The influence of the french philosopher Helvétius on the formulation of Cesare Beccaria's criminal thinking is analyzed in this article, thus confirming the italian author's reading of one of the leading ilustrated french radicals of the second half of the eighteenth century, and its impact on the inaugural work of modern liberal criminal law. Thus, ideas such as utilitarianism, empiricism, interest in pleasure and aversion to pain, human nature, social damage derived from crime and general prevention, among others, were taken from the bookOf the spiritof Helvétius to nourish in good measure the ideology of Beccaria.