On Crimes and Punishments

On Crimes and Punishments by Cesare Beccaria was a best seller throughout the American colonies. It was known by all of our Founding Fathers, and used in the deliberations of the Continental Congress as well as in the deliberations of the Constitution Convention. John Adams quoted from the book in 1768, and in 1770 in the case of the Boston Massacre. Thomas Jefferson, on the other hand, used Beccaria’s book almost entirely for the Bill On Proportioning Crimes and Punishments. It was used with the abolition movement, in practically all cases relating to capital punishment, and most recently in two separate US Supreme Court decisions. Beccaria’s great admirer, Sean L. Green, says it best: “On Crimes and Punishments is one of the greatest treatises in the democratic tradition, a testament to human freedom and social justice. For students of law or political theory (of which I am one) this is an excellent account of some of the fundamental principles of democratic society and jurisprudence. Anyone who holds public office should be forced to read this book at gunpoint.”