The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1884-01-24
[Cincinnati Commercial Gazette.l
The Immunity of Murderers,

cincinnati Commercial Gazette.l
The Immunity of Murderers.
Ii the laws ft.f i,1e punishment of
murder and other Of the most brutal
crimes were abolished, the oracles of
public opinion would not have to cud-
gel their brains to find the cause for
the increase of these crimes. That
the administration of these laws has
come very near to this is apparent to
ALL When a murder Of special atroc-
ity is publicly done, and there is no
doubt of the fact, the law-abiding
public do not expect conviction and
the penalty which the law prescribes.
Why should the brutal class expect
it? Why should the law be terror
to them? They see that it is their
shield.
The moral influence Of the law is
taken away when the penalty, even if
it comes at all, comes at time so far
as to separate it from the crime. In
the public mind the murderer has es-
capped the penalty. When the crime
was done, the public judgment called
for justice Perhaps the brutal class
es tn ought for the moment that here
was crime so fragrant that convic-
tion must be sure But the admins
tration Of the law intervenes to inter
cept justice for so lang time that if
it ever comes it has become separated
from the offense and from the public
Judgment, and the sentence has be-
come an abstract thing, Of no moral
effect on evil doers.
The more fragrant, public, notorious
and unquestioned the guilt, in a crime
of great enormity, the more the courts
delay the trial, and the more the laws
entanglements are wrought to protect
the guilty. The public mind accepts
the f-ct that in such crimes the trial
is remote contingency, and that the
chances Of conviction are in inverse
proportion to the Nervousness Of the
crime and the certainty Of guilt
Meanwhile the brute who has done
the crime, and who, if justice ruled,
would be Immediately stamped out Of
existence, secures living in idleness,
with an indefinite future of ease pro-
vided for, and is treated as an inno-
cent man in all things save that he is
not allowed to go forth where he
would have to work for his living.
Such administration of law is no
terror to the brutal classes. It has re-
duced law to lawlessness. It is JUS
tifcation for the people to take the
law into their own hands when they
come upon a red-handed murderer
These are, then, the law-abiders; the
others, the lawless. Suppose that in
the cases of atrocious crime, in which
there is no mystery, and all that the
law has to do is to go through the
form of verifying and executing, the
course Of justice were direct as in En-
gland in similar cases. Suppose he,
whom all know to have done the mur-
der to-day, were indicted next week,
tried the week after, and executed the
next week; would it not be like an
electric storm in our criminal air?
Such thing would be revolution
in our criminal courts. 1t would raise
an outcry in the whole trade Of the
criminal lawyers. 1t would look as if
the Courts were made to convict mur-
derers. The Supreme Court would
interpose. It would be sure to find
an error in so summary a conviction
of a murderer. The Governor would
be called on to interpose No elective
Jud ge could stand up against such a
storm. The public would applaud;
but when it came round to nomina-
ton and election time, the public
would not remember that the simple
fact that the judge had promptly tried
murderer, was any call on them to
organize and rally to him, and the
criminal lawyers and their criminal
partners would fix him.
The law as written makes the con-
viction of murderer difficult, and
makes the same distractions when
the guilt is open and undoubted as
when there is mystery. The admins
tration Of the law by the Courts
makes the protection of the murderer
the chief object, and it has become
subservient to the abominable trade
of the criminal lawyer, who becomes
accessory to the criminal, to beat the
law, when he knows him to be guilty
of an atrocious crime for which he
ought to be hung The judiciary re-
quires that the accused shall have
counsel to see that he has a fair trial
In that duty the attorney is an officer
Of the Court, to aid in the administra-
ton of law. But it does not contem-
plate the trade Of the criminal lawyer
as herein defined, which is hardly re-
move from the trade Of criminal.
The criminal lawyer dictates the
time of trial, and puts it off so that
the public Indignation may cool, the
memory of the crime may grow vague
and the witnesses may die, Or thei,
memory grow faint in minor details
out of which he can make an appear
ance of conflict The longer the tri
al is put off, the greater the difficulty
of conviction. The criminal lawyer
trades on this. If the crime is public
and the guilt unquestioned and noto