Morning journal and courier., 1880-07-03
Hartford, June 25, 1880.
AGAINST CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.


 been read before the National Conference of Charities and Correction which met in Cleveland this week. Among them was one by Henry W. Lord, secretary of the Michigan Board of State Charities on Prisons and Prison Discipline. In his paper MT. Lord took up the subject of capital punishment and presented the arguments against it very completely and forcibly.
 The system of capital punishment, says Mir. Lord, rests, in Christian countries, for justi- fcation mainly upon alleged Scriptural au- thorities and in less enlightened nations on vengeance alone; as it did also in those early times among the Hebrews when the execu- tioner was an avenger of blood and retalia- tory laws appeared best adapted to the unde- veloped characteristics of the people. The numerous Biblical references that justified it then might be supplemented by many others more appropriate to the progress of society and destined perhaps to influence its later and improved condition one of them is as fol lows: 'tAs live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of sinner, but that he would turn from his wickedness and live. D Our Anglo-Saxon ancestry caught the spirit and practice of the Mosaic law more accur- ately than we have kept it; but if to return to this law in all it's sanguinary forms were inexpedient, then it may logically follow that the Scriptural mode is not absolutely manda- tory on us, departure from it's prescribed methods and abridgment of it's enactment be- ing regarded as improvement.
 Capital punishment seems to MT. Lord wise because, up to very recent times when it was really inflicted according to law, it has cost an immense sacrifice of life, with no tendency either to protect society or dimin- ish crime, as was conclusive1y shown by the constantly increasing necessity for it's inflic- tion. And it seems to him blunder in our own time, because in the reaction of public opinion it's possible injustice and impropriety defeat itself, making it's application so uncer. tain as to afford escape for the greater DOT tion of the guilty and cause it to lose all ter TOT for criminals until they shall actually have received sentence and stand in the pres ence of preparations for death. In Austria in 1876 while 143 were found guilty of will full murder only were executed. During 10 years in England, 1857 to 1866, there were 2,985 verdicts rendered for willful murder, but only 135 were convicted as charged and hanged; almost as many, 108, were acquitted as insane. In England, at the November as. sizes, in 1878, in IA counties, there were 16 trials for willful murder which resulted in convictions for manslaughter, were ad judged insane, mot guilty, and guilty as charged, of whom was recommended to mercy and 1 was executed. They would all or nearly all have been hanged in like cases up to the middle of the last century, at which time, according to Blackstone, 16o diff ferent crimes were punishable with death. In this country trials progress with still greater uncertainty and the fnalissue is more complicated by disagreement of juries, bills of exceptions, pleas of insanity, new trials, executive pardons, communications, etc., etc. Further objection to the death penalty is made on the ground that it is never inflicted without great damage to the community, es- peciaIly in the vicinity of the execution. In this MT. Lord agrees with Father Matthew, who said II am convinced that the infiic- tion of capital punishment has been 8 fatal source of the frequent murders which dis grace and stain the land1 Worse than that, it makes a farce of religion and religious hopes and cancellations in mans final hour And in so many cases as the conversion of murderers is sincere it involves the anomaly that man persists in carrying an irrevocable punishment to the extreme extent of his power in cases where God has already for given. MT. Lord thinks it perhaps wonder that the executive authority does not some G:. ..l kl., tain stHow shall I curse whom God hath not cursed ?''
 One of the strongest points made by MT. Lord Is that the death penalty rests largely on the mistaken idea that death is the king of terrors, and consequently vastly effect ual in deterring bad men from the comnlis- sion of crime than any other. Perhaps he does not put it too strongly when he says: Death, even when the certain condition of an act to which there is strong provocation or temptation, is not by any means restraining power of much potency, and when that cer- tainty is reduced tenfold or more as it is in criminal proceedings, it so largely loses it's quality in that respect as to forfeit all claim to consideration on that ground
 Then there is the question of insanity, which has an important bearing on the pun ishment of crime. There are states of mind (often obscure in manifestation until culmi- mating in acts called criminaD that enter largely into the perpetration of unlawful deeds, while at the same time they qualify or modify the criminal nature of such conduct. And, as Mir. Lord says, s'the whole discussion of the subject is often beyond the capacity of judge and jury, prosecuting officers, physi- clans and spectators, when brought into an average case in the courts" He objects, therefore, to all application of mans falible judgment and imperfect powers of investiga- tion in pronouncing and carrying into execu- ton an irrevocable penalty, as of death. "An irreyocable judgment requires an infallible tribunal
 There is no denying the force of these arr guments, and they seem likely to obtain a complete victory, as they already have par tial one. But there are many who will con tinue to think that dead murderer is better than a living one.