The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-02-02

Tor bQe peudl system OIL buo otdtos
In our remarks, yesterday, we en-
deavored to eliminate the third or
exemplary motive from the present
case. The notion that sending Jesse
Warren to the Reform School for the
next twelve years will deter the
present and future generations OF
eight year old urchins from stone
throwing appeared to us a trihe iudl-
crous. 1t still SO appears today, and
as Judge Hudspeth absolutely ignores
this view, we presume it did not APP
pea to his mind in any different light.
This leaves two possible motives for
the sentence imposed, the vindictive
and the exemplary one, and it appears
that both had their weight.
Let us analyze a sentence or two OF
Judge H~udspeth's remarks. 1.-The re
should also be considered, said he,
sstne sorrow and bereavement of that
mother and father; that child taken
away in the heyday of its youth, cut
down and killed because Of the
viciousness of the defendant" This
is, of course, the retaliatory factor in
the sentence, and we can only meet it
with the comment that the applica-
ton of it is negatived by all the es-
sential circumstances of the case. If
our respect for the Bench and its oc-
cupant were less than it is, we might
here indulge in a little retaliation our
selves by adopting a somewhat I'M
called for expression which the Judge
thought fit to use. But we will let
that pass. We desire to insist that
our sympathy for the bereaved
parents of the dead boy is certainly
no less than that of the Court. But
we are loath to think that these
parents are DESTROYS of compensation
for the stoppage of one young life by
the wreck of another, and, if they had
any such feeling, it assuredly would
not be worthy of qualification. In
discussing this aspect of the case, the
question goes back to the capability
of criminal comprehension and crimi-
nal intent in a boy of eight, and this
we decline to admit to any serious de-
gree, in spite of the instances of bad
impulse and worse discipline which
are attributed to this boy. Judge
Hudspeth states that the boy had a
knowledge of good and evil, and
doubtless he had; but we venture to
say that Judge Hudspeth himself,
and every other Judge on the Bench.
would refuse to permit him to give
testimony in a criminal case, OF. at
least, would instruct the jury to at
tach very small, if any, import to his
evidence.
In the matter of the correctional or
reformatory aspect of the sentence,
many arguments may be advanced for
Judge H~udspeth's action. The boys
guardians appear to have been out
rageously lax and indulgent in bring
ing him up. He had become a turbu-
lent and vicious boy. In a few years,
he was liable to become a depraved
one-depravity is impossible at nine,
There may be some question as to
whether he would not have better
cha noes of growing up a good citizen.
even at a State Reform School. But
the answer to this is that the terrible
crisis which had taken place in his
life must surely have opened the eyes
of his relatives and guardians to the
faulty Of their course. 1t is not
credible that they would continue to
let him run to seed in the same old
way. The boys home is good. The
associations which he a look Tor
ward to are good. At his age a very
small amount of firmness should
suffice to break him off his bad
habits, and establish the average
morals of boyhood in his disposition.
We cannot but dissent from Judge
Hudspeth's opinion that the reform
atory is a punishment before which
all boys are equal. We think it is a
product of the States paternal care,
which regards rather the danger than
the guilt of youthful offenders. The
State, acknowledging their very linn
tied moral responsibility, seeks only
the best way to make them good cit
liens. Assuredly it is hard to believe
that in the case Of a boy of eight with
a home and friends, that best way is
through years of association with the
waits of sin and misfortune of all ages
and through all the years of his own
mental growth, an association, o.
which he must ca rry the stigma out
into the world in his manhood. From
this point of view, the doom of Jesse
Warren appears to us an intended
benefit of a deadly sort.
We know Judge Hudspeth has a
| kind heart az we'll as a stern sense oil
duty. We hope he will think again
over this case. Perhaps the boys
| mother may be able to provide some
guarantees that she will keep him in
proper control and educate him In
! good order and morals. Perhaps the
boy may be held In bonds, SO that, il
nroper stems for his amendment are