Beccaria „On crimes and punishment’’

The origin of punishments, and the right to punish

No lasting advantage is to be hoped for from political morality if it is not founded upon the
ineradicable feelings of mankind (iš politinės moralės negalima tikėtis ilgalaikio pranašumo, jei ji
nėra pagrįsta neišdildomais žmonijos jausmais);
No man ever freely sacrificed a portion of his personal liberty merely in behalf of the common
good. That chimera exists only in romances. If it were possible, every one of us would prefer that
the compacts binding others did not bind us; every man tends to make himself the center of his
whole world;
Laws are the conditions under which independent and isolated men united to form a society. Weary
(pavarge) of living in a continual state of war, and of enjoying a liberty rendered useless by the
uncertainty of preserving it, they sacrificed a part so that they might enjoy the rest of it in peace and
safety;
This sacrifice construct the sovereignty of a nation and their legitimate depository and
administrator;
But it had to be defended against private usurpations by individuals each of whom always tries not
only to withdraw his own share but also to usurp for himself that of others and lead the society into
its original chaos;
Some tangible motives had to be introduced to prevent the despotic spirit – punishments;
Each is willing to place in the public fund only the least possible portion, no more than suffices to
induce others to defend it. The aggregate of these least possible portions constitutes the right to
punish;
Punishments that exceed what is necessary for protection of the deposit of public security are by
their very nature unjust, and punishments are increasingly more just as the safety which the
sovereign secures for his subjects is the more sacred and inviolable, and the liberty greater;
Torture
Political intent of punishments is to instill fear in other men.
The sensitive innocent man will then confess himself guilty when he believes that, by doing so, he
can put an end of his torment (kankinimus). The impression of pain may become so great that
leaves him free only to choose what for the moment is the shortest way of escape from pain.
The strong and courageous but guilty for crime will be acquitted (isteisintas), the weak and timid
but innocent condemned (nuteistas).
Every violent action confounds and dissolves those differences in objects by means of which one
may occasionally distinguish the true from the false.
The guilty man finds himself in a favourable situation; that is, if, as a consequence of having firmly
resisted the torture, he is absolved as innocent, he will be escaped a greater punishment by enduring
a lesser one. Thu the innocent cannot but lose, whereas the guilty may gain.
The death penalty
Death of the citizen can only be necessary if a man has connections and power to endanger the
security of the nation, his existence can produce a dangerous revolution in the established for of
government. Or if its death were the only real way of restraining others from committing crimes.
The death penalty cannot be useful, because of the example of barbarity it gives men. If the
passions or the necessities of war have taught the shedding of human blood, the laws, moderated of
the conduct of men, should not extend the beastly example, which becomes more pernicious
(kenksmingas) since the inflicting of legal death is attended with much study and formality. The
laws, which are an expression of the public will, which detest and punish homicide, should
themselves commit it, and that to deter citizens from murder, they order a public one.
Promptness (greitumas/vikrumas) of punishment
The more promptly and the more closely punishment follows the commission of a crime, the more
just and useful will it be. The criminal is thereby spared (apsieiti be) the useless and cruel torments
of uncertainty which might increase personal weakness. The trial itself should be completed in the
briefest possible time.
The crime and punishment must be intimately linked together, if it be desirable that, in crude,
vulgar minds, the seductive picture of a particularly advantageous crime should immediately call up
the associated idea of punishment. Long delay always produces the effect of further separating these
two ideas.
The certainty of punishment, mercy
The certainty of a punishment, even if it be moderate (vidutinio sunkumo), will always make a
stronger impression than the fear of another which is more terrible but combined with the hope of
impunity (nebaudziamumas). Even the least evils, when they are certain, always terrify men’s
minds.
Clemency (gailestingumas), as the virtue should be excluded from perfect legislation, where the
punishments are mild (svelnios) and the method of judgement regular and expeditious (skubios).
This truth will seem harsh to anyone living in the midst of the disorders of a criminal system, where
pardons and mercy are necessary to compensate for the absurdity (absudiskumas) of the severity of
the sentences.
Proportion between crimes and punishments
The obstacles that deter (atgrasyti) men from committing crimes should be stronger in proportions
as they are contrary (priesingi) to the public good, and as the inducements (skatinimai) to commit
them are stronger. There must, therefore, be a proper proportion between crimed and punishments.

C. Lambroso “Criminal man”

Each type of crime is committed by men with particular physiognomic characteristics, such as lack
of a beard or an abundance of hair; this may explain why the overall appearance is neither delicate
nor pleasant. Nearly all criminals have jug ears, thick hair, thin beards, pronounced sinuses,
protruding chins, and broad cheekbones.
The criminal is taller than the normal individual and even more so than the insane, with a broader
chest, darker hair and greater weight;
Criminals, especially forgers, also exceed the insane in large-volume heads. But the average head
size of criminals never reaches the size of healthy men;
Criminals and the insane show equal rates of prognathism, unequally sized pupils, distorted noses,
and receding foreheads. Criminals reveal greater weakness than normal men, though they are not as
weak as the insane;
More often than in healthy population, criminals have brown or dark eyes and thich black hair. Such
hair is most frequently found among robbers. Hunchbacks (kupros) are extremely rare among
murderers but are more common among rapists, forgers, and arsonists.
Among criminal women, like their male counterparts, they are taller than the insane. Yet they are
shorter, and perhaps with the exception of prostitutes, lighter than healthy women.
Prognathism, thick and crisp hair, thin beards, dark skin, pointed skulls, oblique eyes, small
craniums, overdeveloped jaws, receding foreheads, large ears, similarity between the sexes,
muscular weakness – all these characteristics confirm the findings from autopsies to demonstrate
that European criminals bear a strong racial resemblance to Australian aborigines and Mongols.
The largest number of criminals fall into the age bracket of twenty to thirty, while insane people are
concentrated in the older age grouping of thirty to forty. The number of criminals continues to
decrease later, after age fifty, it is less than half that of insane or normal individuals.
Women’s lower rate of crime has less to do with purity of spirit than with the more protected lives
women lead, which provide fewer opportunities for aggression and moral laxity. Women are
weaker than men and so less likely to be murderers. Poorly educated, they are less able to commit
crimes that involves writing and forgery (klastojimas). Women commit most of the poisoning and
domestic thefts crimes. Also abortion and infanticides (kūdikių žudymas).

Durkheim
Vieni faktai yra būtent tokie, kokie ir turi būti, o kiti turėtų būti kitokie, negu yra, kitaip sakant,
vieni – normalūs, kiti – patologiniai reiškiniai. Toks sąvokų taikymas, kad jos pirmiausia lemtų
faktų palyginimą, užuot iš jų išplaukusios, tapo bet kurios racionalios sociologijos būtinybe.
Mes vadinsime normaliais tuos faktus, kurie pasižymi labiausiai paplitusiomis formomis; kitus
laikysime liga, išsigimimu ar patologija.
Reikia atsisakyti to pernelyg paplitusio įpročio spręsti apie instituciją, apeigą, moralinę maksimą,
tarsi jos būtų geros ar blogos pačios savaime ir savo pačių dėka ir tai galiotų visiems socialiniams
tipams be išimties.
Socialinį faktą galima pavadinti normaliu apibrėžtai socialiniai rūšiai tik atsižvelgiant į taip pat
apibrėžtą jos raidos fazę; todėl norint sužinoti, ar socialinis faktas turi teisę taip vadintis, nepakanka
stebėti, kokia forma jis pasireiškia daugelyje visuomenių, priklausančių šiai rūšiai, - dar reikia
įdėmiai tas visuomenes išnagrinėti atitinkamoje jų evoliucijos fazėje.
Didžiausias socialinių faktų paplitimas (visuotinumas) – jų pranašumo ir normalumo įrodymas.
Reiškinio savybės normalumas nekels abejonių, jei bus įrodyta, kad išorinis reiškinio požymis, jį
išryškinęs, ne tik akivaizdus, bet ir slypintis daiktų prigimtyje, vienu žodžiu, šį faktinį normalumą
galima laikyti teisiniu normalumu. Kad faktas būtų pripažintas normaliu, jis turi būti pripažintas
naudingu arba būtinu normaliam tipui.
Jeigu tiesa, kad visa, kas normalu, yra naudinga, bent jau jeigu tai būtina, tada netiesa, kad visa, kas
naudinga, yra normalu.
Socialinis faktas apibrėžtam socialiniam tipui, gvildenamam apibrėžtoje jo evoliucijos fazėje,
normalus tada, kai evoliucija vyksta vidutiniame kiekyje šios rūšies visuomenių, gvildenamų
atitinkamoje jų evoliucijos fazėje.
Nusikalstamumas pats savaime yra normalus reiškinys, bet tik tada, kai jis pasiekia, o ne viršija,
tam tikrą kiekvienam socialiniam tipui leistiną lygį. Nusikaltimas – visuomenės sveikatos faktorius,
kiekvienos sveikos visuomenės sudedamoji dalis. Tai normalus reiškinys, nes visuomenė be jo visai
neįmanoma.
Nusikaltimas būtinas, jis susijęs su pagrindinėmis bet kurio socialinio gyvenimo sąlygomis ir jau
vien todėl naudingas, kad sąlygos, su kuriomis jis susijęs, savo ruožtu būtinos normaliai moralės ir
teisės evoliucijai.
Kad sociologija būtų mokslas apie daiktus, reiškinių visuotinumas turi būti laikomas jų normalumo
kriterijumi.