Cesare Beccaria's influence on English discussions of punishment, 1764–1789

The impact of Beccaria's On Crimes and Punishments on English discussions of punishment in the twenty-five years following its publication is assessed, with attention being paid to Beccaria's combination of contractarian and early utilitarian thinking. It is argued that Beccaria's influence was particularly striking in England in that he stimulated two disparate strands of reform thinking. The first being exemplified in the work of William Eden, and taking the form of a contractarian, humanitarian version, which owed something to William Blackstone, but was ultimately quite distinct. The second represented in Jeremy Bentham's theory of punishment with its emphasis overwhelmingly on utilitarian calculation.