We The People: Cruel and Unusual Punishment

Written in 1764, 'On Crimes and Punishments' is a seminal work by Cesare Beccaria that critiques the punishment practices of the 17th and 18th centuries. Beccaria argues that punishment should be public, prompt, necessary, proportionate to the crime, and established by law. He opposes torture, secret accusations, and the death penalty, except under very restricted circumstances. The book emphasizes deterrence as the primary purpose of punishment and advocates for reforms based on the principles of rationality, proportionality, and the rule of law. It had a significant impact on the development of modern criminal law and influenced thinkers such as Jeremy Bentham and Sir William Blackstone[2][3][4].

The book details how capital punishment violates universal human rights such as the right to life, freedom from torture, and human dignity. It traces the evolution of the world's understanding of torture and argues that death sentences and executions should be viewed as torturous acts, similar to mock executions and other credible death threats. The author contends that the death penalty is a medieval relic that should be prohibited under international law, given the emerging abolitionist norm and the widespread rejection of capital punishment globally[2][4][5].

The book traces the history of top-down judicial regulation of capital punishment under the U.S. Constitution and its unanticipated consequences. It explores the arbitrariness of the modern death penalty system, including racial and geographic disparities, and the Court’s failure to adequately address these issues. The authors argue that significant constitutional flaws persist despite the Court’s attempts to regulate capital punishment and present a case for its abolition in the near future.