccarie openly condemned the death penalty on two grounds:
- first, because the state does not possess the right to take lives; and
- secondly, because capital punishment is neither a useful nor a necessary form of punishment
2014
Today we still have 32 states still have the death penalty.( http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/states-and-without-death-penalty)
STATES WITH THE DEATH PENALTY (32)
Alabama Arizona Arkansas
California Colorado Delaware
Florida Georgia Idaho
Indiana Kansas Kentucky
Louisiana Mississippi Missouri
Montana Nebraska Nevada
New Hampshire North Carolina Ohio
Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania
South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee
Texas Utah Virginia
Washington Wyoming
ALSO
– U.S. Gov’t
– U.S. Military