Educated at the Jesuit College at Parma, Beccaria received his doctorate from the University of Pavia at the age of twenty. Greatly influenced by the writings of Montesquieu, he devoted much of his energies to law and economics. In 1764, he published Essay on Crimes and Punishments, a work of utilitarianism which became one of the most widely read treatises on the subject. It influenced governments around the world in the area of penal reform and capital punishment, which Beccaria argued against. In 1768, he became a lecturer in political economy at the Palatine School in Milan and in 1771 became a government advisor on economic affairs. Eventually he became a senior member of the state of Milan's administration and held various responsibilities over the ensuing years including agriculture, trade, civil and criminal justice and public order. His lectures at the University were collected and published posthumously in 1804. |
