THE CONTRIBUTION OF CESARE BECCARIA TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF CRIMINOLOGICAL THOUGHT
THE CONTRIBUTION OF CESARE BECCARIA TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF CRIMINOLOGICAL THOUGHT

Summary/Abstract: In this article we proposed a presentation of the importance that the work On Crimes and Punishments, written by Cesare Bonesana, Marquis of Beccaria, had on the development of criminological thought. As is known, the first scientific explanations regarding the criminal phenomenon focused on the identification of causes that favor or generate crime. However, these explanations were preceded by the classic conception of crime, which was based on the ideas presented by Cesare Beccaria in his work On Crimes and Punishments. In fact, the ideas contained in this work were the basis of the classical school of criminal law, which dominated legal criminal thinking for more than a century. According to the representatives of the classical school of thought, any criminal act is the result of the person's free will. Therefore, every person assumes the conse¬quences of his actions. In other words, when he commits a crime, the person becomes a criminal because he so desired, according to his free will. Considering the special importance that Beccaria had in the formation of the classical school of criminal law, and implicitly, in the development of criminological thinking, in this article a presentation of his reference work in the field, On Crimes and Punishments, is made.

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