The Death Penalty and Beccarias's Criticisms of Crimes and PunishmentsSummaryThe purpose of this article is to discuss Beccaria's book on crimes and punishments, with emphasis on Beccaria's views on the death penalty. and the numerous criticisms surrounding his work. Beccaria held extreme views against the death penalty, but he repeatedly contradicted them. This led to criticism of his work and many of his views on Enlightenment period society. Some have said that Beccaria did not write about crime and punishment, this and other criticisms will be addressed below. The Death Penalty and Criticisms of Beccaria's Work The purpose of this article is to discuss the death penalty and the many criticisms surrounding Cesare Beccaria's work on crimes and punishments. Punishments. Key points in Beccaria's life according to Adler, Mueller and Laufer (2000): Cesare Bonesana, Marquis of Beccaria (1738-1794), was a rather ordinary student. After earning a law degree at the University of Pavia, he returned home to Milan and joined a group of eloquent and radical intellectuals. Disenchanted with contemporary European society, they organized themselves into the Academy of the Fists, one of several young men's clubs thriving in Italy at the time. Their goal was to discover what reforms would be necessary to modernize Italian society. In March 1763, Beccaria was commissioned to prepare a report on the prison system. Pietro Verri, director of the fist academy, encouraged him to read the works of English and French philosophers David Hume (1711-1776), John Locke (1632-1704), Claude Adrien Helvetius (1715-1771), Volt . ..... middle of paper ......lt to pin the substance. Some say it is this level of generality that constitutes his genius. » (Newman and Marongiu, 1990) Although Beccaria has been widely criticized, his views have been shared for many generations and will continue to shape and shape future generations. Bibliography: References Adler, F., Mueller, GOW and Laufer. W.S. (2001). Criminology (4th ed.). New York: Macmillan (original work published 1764). Johnson, H. and Wolfe, N. (1996). The Enlightenment and the History of Criminal Justice. Cincinnati, OH: Anderson Publishing Company. Newman, G., & Marongiu, P. (1990). Penological reform and the myth of criminology., 28, 325-346.