The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1852-10-13
Suggestions to our Grand Juries.

Jurles OF the uihereht lIlstrlcts 10 urge up
on the Legislature the passage of such acts
as the moral wants of their communities
may require. Should anything like a re-
spectacle number of them unite upon a
prescntmcnt, it would more effectually Sc
cure the attention of the members of this
body than the same suggestions from any
other source, except, perhaps, the direct
instruction of their constituents.
Are there, then, no measures of public
utility, Of such Importance as to require
the aid of these conservators of the NOR
ality and good order of the State!
We think there are, and will proceed to
point them out, under the hope that they
may be brought before the proper tribun
al, III such manner as to secure a prompt
and respectful consideration.
First, then, the necessity of more cf-
fcctual system Of punishment for our Grim
mails has long been felt. 1t cannot be de-
MED that it bears no proportion to the
crimes for which it is now inflicted: AL
though many improvements have already
been made in our penal code, some of its
enactmcnts are still so extremely barbar-
Gus, that the feelings of the community
revolt at conviction, and others so lem
lent that the punishment often bears no
proportion to the cnormity of the crime.
A poor, starving wretch, for instance, may
steal few hams of bacon, or some other
property of but little value, and he is pub
licly tied up to the whipping post to re-
ceivc the most disgraceful punishment that
can possibly be inflicted upon a freeman,
and, lost to all shame or selfrespcct, in
stead of being reformed, is turned loose
upon the community in state of mind
well fitted for the most desperate crimes.
On the other hand, should a public braw-
Ter, in q fit of madness, deprive fellow
being of that life which it is the privilege
OF God alone-to take away, he is proba-
bly confined a few months in the common
Jail OF the District, with the full privilege
of the whole house, and of every luxury
and amusement which his friends NAV af-
ford him.
The only plan for the graduation of pun
lshmcnt to the various crimes is the Peni-
tentiary. 1t more etfectualy combines the
objects of all punishment, the prevention
OF crime and the reformation of the GRIM
inal, than any other system that has ever
been adopted; and what is no small item.
1t relieves the State from the expense Of
supporting her criminals. Wherever this
system has been adopted it has met with
universal favor. The labor, solitary con-
finement instruction, both literary and re-
ligious, (for they are generally provided
with libraries as well as chaplains,) have
had wonderful effect in not only reform
ing the criminal, but in preventing crime,
for in the States where Penitentiaries are
established, no criminal escapes his Just
deserts. The certainty of punishment be-
ing found by experience to be of more
Importance than its severity, they are in
variably convicted, and what is still better
punished, and better still, often reformed
No fact is better established than that
the penitentiary system of punishment is
the best that has ever been devised, and
why our State so studiously refuses to be-
stow attention to the matter we are at a
loss to determine. We hope, however,
that the press and the people will take the
matter in hand and agitate it until the
Legislature is forced to yield, or at least
until it qscertains from reliable data that
the number of criminals in the State will
not Justify its adoption.
Another crying evil, which it would be
well for our Grand Jurors to present for
the consideration of the Legislature, is
the carrying of deadly weapons conceal
ed about the person.
In consequence of the great perfection
to which the mechanical arts have attain
ed, these murderous instruments are now
afforded at so trifling cost that every
school boy, out # the pocket change
which he is allowed by his parent or guard
ian, can arm himself in the most deadly
manner: and as the bare possession of a
weapon of this description almost invaria-
bly, imparts desire in the person who
habitually carries one to use it, he is pre-
pared, upon the slightest provocation, to
deprive his assailant or perhaps innocent
by-standers of their lives. Human life is
too precious to be heedlessly taken, and
the most stringent laws should be enacted
against habit by which it is momentar-
ly endangered.
There are other suggestions which we
might have rna1e hut we have olrooJ,,