River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1897-09-23
Leniency Of Our Criminal Laws.

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recently occurred in Ripley county.
While lynching under any circum-
stances should be deprecated by all
good citizens, in many Instances it
is the direct result of too great a
leniency on the part of our criminal
laws, supplemented by an erroneous
human sympathy. Though the
most popular conception of our
criminal laws is that they are de-
signed to secure the punishment OF
criminals, such laws are in reality
50 framed as to give persons charged
with crime every possible avenue OF
escape. The rights of all criminals
from the lowest to the highest are
sacredly guarded with most
jealous care; they are given the
benefit of every doubt that can be
either fairly or unfairly raised; they
are provided with attorneys for their
defense when unable to employ
counsel, as a rule the most liberal
Interpretation of lenient laws are
given in their favor; they are ac-
corded rights Of appeal far beyond
what even-handed justice demands,
and hnally, an unmerited sympathy,
which should be transformed into
demand that the rights of society
be protected against their Vi
cious lawlessness. The rights of
society and considerations for the
public good should be held Just as
sacred by courts and iuries as are
those of persons charged with crime.
This is not done, as a rule, and the
failure Of a proper administration of
laws designed for the restriction of
crime, leads in many instances, as
we have already observed, to the
people taking the law into their own
hands after having become ex-
asperated, beyond all endurance, at
the laws delays or utter refusal to
protect the law-abiding citizens
against the depredations of those
whose propensity to wrong outweighs
their regard for the rights Of others.
Could malelactors be made to feel
that apprehension and conviction
would be swift and certain after the
commission of crime, our criminal
courts would have less to do than
now. Offenders know that the laws
are more than fair toward them, and
that the chances for acquittal if
approhended are in their favor upon
one pretext or another. We do not
urge that criminals should be unfair
" dealt bv, but we contend that
society in general possesses rights
and privileges which they should be
compelled to respect, even if the
restraining influence of prison walls
is required to make them do so.
A case now pending in Pierce
county may properly be taken as an
illustration Of the points involved
in this article, as it is one Of public
record. We refer to the Fertig case.
Fertig was convicted upon the charge
of murder, and sentenced to prison
for life. In the minds of many, this
sentence was designed for a punish
ment, and in the minds of others to
restrain him from doing further
harm to his fellow men. Had the
sentence been permitted to remain
unchallenged it would have served
the two-told purpose of furnishing
and restraining. There was and
now is, no doubt upon the part of
anybody conyersant with the case
that the murder was committed as
charged. Yet, years after his sent
ence, under laws which are so very
considerate of the rights of criminals
Fertig was given a new trial, with
out any facts having been brought
out that had the slightest bearing up
on the question Of his guilt or in
nocence. This trial resulted in his
having been accorded a third trial
yet to be held. If his lawyer lives
a few years longer and the funds in
the county treasury hold out, the
chances are that by the due course
of evolution Fertig will be set free,
and he will then have a chance to
shoot the complaining witness, This
may be regarded as a somewhat
startling proposition, but it Is not
"far-fetched. A few years ago in
one of the northern counties Of Wis
consin, after a holly contested fight
in the courts, a prisoner was convict
ed of manslaughter, and failing to
secure a new trial was sent TO
Waupun. The first thing which he
did after regaining his freedom was
to visit his attorney who had defend
ed him, and his next act was to 90
few miles from where his former
crime was committed and assassinate
another of his fellow-men, making
good his escape. At this stage OF
the proceedings in Fertig's case, the
balance of our illustration is nee
essarily hypothetical. Should he
be acquitted, and in revenge murder
another member of the Spalding
family, and then be lynched by a
party Of "the best citizens Of Hart
land" whose rights as a community
the courts had failed 70 protect, the
provocation for the application OF