4 October 2017. The Beccaria Medal has been awarded since 1964, initially by the deutsche Kriminologische Gesellschaft (German Criminological Society), subsequently by the Kriminologische Gesellschaft e.V., comprising criminologists from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

The medal is conferred in memory of the Italian legal philosopher and criminal reformer Cesare Beccaria for outstanding achievements in the field of criminology. It is awarded at most once a year. The award winners are selected by the board of the Criminological Society.

There are two different categories of award. On the one hand, the gold medal, which was awarded to Martin Killias, for outstanding achievements in research and teaching, successful activity in the field of prevention or other remarkable achievements. The silver medal honours commendable scientific works.

The last gold award winners were John Hagan (Northwestern University, USA) and Klaus Sessar (University of Hamburg) in 2015.