This edition of Beccaria' s ON Crimes and Punishments and other writings presents a radically new interpretation of his thought. Drawing on recent Italian scholarship, Richard BellanW shows how Beccaria wove together the various political languages of the Enlightment into a novel synthesis, and argues that his political philosophy, often regaMed as no more than a precursor of Bentham's, combines republican, contractarian, romantic and liberal as well as utilitarian themes. The result is a complex theory of punishment that derives from a sophisticated analysis of the role of the state and the nature of human motivation in connnercial society. The translation used in this edition is based on the fifth Italian edition and provides English - speaking readers with Beccaria' s own ordering of his text for the first time. A number of pieces from his writings on political economy and the history of civilisation which were not previously available in English are also included. Richard Belhmy is Professor of Politics in the School of Economic and Social Studies, University of East Anglia. He has edited Gramsci' s Pre - Prison Writings for this series, and his other publications include Modem Italian Social Theory ( Polity Press, 1987), victorian Liberalism (Routledge, 1990) and Liberalism and Modern Society(Polity Press, 1992)

Acknowledgements
Introduaion
Chronology
Biographical glossary
Note on the text
Bibliographical note
On Crimes and Punishments
Frontispiece
To the Reader
Introduction
1The origin of punishment
2The right to punish
3Consequences
4The interpretation of the laws
5The obscurity of the laws
6The proportion between crimes and punishments
7Errors in the measuring of punishments
8The classification of crimes
9Of honour
10Of duels
11Public peace
12The purpose of punishment
13Of witnesses
14Evidence and forms of judgement
15Secret denunciations
16Of torture
17Of the exchequer
18Of oaths
19Of prompt punishments
20Violent crimes
21The punishment of the nobility
22Theft
23Public disgrace
24Parasites
25Banishment and confiscations
26Family feeling
27Lenience in punishing
28The death penalty
29Of detention awaiting trial
3oTrials and prescriptions
31Crimes difficult to prove
32Suicide
33Smuggling
34Of debtors
35Asylums
36On setting a price on men's heads
37Attempted crimes, accomplices and immunity
38Leading interrogations, depositions
39Of a particular kind of crime
40False ideas of utility
41How to prevent crimes
42The sciences
43Magistrates
44Public awards
45Education
46Pardons
47Conclusion
To Jean Baptiste d'Alembert
To Andre Morellet
Inaugural Lecture
Reflections on the Barbarousness and the
Civilisation of Nations and on the Savage
State of Man
Reflections on Manners and Customs
On Luxury
Index
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