The modern legal focus on swift and certain punishment originated with an eighteenth-century philosopher
The modern legal principle that crime is best deterred by the certainty and speed of punishment rather than its severity was first proposed by philosopher Cesare Beccaria in 1764.
Cesare Beccaria's 1764 treatise 'On Crimes and Punishments' revolutionized the justice system by arguing that the effectiveness of a deterrent lies in its inevitability rather than its cruelty. He contended that for punishment to serve as a rational deterrent, it must be swift, certain, and strictly proportionate to the harm caused to society.
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