ABSTRACT
With the Enlightenment, modern criminal law emerged, and its relationship with Christianity changed in important ways. The attacks on Christianity and the clergy as institutions removed many institutional barriers that had emanated from rigid Christian ideology. The traditional picture of the secularisation of criminal law still requires revision. The chapter highlight five points. First, Enlightenment reformers did not invent all the novelties that have traditionally been attached to their names. Secondly, it is important to emphasise that scholars such as Beccaria, Filangieri and Pagano were not themselves atheists or even anti-religious. Thirdly, the Enlightenment did not completely purge criminal law of Christianity. In some cases, religion could still serve as the background ideology of criminal law. Fourthly, many of the basic precepts of modern criminal law emerged much earlier in medieval canon law. The principle of individual guilt is a good example. Fifthly, in most Western countries, active prison reformers were often themselves oriented towards the Christian faith. Alongside labour, religion was, far into the nineteenth century, considered one of the primary tools for resocialising and disciplining inmates.
