The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1883-05-16
CoRKHILL ON INSANITY.

| MI. 0s D. OOrkAlll, VI washington lily,
recently read a paper before the Medico-
Legal Society upon the subject of Insanity
as Defense for Crime" Mr.. Corkhill is
United States Attorney for the District of
Columbia, and Is therefore said to be 'high
authority" Mr.. Corkhill is Of the opinion
that it is difficult matter ito define with
accuracy and precision the true meaning fthe
word insanity" and contends thetthe "ablest
authors who have written upon the subject
as also physicians and scientists, all differ as
to the terms used to define the
word insanity" But whatever may be said
upon the subject, Mr.. Corkhill is
satisfied that what is termed moral insan-
ity has no scientific recognition and should
never be countenanced in Court OF JUS
tice." Nowadays the plea of insanity is set
up as defense in almost every case of ''atro-
cious and brutal crime" and it so happens
that there is scarcelya criminal that can
not find facts in his own life of physical or
mental disturbance, or in some of his blood
relations, from which men of eminence or
scientific attachments readily demonstrate
to Juries that these facts, taken in connec-
ton with the atrocious and brutal character
of the crime, indicate insanity" Mr.. Cork
hill advocates the prompt execution of every
man found guilty of ga crime which, under
the law merits that punishment" sane or
insane. He does not believe that the plea
of insanity should be allowed as a defense
for crime, and asserts that the
laws of man should be administered
/ the same spirit as are administered the
laws of nature, as for instance, "a short.
GIFTED man who has miscalculated his dis
lance liz attempting to swim river, browns,
not because his motive is malignant, but
because he has violated a law. Insanity,
like blindness, or wicked and abandoned
heart, is defect of organization. and the
highest triumph of human tribunals should
be to administer to the survival OF only the
ittest." Mr.. Corkhill may hold peculiar
views in regard to insanity In criminal
trials, but he has very pronounced opinions
relating to ''cranks" well calculated to at
tract attention. He says:
But there is a class, well known and recognized
in every community, who by their cratic charac-
ter, their vanity, their egotstical declarations,
crowd themselves into every association, and by
their arrogant assumption become prominent;
they are not always men who wear long hair, nor
women who wear short hair. know no peculiar
trademark by which they can be at once detected
but they are everywhere. Yor have them in your
society unless the press misreports some of your
discussions. They are doctors without patients,
10 cryfth oil ND VIII
parishes without ever having done an honest
days toll; they crowd themselves into labor and
trade organizations and assume to be represent
alive men; they are the most earnest Ia temper
snce and religious organizations; they clamor for
position in every enterprise having for its object
and public reformation; they denounce vice on
every public OCCASION theys ay long prayers
aud affect great piety and virtue; and yet they
are the true representative traitors. murder
ers, thieves, ravishers and scoundrels of commu-
mites, and when ore Of them commits crime
the entire. race of vagsbonds join in the cemor
for the exemption from punishment on the
ground of insanity. There has been q word coined
of late years to designate these people, and they
are called "cranks." They figure largely in the
list of GRIMM ais accused Of all grades of crime
sad it is to them belongs the disgrace brought
upon the plea of insanity as a defense for crime;
with them judgment and execution should be
swift, sure and certain, for the escape of one of
these men encourages the entire class to go on
committing crimes for like notoriety and like ex-
emption. They well know they commit crime
and deserve punishment, and when the knife OF
justice fails upon one OF their number it strikes
them with horror, but to every honest citizen it
is a glad announcement that the law is supreme
and that its execution can not be avoided by a
mis- Ia Ddral a1afr ha
Notwithstanding all this there are insane
people in the world-men and women whose
minds have been dethroned and who are
not, therefore. responsible for their acts. To
ascertain to what extent they are RESPONSE
ble that the authorities may know as nearly
as human judgment can determine, the
measure of guilt and the punishment de-
served is demanded by every consideration
of justice. Anything less than that is to
return TO savagery. To establish criminal
proceedings when no word of testimony re-
latipg to mind conditions can be heard. in
mitigation OF the crime and therefore of the
penalty as well, is to erect Courts where
the footprints of the accused, on the
highways leading to them, like foot
prints of cattle driven to slaughter houses
all point inward. 1t is supreme
injustice to assume that insanity is mis-
fortune for which the victim is alone respon-
sible, or to treat it as a crime is simply dew
ilishness, and Mr.. Delano Calvin, in COM
menting on Mr.. Corkhilps position, said that
mo man of plastic nature could hold the
office of Public Prosecutor many years with
out becoming entirely hardened and lost to
all sympathy for the innocent" That Mr.
Corkhill is well advanced in the process Of