6 h 45 minAudiobook4 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the harshest punishment does less to prevent crime than a mild penalty that no one escapes?
In Crimes and Punishments, James Anson Farrer brings a history of harsh penalties into conversation with Cesare Beccaria’s On Crimes and Punishments. The short Italian treatise asks what punishment is for, and whether cruelty makes anyone safer. Together, these parts turn questions of law into questions about how people live.
Beccaria begins with public safety: people surrender a small part of their freedom so they can live together securely. From there, he challenges severe penalties, torture, and the death penalty. Farrer places this argument against a long history of punishment, inviting you to consider where justice ends and needless suffering begins.
What you’ll discover
- Safety before severity Explore Beccaria’s argument that punishment must serve public safety, not cruelty for its own sake.
- The power of certainty Consider why a penalty people expect can restrain crime more effectively than one they hope to escape.
- Truth under torture See how pain can force an innocent person to confess while a stronger person endures.
- A challenge to execution Encounter Beccaria’s condemnation of the death penalty within his wider attack on cruel law.
- History meets moral argument Follow Farrer’s historical perspective alongside a treatise aimed at ordinary educated readers, not lawyers alone.
Who will love it
For readers who love law, history and moral philosophy, and anyone curious about where modern ideas of fair trial and humane punishment began.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Punishment must rest on public safety
- Certain and swift beats harsh
- Torture and the death penalty are condemned
- A small book that changed laws
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De los delitos y las penas
by James Anson Farrer · 1880
Beccaria questions torture and the death penalty, asking what punishment achieves and whether it is fair to the accused.
Challenging5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Crimes and Punishments is a book by the English writer James Anson Farrer, published in the nineteenth century. It brings together a historical look at how societies have dealt with wrongdoing and an English version of a short Italian treatise, On Crimes and Punishments, by Cesare Beccaria.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Punishment must rest on public safety
Beccaria begins with a simple picture. People give up a small part of their freedom so that they can live together in safety. The laws are the record of that bargain, and the power to punish comes only from it.
From this he draws a limit. A ruler may punish only as much as is needed to protect the common good. Anything beyond that is not justice but plain force. Cruelty adds nothing to safety and so has no claim on the law.
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What is Crimes and Punishments by James Anson Farrer about?
It looks at the history and purpose of punishment and presents the arguments of Cesare Beccaria, who urged humane, reasoned and proportionate criminal law. It is a study of justice, law and morality.
Who was Cesare Beccaria?
Beccaria was an Italian thinker from Milan who wrote On Crimes and Punishments in 1764. He argued against torture and the death penalty and for clear, fair and certain laws.
Is Crimes and Punishments a hard book to read?
It is fairly easy to follow. Beccaria writes in short, direct chapters.
The author
James Anson Farrer
1849–1925 · British historian and writer
James Anson Farrer (1849–1925) was a British historian, lawyer and writer who lived in England. He wrote books about history, law and customs. His works included Primitive Manners and Customs, published in 1879, Crimes and Punishments, published in 1880, and Literary Forgeries, published in 1907.
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