, 1874-08-11
CRIME AND ITB PuNI9HMENT.

OF tho truth that thoy 1avo boon, aud arc, ovor-
tenilor to criminals. Our anoostors may have
boon over-Hovero. They erred In ono oxtromo.
Wo err In another. Which Is tho greater error
Of tho two 1t might DO hard to dotermtnc, but,
80 far as tho security Of society Ia concerned ii
would bo maintained bettor by over-soverity than
by ovor-tondorhosg. There has boon amarkod In
disposition Tho part Of iuries to convict orin-
inulB. Whorover It has boon at nil possible for
thona 10 bring iu verdict OF acquittai, thcy haye
not fal1oi1 10 do 30. A now theory has boon de-
viBod, tho tendency Of which Ii to oxculpato
criminals altogether; aud the creator
tho crimo, tho creator arc tho chanoea
Of exculpatlon. Lot man commit
! murder to ayenge wrong inflicted on
him. a nd ho viii be sent to tho State Prison OF
perhaps 10 tho Rcaffold. Let him, however, like
/ Josao pomeroy, OF Boston. ontico an innocent,
| unofrondng little girl Into col1ar, cut aier
! throat aud toar hor limb from limb, and his act
| ia attributed to "moral insanity" and ho Is ao-
| quilted. This il almost equivalent to calling
worry great criminal tnnocont. It ia asserting
! that it man bo 40 much Of fond that tio
cannot resist tho impulse to murder, ho muat DO
acquitted md troated as an innocent man.
| In ouo aonHo, Ill crimo Ia moral inaautty, and
| ovary criminal morally iuaa1lo. II this be 40,
! thon tho moro morally insane q man ls tho
groator Is Lis crimo likoly to bo wbon
ho ia guilty Of Urine at all. pomeroy
sns morally insane; but 80 was stokos
80 WAS Walworth. Il tho latter have
hoon punished, by what ru1o Of equity Gun pomo~
roy, or tho class ho represents, escape. II
brutes 1iko tho boy pomeroy arc to go unpuniah-
cd because tncir moral Insanity ia worry g1eat,
Why should those whose moral insanity ia not 30
moral insanity is punished. Tho criminal is al
Ways morally insane. P0sfeet moral sanity and
crimo exclude each other. Moral insanity mud
crimo arc cauno and offcct- TO punish ono IL to
punish tho other. No person, In other respocta
sanc, should 60 uurunishe1 for crime smply
because 10 Is morally insane. To excnso
tho EXTREMIST Of criminals is by irnpN.
cation to oxouso all. uumanltariaus plead
strongly for the cIasa Of erl1ninn}s Of which
pomoroy ia eamplo but tho lumanltarinnf
themselves ato too often socially ant
politically insano. 1hoy know not what they dt
whon thoy advocate mcroy 10 honds in human
form. There is not & little truth in the opinion
Of tue Cambridge professor who said tint phil
antlropy ia tho worst passion Of our naruro. 81
groat ia our philanthropy that wo hositato tt
send the groatost OF criminals to Jail, and whe1
Nc do aantl them thero, wo arc in a worry grsa
hurry to lot them loose on society second timo
New Workers wore startled when they were tols
tint tho average term Of persons aentonced t,
Imprisonment for nto Ia that State waa opl.
seven years anl half. Yet such Is tho fact
THO reaearcbcs of tho New York Stat
Prison Association provo 1t to DO
fact. Ont OF OK who werc sentenccl, 19
wcro par1oncd after an ayorago term Of Bi
; years und q ha1f. Tile average of seven years. All
4 hatf inclut1es the loathB and escapes OF life
p,isouors. It IL we'll established That tho groato
tho cri1ninm the groutor Ia tho influence hraugh
to boar to havo him pa1donod. The orderly par
Of tho community aro largely responsible for th
crlmea committed by paudering to Tho Rentl
mentality of so-caIled humauitarians. Let 1t b
known TINT crime Will bo certai1ly punished, an
that tho seutences of courts will not bo reverse
by the Executive, and there will be marked de
croaBa throughout tho land both III crimo aud L
"moral insanity"