Reviewing the Necessity of Punishment Essay -- Essays Papers

Reviewing the Necessity of PunishmentFrom On Crimes and Punishment by Cesare Beccaria is an excerpt from On Crimes and Punishment. In his address to the public, particularly those in political positions, Beccaria discusses the dash we as a society choose to carry out the law. What he calls useless severity of punishment encompasses his thoughts on organics such as capital punishment and the cruelties that we allow our government to inflict upon its own people in a failing attempt to fuck off order to our society. The death penalty has plagued our society for centuries, perchance beginning with the idea of human sacrifice that has been turned around as a cycle of never-ending death and cruelty. The writing techniques employed by Beccaria efficaciously convince his audience that our forms of criminal punishment are nothing more than an unnecessary bad habit. In a debate, one can easily bring their opposition to silence by asking them a question that they cannot answer. Beccaria us es this method to his advantage in his work. He asks a series of questions that cant be easily answered. The sluggish reader would much rather have faith in Beccarias beliefs than sort through the questions and find answers themselves. He asks, What is the best way of preventing crimes? Are the same penalties of all time equally useful? What influence have they on social custom? (64). These questions only lead to more questions. The reader may be able to contrive situations that both promote and discredit any solutions they may have for these questions, leaving them more confused about their own stance. The reader is so wrapped up in trying to answer these questions, that they dont realize that Beccaria himself never answers them. This sly technique encoura... ...lthough the work was written at a time when numerous crimes were punishable by death, Beccarias work has exceeded his time because his convincing work can still provoke thought on current forms of punishment. His manipul ation through questions, lists, and especially word quality effectively convince the reader to give more thought about his position, if not change their own opinion altogether. Beccaria not only gives reasons to oppose extreme punishment, but his gives a solution the surest but most difficult way of preventing crime is to improve education(70). So in the end, the reader not only has his propositions to debate about, but they are left the idea of education being the end to crime. Works CitedBeccaria, Cesare. From On Crimes and Punishment. In R. Cosgrove (Ed.), Readings in Western Civilizations (pp. 63-71). Boston Pearson Custom Publishing.