The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1882-03-29
COMPARISON OF SENTENCES

ebrated tribunal, but there is another pc
culiarity about jury findings and sentences
more remarkable than their uncertainty,
and that is the glaringy unequal burdens
imposed upon criminals. We are informed
ofrecent researches by member of parlia-
ment named MAcrARLANE into the court
records wherein he has instituted widely
extended comparison of sentences and jury
findings, and some curious information is
obtained from his labors An exchange
from which we quote, notes some of the
strange verdicts recently delivered in Eng
land, the injustice ana hardship of some Of
which compared with others are most
manifest. For instance: "A man wlp
kicked his wife to death was sentenced last
May To six weeks hard labor, and in the
following month man who had picked n
woman's pocket Of nine shillngs was sen
fenced to penal servtudc for ten years.
Nor are these exceptional cases. The pen
atty in a case of knocking down a wife
and kicking her savagely. in the face
was three months hard labor; for
knocking down and kicking a woman,
fine of four pounds; for trying to Kill
wife with razor, being the second
oflcnse, twelve months. Against these arc
set such sentences as for stealing Goals to
the value of. two shillings eight months
hard labor; for stealing watch, five years
penal servitude. In case OF violent as.
sault upon woman in the street, the rui.
fan was fined forty shillings, and in another
case where three men ill-treated and killed
n woman they were imprisoned, one for
sixteen months and tho others for
six months each, while man who stole
knife and some keys got five years"
Cases such as these seem to indicate no in
telligent conception of the character or
grade of the ollensc no reflection upon the
facts or surroundings and have the appear
ancc more Of mere guess work than any.
thing else The absurdity, the mockery OF
such an administration oijustcc,is apparent
at once and to all, and il cannot, under the
circumstances, but be hoped that reform
| ''' wv i'ot''utth III oViiiC way ~ uS w tIl-
sure greater equality of punishment, and
such as will bear closer relation to the
| kind and extent of the crime. This much
is due to unfortunate humanity itself, and is
the only way to render the criminal statutes
formidable and fully effective. Where UNI
certainty and guess-work rule the deter.
limitations Of the courts and iuries, where
the murderer is rs likely to be fined as
hung, the law may not be expected to
deter any one or prevent crime. The
citation OF instances from England does not
conlino the evil to that country, or demon
strate that such gross and fooishiy I'm.
Just manner of reaching sentences exists
alone in Great Britain. 1t is Just rs bad,
or worse in America, Not one of our read
ers, probably could fail to recall verdicts
even by the same jury, in the same grade
of silenses, with the surrounding cir.
cumstancos about the same which were, to
repeat our expression, most garingly UNI
equal. Where the facts of such an unwise
and iniudicious and inhumanc evil are so
patent 1t looks to the common observer as
ii a remedy might be applied by the wise
men of the law. In the first place ,greatcr,re-
Election and nicer discrimination ought to
be impressed upon the jury by the bench,
authoritatively il necessary, and in case OF
patent neglect Of wise instructions, greater
latitude should DO given the Judge in set.
| tipn uaiIa uarltntu fHl,na
in legislation from which much OF
this inequality in the administration
OF justice springs, should be corrected
There are many misdemeanors which
ought to be felonics and vice-versa. Par.
ticuarly is this SO under certain circum.
stances, but the law is framed invariably
in such manner as to render it intlexible,
and all crimes OF II certain character, no
matter what the peculiar facts of each in.
diyidual case, have to be measured by one
common standard. And then, too, most
generally the extremes of punishment
for certain oilcnse are too wide.
apart or not enough SO. The con.
sequence from all these things is a
most absurd record of convictions
and sentences discrcdtabc to the courts
and unjust to the victims. For this state
of things, therefore, the jurors, the judges,
and the legislators are alike responsible
and each and all of them should set about
to prevent repetition or continuance Of
the evil, II is crime against humanity tc
send the poor victim of hunger and poverty
to the pcnitentiary for five years for steal.
ing loaf of bread, and along with him, foi
no greater length of time, the bloody burg
lar or the red.handpd murderer
hang the man who kills his adycr.
sary in honorable combat, and find
manslaughtor or murder in the
second degree against the cold-blooded
assassin, who shoots his victim down with,
out warning. Communities must learn
that the only true or effective theory and
mode Of punishment is certainty, coupled
with proportion to the crime committed
The proper effort, therefore, In framing and
executing our laws, should be to has,
every premise and deduction, and every
step taken, upon this equablc and nniyer
sally sanctioned and recognized principl,
in criminal law.