Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1869-04-09
THE OUTLAWS or socIRrY-A
SUGGESTION.

SUGGESTION.
a writer in the February number OF
! st. PRul's Magazine suggests modifi-
cation OF the present system of pun
| ishment which is, at least, worthy OF
attention, Dividing criminals into two
| broad classes,-the casUa and the Tegu-
lar or professional Offenders,-Hthose
| who lapse from Innocence and thOae
who live in guilt, ''-he proceeds to
consider the light in which the latter
should be regarded by the State. In
the first place, they are not objects of
vengeance. 1.-THE State is not cOmpe-
tent to apportiOn punishment to indi-
vidual guilt, because il can never be
competent to determine either the de-
gree Of guilt incurred, or the severity
or the punishment tnBictedW The
same penalty which to one culprit
would be too lenient for theft, may, to
a differently organized offender, be too
severe for a much greater crime. In
the next place, criminal are not to be
regarded by the State as objects Of com
passion,-as unfOEtunates to be pitied
and rescued, ,-as f'NVeak brefhrsn,O - to
be pitied and guided. Individual men,
bers of society may undertake this
mission, but the function of the State is
neither to regenerate offenders nor to
forgive offences. It has, in fact, only
one concern with the criminal classes,
only one light in which TO view them.
1t only regards them as outlaws against
society, as the common enemies OF hon
est citizens and it's only duty, in re-
gard to them, is to stand between them
and society, for the protection of all
that is pure, valuable and peaceabIe
within it.
The plan Of retributive punishment
has failed. The very means we take
to protect ourselves against criminals,
tend to make more and worse Grimm
ais every year. Under the present
system, every man comes out of iail a
worse character tha n he entered. This
is especially true of young offenders,
imprisoned for short terms. Shut out
frOm all honest ways of getting living
on liberation, they almost always re-
sort to crime again. Under this pro-
cess of education, the Juvenile culprit
hardens into the professional criminal.
So far from reclalminR him, or deter
ring from crime, society makes him an
outlaw and enemy for life confirms
his hostility, and gives him every
chance to improve in his brofess1on.
The remedy for this evn suggested
| by the English writer is, briefly stated,
no less than the entire abandonment
of the present system, by which pun
! ishment is rudely proportioned to the
offence, and the substitution therefor
of that Of indefinite incarceration. We
must 1nprison the incorrigible ones
for life that is to say, when a Grimm
al who is a casual offender falls into the
hands of justice, instead of giving him
two or five or ten years in jail, accord
ing to the nature of his crime, we
should keep him under bolt and bar
until he has ceased to be our enemy.
These professional criminals, regular
and permanent members Of the out
law population, are TO be taken into
custody, not merely because they have
picked a pocket or blown open a safe,
but because they are organized enemies
of society, and the particular ofense
for which they are apprehended fur
nishes the proof but not the measure Of
their habitual enmity and their preda-
tory life. 1t often happens that great
criminal is detected in one of the
smaller offences, or is convicted Of one
crime only when equally guilty of If
| ty others and, therefore, whatever
may be the special case, IL seems right
that the Judge should admeasure his
sentence rather to the proved character
| and aHtecedSihts of the prisoner, than
merely 70 the Offense charged in the in
4 dietment. To the notoriously incorrig-
/ ible, he should award imprisonment
! for life, without hope of release to
/ others, imprisonment limited in dura-
/ tion and severity by the test of their
/ fitness to be discharged. In this way
| society may permanently rid itself of
| its most dangerous enemies.
/ There may be practical difficulties in
/ the way Of this scheme, for which its
author has not provided, but it certain
/ ly appears to be worthy of cOnsidera-
tion.-N Y. Times.