The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-01-14
Aeath for Incorrigible Criminals.
Radical Departure the Penal Contemplated

|
The authorities of the state of CaIifor-
| MIA are seriously considering the advisa-
| bility Of passing law making ircorrigi-
! bility among criminals a capital offense.
/ In other words. criminals, upon being
| taken into custody, will be put through
| thorough test by criminoIogists, and
| if, in, their judgment, the prisoner is to-
/ tally depraved he will be condemned to
| die.
This radical step on the part Of the
state of California Is prompted by the
rapidly increasing crime, in spite of all
the laws to subdue and suppress it.
Criminologists and penoIogists have sud
| led crime and criminals from every point
| Of view, and every effort has meen made
to. enact laws that should have re-
formatory effect upon those inclined to
commit offenses against their fellow cfti-
zens, and yet 1t is admitted that crime,
instead of becoming less frequent is con-
stantly increasing
Many theories have been advanced as
to the cause of these conditions, and sew
I eraT remedies have been suggested, but
/ none of these suggestions have attracted
as much attention as the proposal from
/ California that all habltual offenders
shall be put to death. What makes this
proposed remedy more striking is that 1t
comes at a time when nearly half the
[ world is considering the advisa bility OF
the entire adjustment of the death penal
ty. In several countries laws making life
Imprisonment the extreme penalty have
| already been enacted, and the hanging
+ liz.
| means of inausurating crusade against
capital punishment that has extended from
one end of the United Kingdom to the
other.
For years a similar sentiment has been
noticeable in this country and the mis-
haps that have attended recent executions
have not tended to overcome such OBJ
jections to the death penalty. The slow
strangling to death of both men and
women in instances where the gallowsi
failed to break the neck of the person
to be executed has made hanging seem
more brutal than ever. while the roasting
to death of several condemned murderers
has had a. tendency to make humane men
and women look upon electrocution with
equal disfavor.
The proposal of the California law
makers to enact new laws in. which death
shall be the punishment for all ineorrlgi-
bles is therefore OF the utmost Importance
to others who are interested in the pre-
vention Of crime and the reformation of
the criminal. The simple fact is that for
many years eminent criminologists have
held this opinion, but never Before has
any legislative body shown any disposi-
ton to consider the matter from such a
purely scientific standpoint.
There Is probably no, penal institution
of Importance in the civilized world where
there are not one or more incorrigibie
criminals who might well be disposed of.
They are men who, while they are in full
possession of their ordinary faculties, are
naturally so vicious that it is impossible
to reform Them The most rigid of prison
rules have no effect upon them, and in
such cases kind treatment Is wasted. AS
soon as they are released from confine-
ment they commit some other and oftener
greater crime, and It, Is not long before
they are behind the bars again.
In such instances crininolegists have
often held that it is better that the
criminal should be dead than be per-
mftted to remain a. living menace to So
ciety. OF course there are arguments
both for and against this drastic method
of dealing with habitual offenders, and
1T is not my object at this time TO ex
plain what certain California lawmakers
propose to do and how they might sue
cessfully accomplish their object.
The direct cause of this crusade against
the habitual criminal IS a prisoner named
Oppenheimer. who is confined in San
Quentin prison. He is, without doubt, one
of the worst criminals with whom the
state has ever had to deal. He is alb
solutely Vicious. He Isl utterly without
moral sense. Three times he has at
tempted to murder his keepers, and they
must be constantly on their guard to
protect their lives. Neither kindness
nor prison discipline have any effect
upon him. To turn him loose upon the
community would Simply be to give him
another opportunity to commit crime.
Confined In the same prison there are
several men whose records for total
depravity are almost as black, and the
fact that the time is approaching when
these human fiends must, be released is
the cause of dread to every law-abidiEs
citizen of the state.
According to the plan that mas been
suggested, therefore, the legislature at
its next session will have the oppor-
tunity to pass law providing for the
determination Of all incorrigibles. In
case such law should pass a ce1n-
mission would ibei appointed to which
cases of this nature would be referred.
This commission would consist Of alien
lists, crininologists and others whose ex-