This blog post explores the purpose and social role of punishment through Beccaria’s theory of punishment, offering insights into how human freedom can be safeguarded.
Published in 1764, Cesare Beccaria’s ‘On Crimes and Punishments’ caused a great stir. European intellectual society was captivated by its logical and novel arguments concerning punishment. Faithfully responding to the Enlightenment ideology of the time, which posited rational humans pursuing freedom and happiness, Beccaria presupposed humans as beings capable of weighing interests and acting accordingly. People do not surrender their freedom for the public good without compensation. They agreed to cede a portion of their liberty to escape a state akin to perpetual war, thereby securing the peaceful enjoyment of the remainder. The aggregate of the freedom each individual relinquishes constitutes sovereignty, which the sovereign is entrusted to administer.
Beccaria argued that laws are best observed when they promote the happiness of each individual. Laws, which are the conditions for the formation and continuation of society, are best observed when they promote each individual’s happiness. Punishment is established for those who violate the law for the sake of the common welfare. With this argument, Beccaria established the starting point that the exercise of the right to punish cannot exceed the scope of the transfer.
In Beccaria’s view, punishment cannot undo the consequences caused by the crime. Nor is tormenting the individual its purpose. The sole purpose of punishment is to deter the offender from causing further harm and to prevent others from committing similar acts. This is achieved whenever the harm inflicted by punishment is even slightly greater than the benefit gained by the crime—that is, the loss incurred by the public good. Moreover, the system of punishment must be clearly codified in written law so that this relationship of costs and benefits is known to all, and its execution must be certain. Ultimately, punishment is viewed as a barrier to crime. The height of this barrier must vary depending on whether the crime is murder or theft, for example. It must be proportional to the degree of harm done to the public good. Punishment exceeding this is tyranny and unnecessary. Beccaria states: If identical punishment is applied to two crimes causing different harms, would the deterrent effect for the more serious crime not be lost?
He emphasizes that institutions must operate in accordance with the fact that humans are sensory beings. Even the most cruel punishment, if continuously enforced, will eventually desensitize society; people will come to feel nothing more than the fear of imprisonment upon witnessing it. What profoundly affects the human mind is not the intensity of punishment but its duration. Witnessing an execution is a terrifying experience, yet its memory is fleeting. The argument is that enduring the sight of a deprived individual suffering penance for a prolonged period exerts a far more potent deterrent effect. He also asserts that the freedom sacrificed to protect something more important cannot include the most precious thing of all: life itself.
Beccaria is understood as a humanist for opposing cruel punishments, a utilitarian for advocating the greatest happiness for the greatest number, and a social contract theorist for developing his arguments based on the consensus of free individuals. In criminal jurisprudence, he is credited with laying the foundation for moving beyond retributivism—the idea of punishment as recompense—toward general preventionism, which focuses on preventing future crimes. His ideas profoundly influenced subsequent criminal law systems and remain a crucial theoretical foundation for modern penal institutions. Beccaria’s arguments continue to offer deep insights into the purpose and methods of punishment, and his work is considered essential reading for law students and sociologists.
Thus, ‘Crimes and Punishments’ was a revolutionary work that fundamentally reevaluated the legal and penal systems of its time. Based on a deep understanding of human nature, Beccaria emphasized that the purpose of punishment is not mere retribution but prevention for the sake of social stability. This clearly demonstrates his philosophy that punishment must be a means to safeguard human freedom and dignity while simultaneously maximizing the benefit for society as a whole.
