Cesare Bonesana di Beccaria

1738 - 1794

Titles on this disk:

• author: An Essay on Crimes and Punishments

Quotation:

• (15 June, 2009) Cesare Beccaria says that torture is cruel and barbaric and a violation of the principle that no one should be punished until proven guilty in a court of law; in other words it is the “right of power” (1764)

About this person:

Beccaria was an Italian legal philosopher, political economist and politician who was much influenced by the French philosophes. In Milan he introduced a number of legal and monetary reforms but is best known for his 1764 work On Crimes and Punishments in which he advocated an end to torture and the death penalty.