The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1890-11-06
A Cure for Crime.

"a law authorizing nire jurors out
of twelve to return verdicts," says a
Texas exchange, "would double the
number of convictions for murder. 1t
is quite easy to convict men of theft.
Murderers go unwhipt of justice.
Delaware has such law and it works
we'll" 1t is easy to convict men of
theft and difficult to convict them OF
murder, not because the proof is
usually more conclusive in cases of
theft than in cases of homicide, but
because men are more inclined to
condone offenses of the latter kind.
Even men of no very strict morality
feel a contempt for the thief and
are inclined to punish him vigorously,
but there is very large class of men
who rather admire the desperate who
avenges his wrongs, real or fancied,
with the strong hand. In every dozen
men selected at random one or two
can generally be found who are in the
habit of carrying weapons themselves
and who would not hesitate to use
them on every slight provocation. 1t
is idle to expect such men to deal very
harshly with kindred spirits who have
| fallen within the clutch of the law.
The unit rule enables this lawless
element, although greatly in the mi
nority, to dominate. 1t enables it to
; render the law against carrying
concealed weapons practically a
dead letter, and turn many a red
handed murderer loose upon society
to perpetrate fresh crimes. With the
Inauguration of the majority rule will
come the rule of the element of law
and order. The anomaly of sending
one man to the penitentiary for half
a life time for stealing scrawny steer
and another for two years for wantonly
sacrificing a human life will no longer
render the criminal jurisprudence of
the state an object of contempt. Nor
is the prevalence OF the spirit of toll
Grafton for crimes against the person
the only objection to the unit rule.
1t is impossible for the utmost
watchfulness to always exclude
from the jury box friends OF
those brought to trial. 1t is impossi-
BILE always to select twelve men every
one OF whom is impervious to the per-
suasive influence OF gold. 1t is i'm
possible to always exclude men natur-
ally obtuse and perversely stubborn,
men who, like Will Cartoons Uncle
Sammy, find grim delight in dis,
agreeing with everybody else, no mat
ter how ridiculous such disagreement
may be. In short the objections to
the unit rule are many and weighty,
while nothing can be said in its favor
but that it is the established custom,
!; that it was sanctioned by
our fathers and grandfathers. Gus.
tom, it must be admitted, is generally
grounded on reason, but it almost in
variably outlasts the causes that es
tablished it and becomes an absurdity
, In nothing is custom more tenacious
than in legal affairs. The legal dialect
, and the black silk gowns of ou1
} supreme court justices are fair ex.
r amples. The former was the inven-
ton of clerks who were paid by the
word for writing down causes, and
who found it to their advantage tc
= multiply words; the latter is sur
vival of the pomp of the English
: court of two centuries ago, both now
} absurd, yet like the unit rule in the
jury room, both the objects of super
stitious Observation-Disclosures Post.
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