Last week I submitted an op-ed for publication with the Daily Caller highlighting Cesare Beccaria’s philosophy and describing how many of America’s founding fathers viewed capital punishment in their day. I said,
The 18th century Italian philosopher Cesare Beccaria heavily influenced the views of many of America’s founders, according to John Bessler, author of The Birth of American Law. Beccaria’s philosophy helped mold our nation’s criminal justice system as it shifted away from Britain’s “bloody code.”
However,
The truth is many early American leaders were ambivalent to the death penalty while others were outspoken about its abolition.
Surely many of the framers would stand in opposition to today’s death penalty too. I went on,
Many of the framers, led by Beccaria’s philosophy, opposed the death penalty, but how would our revolutionary predecessors view today’s system of capital punishment? Presently, the death penalty has become a bloated and complex system emblematic of a wasteful and error-prone government. Similar to the taxation without representation that the founders rejected, the death penalty has become increased taxation without necessity or efficacy, which early American leaders would likely repudiate. Our forefathers adhered to principles of protecting innocent life, frugality in state spending, and limited government, but the death penalty has become inconsistent with each principle.
