Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-07-01

casion for lnauguratlng new departure III
our criminal practice could possibly have
been shown, the authorities were afraid to
take the wholly defensible position that an
insane man may be as responsible for his
actions as sane man.
truth springs from the curious medi@valism
which still characterizes our law doctrines.
The old theory was that a man could not
be insane without being wholly irresponsi-
be- Such theory is Incompatible with
any knowledge of insanity. The fact is
that men may be decidedly insane, and yet
completely responsible according to the ac-
cepted theory of what constitutes respon-
sibility. The cases in which homicidal
mania is Invested of responsibility are lim-
tied to those in which crime is COM
mitted during condition of unconscious
ness. Epileptic maniacs have attacks of
this kind, and because they do not at such
times know what they are doing, they are
really not accountable. Such a patient
may commit murder in his fit, and on re-
covering from it be wholly ignorant of
what he has done. But maniac like Gui-
teau acts with consciousness and delibera-
ton. He is fully aware that he is about to
do wrong. He knows what constitutes
crime. And therefore such criminals
should be punished precisely as sane men
are, but not by pretending that they are
sane.
And if it is important that the shield of
insanity be stripped from criminals it is
not less important that crime should be
punished with equal swiftness and GER
tainty. The delay in Guiteau's case de-
prived it of all useful effect. The oppor-
tunity for making an example was frittered
away by delays for which there was no
justification. Itwould have been perfectly
practicable to try, sentence and hang the
assassin within thirty days from the death
of Garfield. In that case the effect of the
punishment would have been salutary.
But this senseless delay of nearly year
mas taken all the point out of the penalty.
As to the plea of humanity, it has no
foundation, for it is beyond question less
humane to play with criminal as cat
plays with a mouse, than to punish him
instantly. The whole of the proceedings
in this case, however, have been ill-ad-
vised. The dignity of the law has been
impaired, and an assassin has been suffered
to live until he had become quite person
age, whose doings and sayings were regu-
larly recorded throughout the country, and
who was proud of his bad eminence, and
took pleasure in his notoriety.
Now, if one of the motives of the death
penalty in such cases is to protect society
by discouragipg assassination, it is evident
that we have failed to produce the desired
effect here. For the fate of Guiteau is
really by no means calculated to deter
other insane persons from following his ex-
ample. Difficult as it may be for sound
that there are many persons of so NOR
bid a temperament that the prospect
of years notoriety would seem to them
complete equivalent for death on the gal
lows. To influence such minds it is neces-
sary to make them understand that they
have nothing to expect but swift punish.
ment, in case they commit murder, and
that no opportunity will be offered them
for melodramatic pOsings. Dealing with
such man as Guiteau it was the more
necessary to pursue this course. AS it was,
however, he was allowed to have his own
way, and he actually went to death firm in
the persuasion that he was a martyr
In truth the most impressive lesson of
this case is that it is difficult in the United
States to secure justice even upon the most
heinous criminals, and that a man whom
all the nation execrates, and of whose
guilt no shadow of doubt exists, can Sc.
cure delays which are at least sufficient to
deprive the final execution of the law of
any serious moral effect. A Judicial
machine which moves so slowly Ger.
tainly must need repairing. A condition
of things in which neither the obviousness
of the right nor the unanimity of the pop
ular will can secure simple justice until
nearly year has passed, is not what it
ought to be. Guiteau has at last been
hanged. That is something. But what
must be our criminal administration when
we find ourselves actually relieved because,
Notwithstanding everything that was
against him, the assas; in did not escape in
the end 1t is undeniable that until the
news of his death was received very few
people felt perfectly certain that he would
be hanged. There have been so many fail
ures of justice, and this case seemed to
proceed so sluggishly, that there could not
be any positive assurance as to the end.
The murderer is dead, but let no man say
that the murder of Garfield has been
avenged, for vengeance, under the circum.
stances, was impossible from the first. To
hang Guiteau is nothing. To hang a
whole race of Guiteaus would be nothing.
The truth is his crime was one for which
no atonement or expiration was possible,
and the one proof of the national feeling
which alone might have been given
namely, the speedy trial and execution of
this wretch, as a necessary but not sig.
nifcant disposal of forfeited carrion-was
not offered.