The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1900-08-16
Written for The Prison Mirror.
Mercy Relative to Crime.

"Mercy is twice blest, it bIesseth him
that gives and him that takes."-
Shakespeare.
After a study of some twelve years
OF the penological problem, the con-
clusion has again and again been
forced upon me that the criminal with
all his faults is a human being sus-
ceptible and tangible to the touches of
love and mercy. The criminal is Just
what the character of country makes
him. Where the laws and mode of
Furnishing him are harsh and severe
you find him also harsh and severe in
the committal of his crimes in his at
tempt to evade detection.
This article deals with the criminal
after he has become professional at
his art. In certain European coun-
tries, including the Isles of Great
Britain and in a Ugh degree the
eastern and southern parts of the
United States, the social conditions are
such that criminals are over-abundant,
being the natural product of the pre-
vailing conditions. In those parts the
criminal codes are very severe and in
consequence the crimes committed are
usually shocking in their brutality, and
the lower class of criminals seem to do
their work on the principle that "dead
men tell no tales
When ten, fifteen and twenty years
are given for comparatively small
offense, it does not deter other crimi-
nails from committing the same crime.
When thief plans his crime or COM
mits it on the spur of the moment, he
never considers the consequences until
it has been performed, nor does even
humanity at large always consider
their actions beforehand, for if they
did this world would soon become a
paradise for man to dwell in.
But, on the other hand, when a GRIM
inal commits crime and finds living
entOmbment worse than death staring
him in the face, he will commit any
desperate deed to protect himself from
it, for Misrepresentation is the first
law of nature"
In the great cities of Europe and the
United States hundreds of people dis
appear, having presumably been MUIR
dered for their money and valuables,
and in those parts the laws are usually
very severe. Of course the social con-
ditions of those parts are very con-
ducive to crime, but does not that
point to errors IN the laws existing
there or to the Intellectual or non
enforcement of the Jaw? Where the
law is not in proper motion, surely
there IS no law as we construe the law
for governing people. When the So
cial conditions are such that a poor
man cannot receive the good effects of
a beneficial enactment of law. then
there is no law for any one, whether
they be rich or poor.
"Oh," you say, 'the rich man can
buy law" No he cannot; he can often
buy unjust immunity from unjust ad-
ministrators of the law, but he can
never buy the law, for law is no re-
specter of persons and is the force of
order. But the NOM, inequality or
disorder deranges it, there law ceases
for good and anarchy reigns, produc-
ing detrimental effect upon that
which deranges it.
1t is from unjust administration OF
the law that the preponderance of
crime is attributable. Then from the
foregoing, what kind of men are they
that pervert their sacred duty of ad-
ministering the law rightfuIly? In
my mind they are the real criminals.
for from their Injustice proceed the
most of the other crimes. There is an
old trite saying, "that it takes thief
to catch a thief" Now if honest men
think it necessary to employ thieves to
catch thieves, they may certainly ex-
pect to get robbed from both classes,
for you know "that house that is
divided against itself cannot stand,"l