Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Abstract

Cesare Beccaria is widely acknowledged by the pioneers of the economics of crime as an important influence on their work, especially in terms of deterrence and proportionality of punishment. However, there is much more nuance to Beccaria’s writings that economists can learn from, including a unique psychological point of view that predates behavioral law-and-economics, as well as aspects of his prescriptions regarding criminal penalties that resemble retributivism, a theory of punishment often contrasted with deterrence. A deeper appreciation of Beccaria’s work may result in a richer and more humanistic economic approach to crime.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Throughout this paper, the parenthesized references cite the chapter number as well as the page number from the Hackett edition of Beccaria (1764).

  2. See Becker (1968, 1993) and Posner (1985) for recognition of Beccaria’s legacy. For more on Beccaria’s influence on mathematical economics as well as his own economic views aside from the topic of crime and punishment, see Harcourt (2014).

  3. For instance, see Jolls et al. (1998) and Sunstein (2000). For the purposes of exposition, I will refer to Becker as well as the field of the economics of crime, noting only when later developments differed significantly.

  4. It should be noted as well that Bentham acknowledged Beccaria’s influence on his thought, particularly in the chapters of the Principles discussing proportionality in punishment.

  5. Cooter (1998) makes the analogy between Holmes’ “bad man” and the economics of crime explicit. See also Medema (1993), Cooter (2006), and White (2008) regarding incorporating moral principles into the models of decision-making in the economic approach to the law.

  6. This connection has been cited by others, such as DePauley (1925) and Harcourt (2014).

  7. I thank an anonymous reviewer for making this point.

  8. On the economics of nonmonetary penalties, see Shavell (1985).

  9. To reiterate his opinion of the lower classes, he wrote that this direct association is “of the utmost importance if one desires to arouse in crude and uneducated minds the idea of punishment with the seductive image of a certain advantageous crime” (XIX: 36–37).

  10. Becker (1968: 195–198) noted the impact of wealth on the impact of imprisonment when calculating the monetary equivalent of prison time. For an economic analysis of the impact of imprisonment on prestige, see Lott (1992).

  11. For recent research on the subjective nature of punishment and its importance, see Kolber (2009).

  12. One exception is the burgeoning literature on virtue ethics and the law; see Farrelly and Solum (2008) and Amaya and Lai (2013).

  13. See Cottingham (1979) and Walker (1999) on the various meanings and interpretations of retributivism.

  14. For recent work on retributivism, see Moore (1997), White (2011), and Nadelhoffer (2013).

  15. For rare instances of productive work on economics and retributivism, see Wittman (1974), Avio (1993), and White (2009, 2015).

  16. For a critique of this argument, see White (2004).

  17. On the differences between revenge and retributivism, see Zaibert (2006).

  18. On VI: 14–15, Beccaria outlines a practical method for ranking crimes and punishments separately and then ensuring that more highly ranked punishments are applied to more highly crimes, a common method for assigning retributive penalties as well (see for instance Davis 1983).

References

  • Amaya, A., & Lai, H. H. (Eds.). (2013). Law, virtue and justice. Oxford: Hart Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Avio, K. L. (1993). Economic, retributive and contractarian conceptions of punishment. Law and Philosophy, 12(3), 249–286.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beccaria, C. (1764). On Crimes and Punishments (D. Young, 1986 ed. Trans.). Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing.

  • Becker, G. S. (1968). Crime and punishment: An economic approach. Journal of Political Economy, 76(2), 169–217.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becker, G. S. (1993). The economic way of looking at life. Journal of Political Economy, 101(3), 385–409.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bentham, J. (1781). The principles of morals and legislation, 1988 ed. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books.

  • Byrd, B. S. (1989). Kant’s theory of punishment: Deterrence in its threat, retribution in its execution. Law and Philosophy, 8(2), 151–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooter, R. D. (1998). Models of morality in law and economics: Self-control and self-improvement for the “bad man” of Holmes. Boston University Law Review, 78, 903–930.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooter, R. D. (2006). The intrinsic value of obeying a law: Economic analysis of the internal viewpoint. Fordham Law Review, 75, 1275–1285.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cottingham, J. (1979). Varieties of retribution. Philosophical Quarterly, 29(116), 238–246.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, M. (1983). How to make the punishment fit the crime. Ethics, 93(4), 726–752.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DePauley, W. C. (1925). Beccaria and punishment. International Journal of Ethics, 35(4), 404–412.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duff, R. A. (2001). Punishment, communication, and community. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ehrlich, I., & Posner, R. A. (1974). An economic analysis of legal rulemaking. Journal of Legal Studies, 3(1), 257–286.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farrelly, C., & Solum, L. B. (Eds.). (2008). Virtue jurisprudence. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feinberg, J. (1965). The expressive function of punishment. The Monist, 49(3), 397–423.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fuller, L. L. (1969). The morality of law (rev ed.). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harcourt, B. E. (2014). Beccaria’s On Crimes and Punishments: A mirror on the history of the foundations of modern criminal law. In M. D. Dubber (Ed.), Foundational texts in modern criminal law (pp. 39–60). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Hart, H. L. A. (1961). The concept of law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hart, H. L. A. (1968). Punishment and responsibility: Essays in the philosophy of law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hegel, G. W. F. (1821). The philosophy of right (T. M. Knox, 1952 ed, Trans.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holmes, O. W, Jr. (1897). The path of the law. Harvard Law Review, 10(8), 457–478.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hume, D. (1739). Treatise of human nature, 1988 ed. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books.

  • Hylton, K. N. (2005). The theory of penalties and the economics of criminal law. Review of Law and Economics, 1(2), 175–201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jolls, C., Sunstein, C. R., & Thaler, R. (1998). A behavioral approach to law and economics. Stanford Law Review, 50(5), 1471–1550.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kant, I. (1785). Grounding for the metaphysics of morals (J. W. Ellington, 1993 ed. Trans.). Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing.

  • Kant, I. (1797). The metaphysics of morals (M. Gregor, 1996 ed. Trans.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  • Kaplow, L., & Shavell, S. (2002). Fairness versus welfare. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolber, A. J. (2009). The subjective experience of punishment. Columbia Law Review, 109(1), 182–236.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lott, J. R, Jr. (1992). An attempt at measuring the total monetary penalty for drug convictions: The importance of an individual’s reputation. Journal of Legal Studies, 21(1), 159–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mackie, J. L. (1985). Persons and values. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Medema, S. G. (1993). Is there life beyond efficiency? Elements of a social law and economics. Review of Social Economy, 51(2), 138–153.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, M. S. (1997). Placing blame: A theory of the criminal law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morris, H. (1968). Persons and punishment. The Monist, 52(4), 475–501.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nadelhoffer, T. A. (Ed.). (2013). The future of punishment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Plato (360 BCE). Crito (B. Jowett Trans.). The Internet classics archive. http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/crito.html.

  • Polinsky, A. M., & Shavell, S. (1979). The optimal tradeoff between the probability and magnitude of fines. American Economic Review, 69(5), 880–891.

    Google Scholar 

  • Posner, R. A. (1980). Retribution and related concepts of punishment. Journal of Legal Studies, 9(1), 71–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Posner, R. A. (1985). An economic theory of the criminal law. Columbia Law Review, 85(6), 1193–1231.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rawls, J. (1955). Two concepts of rules. The Philosophical Review, 64(1), 3–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shavell, S. (1985). Criminal law and the optimal use of nonmonetary sanctions as a deterrent. Columbia Law Review, 85(6), 1232–1262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sunstein, C. R. (Ed.). (2000). Behavioral law and economics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sunstein, C. R. (2005). On the psychology of punishment. In F. Parisi & V. L. Smith (Eds.), The law and economics of irrational behavior (pp. 339–357). Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker, N. (1999). Even more varieties of retribution. Philosophy, 74(4), 595–605.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, M. D. (2004). Preaching to the choir: A response to Fairness versus welfare. Review of Political Economy, 16(4), 507–515.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, M. D. (2008). Social law and economics and the quest for dignity and rights. In J. B. Davis & W. Dolfsma (Eds.), The Elgar companion to social economics (pp. 575–594). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, M. D. (2009). Retributivism in a world of scarcity. In M. D. White (Ed.), Theoretical foundations of law and economics (pp. 253–271). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, M. D. (Ed.). (2011). Retributivism: Essays on theory and policy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, M. D. (2015). Retributivist justice and dignity: Finding a role for economics in criminal justice. In M. D. White (Ed.), Law and social economics: Essays in ethical values for theory, practice, and policy (pp. 77–96). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wittman, D. (1974). Punishment as retribution. Theory and Decision, 4(3–4), 209–237.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Young, D. B. (1983). Cesare Beccaria: Utilitarian or retributivist? Journal of Criminal Justice, 11(4), 317–326.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zaibert, L. (2006). Punishment and revenge. Law and Philosophy, 25(1), 81–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mark D. White.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

White, M.D. The neglected nuance of Beccaria’s theory of punishment. Eur J Law Econ 46, 315–329 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10657-016-9530-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10657-016-9530-7

Keywords

JEL Classification

Navigation