Cesare Beccaria, Romilly, & Romilly are the founders of classical theory. The core principle of this school is that all men are self-centred and thus highly susceptible to criminal behaviour.
Men, as per this school, have free will and act as per their pleasures and pains (hedonism). This school rejects the demonism theory, which states that men act under the influence of bad spirits.According to Beccaria, a crime’s punishment must be equivalent to its severity.
Beccaria believed that torture and abuse were inadequate and that the strong would be managed to find to be innocent before the adjudication if the vulnerable could incriminate. Classicalists, who focus solely on offence rather than the lawbreaker, as per Beccaria’s ideology. Deterrence, rather than harsh punishment, is the primary focus of the classical theory of classical school.