The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-12-03
ANTI-CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
SENTIMENT.

The New York Tribune declares
that the opponents of capital punish
ment are on the up tide just now. The
growth Of the sentiment against the
execution of criminals is rapidly
spreading, and that, too, without any
special effort having been made by the
.'humanitarians'' of late. Against the
scaffold, the electrical chair and any
other form of execution public senti-
ment Isl unQuestionably rising.
This we record as fact, without fore
going one iota of belief that the aboll--
ton Of capital punishment would not
be a moral advance. One Of the most
striking and significant evidences OF
the growth Of opposition to the death
penalty is found in the remarkable fire.
Quency Of the declarations of talesmen
summoned for jury panels that they
entertain such strong feeling upon the
subject that they could not render
verdict Of guilty conscientiously if the
death penalty followed as a matter Of
law.
That this iss fact will be testified to
by all lawyers in criminal practice
throughout the country. The Tribune"
calculates that at the rate the opposi-
ton sentiment, is now growing it will
not be more than two or three years
before a determined onslaught will be
made upon most Legislatures to secure
the repeal Of capital punishment laws,
and the substitution of the penalty of
life imprisonment
That there has been a growth Of this
sentiment in California is undeniable
It was first noticed when the Legis-
lature was induced, and that without
much persuading. to give to juries the
power to determine between the two
penalties. capital punishment and life
Imprisonment. A little later an effort
was made to repeal the capital punish
ment Act, but it received very little
support, and the matter has not since
been bruited. But 1t is so we'll known
that the sentiment against the death
penalty has expanded that our criminal
lawyers now invariably test the opin-
ions of all jurors when on qualification
examination.
Our New York contemporary AYERS
that the opposition to the death penalty
in that State comes always from the
most intelligent citizens called to Jury
duty, while the ignorant or less intelli-
gent are rather Indifferent about it, or
express their preference for the death
penalty, or reply that they would dis
regard it in the matter of finding a
New York, that the very men VINO
would make the best jurors as rule
are excused from duty in capital cases.
a result that it is not comforting to
reflect upon.
But the students of the subject find
consolation in this deduction, namely,
that the solid citizens. the more IN
telligent men. are studying penology
sociology, forms of government and the
science Of social organization far moro
than ever before. The very fact that
he is reading and thinking upon pencil
ogical subjects justifies the deduction
that he is also considering more
thoughtfully than in the past other
governmental and social questions, and
notably that grave one, the prevention
of crime and the duty of society toward
those who, if not checked, guarded and
guided. will surely graduate as Grim
inals and dependents
The suggestion has been made that
the excuse advanced by talesmen thai
they are opposed to- capital punish
ment is interposed in order to free them
from jury duty. But this idea is dis
PEELED by the multiplicity Of the testi.
monies from all States OF the Union
and by the remarkable fact that the
plea comes as stated, not only in New