1738-1794
"The torture of a criminal, during the course of his trial, is a cruelty, consecrated by custom in most nations. It is used with an intent either to make him confess his crime, or explain some contradictions, into which he had been led during his examination; or discover his accomplices; or for some kind of metaphysical and incomprehensible purgation of infamy; or, finally, in order to discover other crimes, of which he is not accused, but of which he may be guilty." -,On Crimes and Punishment
Cesare Beccaria, an Italian politician and philosopher, greatly influenced criminal law reform in Western Europe. He argued that the effectiveness of criminal justice depended more on the certainty of punishment than on its severity. One of the most ground-breakingl pieces on criminal justice during this time was written by Beccaria, On Crimes and Punishments, published in 1764. The book was founded on beliefs in rationalism and utilitarianism to reform the entire penal system into one that was more enlightened and logical. Beccaria believed in punishment as long as it was logical, adimantly spoke out against tortue tactics, and supported preventative measures against crime over punishments. Beccaria was revolutionary at his time for arguing for a separation of Church and State in the penal system. He believed that the root of crime is not original sin but social injustice, and thus the Church should not interefere with the judiciary system.
