The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1881-03-10
Old IDEAS of Justice Revived.

Not many years ago Delaware was
universally reprobated for practicing
the old time barbarism of whipping
thieves, tramps, and other petty offend
ers. The little State has turned deaf
ear to her critics, and justifes her ad-
herence to the use Of the lash by the
fact that men are very seldom punish
ed twice for the same offense, and that
the predatory classes Of other States
give her borders wide BERTH Most
persons, however, will agree that pub
lie f1oggings, like public executions,
are demoralizing. Yet there are 9TH
ers, and their number seems to be in
creasing, who are confident that treat
ment IN kind is required with respect
to brutal criminals such as wife beat
ers and garroters. England, which
has abolished, or nearly abolished, fog
ging in her army and navy, a few
years ago restored it in regard to the
classes Of offenders above mentioned,
and it is claimed with entire success.
The punishment is inflicted in private,
and precedes or follows a term of i'm
prlsonment. 1t has been found, so
the prison discipline men assert, that
the greatest towards are those who
have least repugnance to inficting
pain on others; that the mere locking
up of such savages does not reform
item nor provide an adequate penalty
for their violence. At any rate, there
Is now little or no opposition to the
revival Of corporal punishment any
where in the British Isles. So useful,
indeed, is it claimed to have proved
that its extension, in a milder form,
to juvenile culprits has been proposed
by the government. Canada has fol-
lowed the example Of the mother
country, and it is noticeable that in
several of our Legislatures bills have
been introduced with similar objects.
Not so very long ago the idea would
have been secuted, and the man who
proposed the measure would have dug
his political grave 1t is quite differ
ent now. 1t is argued that punish
ment is designed to vindicate the au-
thority of the State as well as to re-
form the criminal, and that eve,, if
the latter object is uppermost, there i
no surer way to bring it about than
by appealing to physical sensibilities
where mental and moral ones have
ceased to exist. If desperate knows
that the qualification Of his violence
is sure to be followed by his own per-
sonal discomfort, he will be likely to
restrain his brutality, and as for the
disgrace Of the ordeal, it may be said
that any Judicial sentence is equally
ruinous to character. Still, there are
conservatives who believe that mere
imprisonment, as comfortable as the
home life Of many vicious people
though it be, is all sufficient to meet
the ends of justice. They are willing
that the same offenders should time
after time be returned to the work
house or the jail, while the advocates
Of the lash hold that prison should
be made so unattractive that few
would care to enter it twice. We do
not propose to pass judgment on the
arguments offered by either side, but
only to call attention to the obvious
fact that change is coming over the
spirit Of the community. 1f public
opinion continues a few years more in
the same direction that it has lately
taken, the wife beating and garroting
community will have reason to be ap-
prehensive for the state of its cuticle.
Cincinnati Gazette.