Cesare Beccaria and John Howard´s View on Law and Justice in the 18th Century

From the middle to the late 18th century, prisons in Europe became a problem. In addition, the justice system is also broken. Cesare Beccaria and John Howard come from different places and clarify laws and practices in various fields related to the legal system. Beccaria pays more attention to the way people and people are imprisoned and their reasons and their rights are juxtaposed with a judge who believes that he is unfair. He looked for corruption in a criminal investigation and called for reform. He is not worried about what happens when a criminal is convicted.

Cesare Beccaria is an Italian aristocrat in the 18th century and an economist. Beccaria is considered a "father" of criminal science. For his work in Beccaria he is the most important person in the so-called classical theory. The 18th century of history is a strict period, often imposing extreme punishment for crime. During this period of history, Beccaria provided a theory of utility. Beccaria scientifically judges the cause of this abnormal behavior by investigating the cause of arrears and criminal acts and doing so. Beccaria rejected the theory of European enlightenment explaining even abnormal behavior of naturalism and even devil theory. Beccaria wishes to inherit the philosophy of Age of Enlightenment, and by doing so, these new theories are inherited to rationalism and humanitarianism (Martin et al., 1990).

Utilitarianism is a general view of human behavior, that is, people's actions are to maximize their happiness and reduce their suffering. It was born from works by 18th century thinkers like Italian economist Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794) and British philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832). Before they act, they think that they behave reasonably and decide whether the action brings more happiness or pain. They applied their idea to the crime, and they believed that the criminal justice system in Europe was far more stringent than criminal repression. Another 18th century utilitarian philosopher was Adam Smith, the book 'Wealth of the State' (1776/1910) laid the foundation for modern economic thought. In fact, the core of economics is the view that sellers and buyers of goods and services take reasonable actions in this way to reduce costs in other ways and maximize profits.