Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-07-06
TIE RES soNsIBILITy OF INSANE cRlMI-
NAILS.

sanity Of the assassin. They attempt to
show that he is not insane, evidently
that if his insanity can be demon
strated he will escape punishment. No
doubt the criminal annals of this country |
justify this view to considerable extent,
for it must be acknowledged thai the most
atrocious crimes have frequently gone
UNPUBLISHED through the skill of lawyers
in setting up the plea of insanity. But it
is nevertheless true that these failures
of Justice have been due to widespread |
popular fallacy concerning the response
bility of insane persons, and that this fall
lacy requires to be exploded before we can
have a rational administration of justice.
The theory that because man is insane,
therefore he is irresponsible, is one which
betrays altogether erroneous ideas of the
effects of mental disease. The researches
aud experiments of the most eminent
alienists shows that there exists large
class of insane persons who are as capable
of being controlled by the ordinary deter
rents as sane people are. Nothing could
be further from the truth than the suppo-
sition that the insane are carried away by
impulses too strong to be resisted, and
that the fear of punishment has no place
in their minds. Experience demonstrates
that save in cases of the most aggravated
kind. such as are never left without
restraint madmen understand perfectly
well what they are doing, know when it
is wrong, and can check the criminal i'm
p1lses if they really desire to do so.
And there can be no doubt that the ap.
prehension Of punishment acts upon them
as deterrent. Thus the acquitta of
maniac on the ground of insanity has dis
tinct tendency to encourage other maniacs
to commit similar crimes; while the pun
ishment of an insane person operates as
salutary check upon weak minds homi-
cidally inclined. The cases in which In
sane criminals really do not know what
they are doing when they commit crimes
are limited almost wholly to the epilepti-
form branch of dementia. Those persons
may and do commit excuses, during their
paroxysms, of which they subsequently re.
tain no remembrance. They are, there
fore, really irresponsible, and such per-
sons must be subjected to constant re-
straint and supervision. But when a man
with the insane diathesis, yet who has
never done anything sufficiently outrageous
to merit his confinement, lays plot de-
liberately, as Guitteau did, and commits
murder, there is no more ground for hold
| ing him TO be irresponsible than if he had
been in the full possession of his faculties.
! He may be insane, but he is nevertheless
accountable for his actions, and in the in
terest of society there is but one rational
course to take with such man, and that
is to punish him without any reference to
his mental condition.
In such case we do not believe that it
is enough to send the criminal to an asy-
lum. Whoever possesses intelligence
enough to know that murder is wrong, is
intelligent enough to be hanged for murder
| This is the opinion of such distinguished
alienists as DR.. Hammond Of New York,
and it appears to us to be the only thor
oughly reasonable hypothesis. The man
Guitteau may be admitted to be partially
insane, but that admission ought not to
have any effect upon his punishment.
Hanging for murder has good effect upon
| lunatics as well az upon sane criminals,
and in a case of this kind the most en-
phatic and rigorous measures are required
to protect the countryagainst similar crimes
in the future Guitteau evidently knew
perfectly well what he was doing He had
even made preparations for his escape after
shooting the President. His faliacy lay in
the idea that what he was about to do
would secure him the approval of at least
the "stalwarts This shows that he was
altogether wrong in his ideas concerning
the bent of public opinion. But it is clear
enough that he shares this error with peo-
pie as sane as Conkling and Platt and Ar
thur and the Albany "stalwarts" None
of these persons can be supposed foolish
enough to persist in their course If they
really knew how general and decided was
the popular condemnation of it. But they
think, like Guitteau that they are sustained
by public opinion, and if that superstition
is an evidence OF madness, insanity is
much commoner than has been believed.
Guitteau has in fact shown very few evil
dences of mental alteration, and what he
has shown IS quite compatible with the
theory of his full responsibility. What
the public requires to realize is that in
sanity is not at all necessarily bar to
accountability, but that there are mad
men whom it is necessary to cure by the
gallows. The protection of society is the
supreme law of all governments, and this
demands the abandonment of that illogical
maudlin sentimentality which sees in every
lunatic an object of pity, and holds that
such persons may do whatever they please,
because their minds are diseased. A mad
dog is far less responsible for his snappings
than the average mailman, yet nobody
thinks it wrong to shoot the mad dog. II
there were race of people whose passions
were as strong and uncomfortable as those
OF lions and tigers, we should not content
ourselves with shutting them up; we
should exterminate them, and properly.
But the maniac of the Guitteau pattern is
not mere automaton. He is fully aware
of the consequences of all his acts, and he
can distinguish perfectly between right
and wrong. There should, therefore, be
no difference made between him and sane
criminals, but he should be punished with
out hesitation. 1t is much better to hang
lgnatics than to permit them to murder
sane people, and brain disease ought not
to be admitted as plea in cases of homi-
eide, save under the most exceptional cir
cumstxnces.
THE PRESIDENTS CONDITION.
4. 4