"It is the task of theologians to establish the limits of justice and injustice regarding the intrinsic goodness or wickedness of an act; it is the task of the observer of public life to establish the relationships of political justice and injustice, that is, of what is useful or harmful to society."
- Cesare BeccariaOne of the major contributors to the growth of classical criminology was the Italian Enlightenment philosopher Cesare Beccaria. He was born in 1738, a period when Europe was rife with injustice and severe penalties. Beccaria's seminal work "On Crimes and Punishments" contested the idea that punishme…