The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1892-07-28
Crime and the Law.

lt Is OFTEN SAID That the criminal law is
harsh; yet, as have at times said to the
petit juries serving before me. the law pro.
vides safeguards which at every state tend
to preserve the innocent from any wrong.
and to aid accused men to maintain their
innocence. A person accused of crime is
entitled under the law, to an immediate ex.
animation into the facts; his accuser must
Immediately be brought before him, and
the committing magistrate must promptly
hold an examination. so that if the accusa-
tion is plainly false. or the accused man
can establish his defense, he may be re
leased without further annoyance. If the
committing magistrate decides that there is
probably cause to believe that the accused
man has committed a crime with which he
is charged, the grand jury. consisting of in
telligent and fairminded men, examine the
case with care. and unless the accusation
appears we'll founded the proceedings are
dismissed. If the grand jury has fOrmu.
lated the charge and the accused man has
been arraigned at the bar if he chooses to
stand mute plea of mot guilty" is entered
on his behalf; if he is poor, counsel is sent
to defend him; if he is friendless and has
no one to subpoena witnesses in his behalf.
he may give the names of his witnesses to
the district attorney. and the whole power
of the county and of the court is at his dis
pOsal to enforce attendance to any one who
can testify for him. The presumption of
innocence which attaches to the man at the
moment of the accusation follows him thro
every state of the proceedings. The pre-
sumption may, at times, be violent. as when
m G n q
mission of the crime; but if for any reason
the evidence against him cannot be prop.
erly and fully presented in court, this pre-
sumption prevents his conviction of any Of
fense. He may, if he chooses take the
witness stand and testify on his own behalf;
if he chooses not to testify, the fact of his
silence cannot be commented upon by the
prosecuting attorney. and cannot be taken
by a jury as weighing against him. He is
tried by Jury of his peers. and if only
single one of the Jurors sees in the evidence
presented sufficient reason for his acQuittal,
he cannot be convicted. He is entitled to
the benefit of reasonable doubt, which
follows him at every stage of the case. and
the accusation against him must be proved
to reasonable certainty. His character,
unless he chooses to put it in issue. is sup.
posed to be good. and the jury must so re-
gard it. If the judge is led into any error
as to the admission or exclusion of evidence,
or in his charge to the jury. and such error
can be considered as injurious to the &C
cused man, the appellate tribunals may be
called upon to pass upon the fairness of the
judges rulings. So that, instead of being
harsh in its application, the criminal law is
extremely careful lest an accused man shall
be injured by any failure to effectively
prove the charge against him. If there is
any discrimination it is against the COM
munity, whom the law should protect, and
not against the individual accused of crime.
Some complain also that the criminal law
is unevenly administered. An intelligent
young man, connected with one OF the
daily newspapers. once asked me to explain
to him why in two cases which had just
disposed of. and in which the accusations
were almost identical, had sentenced one
defendent to two years in the penitentiary
and another to more than four years in the
state prison. Explained to him that in one
case the accused man had never before been
guilty of any serious crime; that his en-
plOyers and others had convinced me that
he had been industrious and honest for
many years, and his crime appeared to be
one of impulse largely, and felt sure that
the smallest possible punishment would be
sufficient to convince him that life OF
crime was much harder and less profitable
than a life of honest work. The other
criminal was one who had at other times
been convicted of crime. whose companions
were nOtoriOusly bad, on whom reforming
influences had heretofore had no effect.
Punishment must be severe in order to
teach him to fear the hand OF the law. and