Dei Delitti e Delle Pene (On Crimes and Punishments)

In 1764 Cesare Beccaria published a brief but justly celebrated treatise Dei delitti e delle pene ("On Crimes and Punishments"), which marked the high point of the Milan Enlightenment. In it, Beccaria put forth the first arguments ever made against the death penalty. His treatise was also the first full work of penology, advocating reform of the criminal law system. The book was the first full-scale work to tackle criminal reform and to suggest that criminal justice should conform to rational principles. It is a less theoretical work than the writings of Hugo Grotius, Samuel von Pufendorf and other comparable thinkers, and as much a work of advocacy as of theory. In this essay, Beccaria reflected the convictions of the Il Caffè group, who sought to cause reform through Enlightenment discourse. The book's serious message is put across in a clear and animated style, based in particular upon a deep sense of humanity and of urgency at unjust suffering. This humane sentiment is what makes Beccaria appeal for rationality in the laws.

Within eighteen months, the book passed through six editions. It was translated into French by André Morellet in 1766 and published with an anonymous commentary by Voltaire. An English translation appeared in 1767, and it was translated into several other languages.

The book was read by all the luminaries of the day, including, in the United States, by John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.

(Wikipedia)

Still today, a great point of reference for whoever is against death penalty and torture.