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Cesare Beccaria wrote On Crimes and Punishments in the 18th century. It called for criminal justice reform and influenced the criminal justice systems all over the world. This course explores Beccaria’s ideas and the resulting rise of utilitarianism.

Beccaria promoted deterrence. Deterrence is a type of prevention meaning that the threat of punishment outweighs the urge to commit a crime. Deterrence prevents the criminal from repeating criminal behavior and also dissuades others from choosing to commit crimes. We will explore the concepts of deterrence and retribution, and their implications for moral philosophy (in particular the notion that good and evil are quantifiable ideas).

Lecture, Discussion. Handouts will be distributed during the course, with short texts by Beccaria, Bentham and Foucault, on which the discussion will be focused.

Written examination (in English)

Beccaria, Cesare. On Crimes and Punishments' and Other Writings, Cambridge: Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought, 2000.

Bentham, Jeremy.  Panopticon Writings, London: Verso Books, 2011.

Vom Italien-Zentrum und Land Tirol finanzierte Lehrveranstaltung.