Thursday, November 4, 2010

Caesare Beccaria, On Crimes and Punishments

Thesis: The humanitarian spirit that pervaded the outlook of philosophers of the 18th century caused them to condemn torture as inhumane and a violation of a person’s rights.

- Torture is barbaric, horrors of prison are already bad and torture only makes it less bearable

- Right against torture- accused are supposed to be protected until proven guilty

- Confessions gathered from torture and not genuine and cannot be trusted

- Only the strong survive; an innocent man would be condemned merely because he cannot bear torture while a criminal who is guilty could be acquitted.

- The innocent can only suffer- they are either falsely condemned or still suffer because they were tortured anyway even if they are acquitted.

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