The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-05-03
Too Many PardOns.


An opinion is offered by the Wash
tngton Post upon the subject Of the
abuse in this country of the pardoning
power in which most Pennsylvanians,
with the example of their own soft
hearted board of pardons in evidence
before them, will enthusiastically
agree. our contemporary finds a text
for it's utterance in the figures offered
by a western penologist who recently
explored the statistics of executive or
other clemency to prisoners under sem
tence for homicide. That writer
averred that in Wisconsin 33 per cent.
of the life prisoners are pardoned; i'm
Ohio, 40 per cent; while in Massachu-
setts the percentage Is so and in New
York 63. In Massachusetts the aver
age time served by life prisoners who
are pardoned is six and one-quarter
years, and in New York it is six and
one-half years. In other words, any
prisoner in New York who is sentenced
TO the penitentiary for life has three
free man inside Of six and one-half
years.
This" remarks the Post, sis the kind
of protection which the public gets for
the enormous expenditures involved in
the maintenance of criminal courts,
prisons, and in the great army of Off
cials employed in the prevention, de-
lection, and punishment of crime. 1t
will be observed that these are not
new states. All of them are old MEM
bers of the Union family, and the two
that make the most deplorable exhibit
were among the original thirteen. Mas
sachusetts and New York have led all
other states in prison reform. They
have adopted all the latest devices in
improved penUlogy. But these fig
ures prove one of two things, either
of which is, to the last degree, inimical
to public safety. Either the courts of
those states persistently blunder so
egregiously as to convict innocent men
of murder, or the executives of those
states habitually annul just verdicts
and turn murderers loose. To a less
extent the same comment is applicable
to Wisconsin and Ohio, and to all other
states where any considerable number
of duly convicted murderers is set at
liberty.
I'VE do not believe that the courts
are responsible for many of these par
dons. 1t is probable that, for every
man unjustly convicted of murder, a
dozen guilty men escape. The laws and
rules of court almost invariably favor
the defendant in a criminal trial. In a
case that involves the death penalty
or life sentence very little evidence
is required to raise such reasonable
doubt as will secure an acquittal. The
almost universal opinion is that, in
stead of convicting too many Of the
men arraigned for taking life, our
courts err seriously in the opposite di-
rection. This puts the blame for such
figures as are quoted above on the
governors or pardoning boards of the
states. 1t is q serious business In
view Of the increasing prevalence Of
homicidal crimes and the growing dis
sontent of the people with the admin
istration of Justice. To pardon 33, 49,
30 or 63 out of 100 men sent to prison
for life because they have taken life
unlawfully, Is so palpably outrageous,
Is such an imputation against the in
tegrity and capacity of the courts, that
public sentiment should not tolerate il,
The pardoning power is an admitted
necessity. Its use is to correct mis-
takes. When evidence that has not
been put before the jury is presented
to a governor and proves that a man
has been unjustly convicted, it is the
duty of the governor to issue a par
don. But executive clemency is out of
its place and Is a dangerous usurper
when it feels called upon to reverse the
verdicts by reason of sympathy for the
afflicted"
The argument here advanced REIN
forces, without intending to do so, the
contention Of those who, in this state
call for an intelligently- drafted parole
system putting the whole question of
clemency on the basis of merit. 1t is
well to give the penitent chance; but
1t is false mercy to smooth the path
way of the hardened criminal to the
commission Of new attacks upon So
ciety.