The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1901-02-01
OFFICIAL PAPERlOF ALLEN COUNTY
THE DEATH PENALTY AND CRIME.


ton of the death penalty served to
diminish the number of capital crimes
or to avert mob violence, and the
facts 1t gives are of special interest
in view of the proposal now before
the legislature to restore capital pun
ishment in Kansas.
The states in which the death PEN
atty is forbidden by law are Colo
RADIO, Rhode Island, Maine, Michigan
and Wisconsin, to which also may be
added Kansas, for there the murderer
is never executed. In Iowa capital
punishment was abolished in 1872 and
restored in 1878. In all the states ex-
cept the foregoing six the death PEN
atty is inflicted for murder; and, in
addition, in Louisiana for rape, ,as-
sault with intent to kill, arson, ad-
ministering poison and burglary; in
Delaware and North Carolina, for
rape, arson and burglary; in Ala
bama, for rape, arson, robbery,
treason, immoral relations with fe-
male under ten years, or married
woman by falsely impersonating her
husband; in Georgia, for rape, may
hem and arson; in Virginia, West
Virginia, South Carolina and Missis-
sippi, for rape and arson; in Florida,
Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas and Ar
kansas, for rape; in Montana, for
arson of dwelling by night; in Mary
land, for any variety of arson; in
Texas, for perjury to material fact
in capital case; in Connecticut, for
causing death by putting distractions
on railroad.
1t will be observed thai in most
OF the southern states the death pen
atty is applied to a number of crimes
beside murder In every southern
state it is applied to the crime of rape
and in most of them to the crime of
arson. In number of them it is also
applied to robbery and perjury. In
the north there is not state that APP
plies the death penalty to any crime
except murder Every state which
has abolished it altogether is north
ern one.
With these facts established the
Journal suggests that if the advocates
of capital punishment are correct in
their argument that murders, rapes
and lynchings are more frequent in
states where the death penalty is not
inflicted, we should expect to find in
che southern states less of murder and
less of mob violence. But, on the
contrary, we find more of murders and
more Of mob violence in those states !
where the death penalty is most fire.
quently administered for the greatest
variety of crime. For example of the !
l6, 900 murders committed in the United |
States in 1900, more than 1900 were
distributed among thirteen states, as
follows: Texas, l,02l; Arkansas,
800; Louisiana, 1858; Mississippi, |
3l7; Georgia, 38l; South Carolina,
22l; North Carolina, 2Sj; Alabama,
46l; Kentucky, 1913; Tennessee, 4Os;
Maryland, 300; Virginia, 30j; Flor
ida, l57. AS against this consider |
the New England states, Maine hav-
ing Is, New Hampshire o. Vermont, |
6; Rhode Island, 81; Connecticut, |
10, and Massachusetts, 96. Or clus-
ter of representative middle states,
Ohio having 322; Indiana, 22S; Hi
nois, 3l5; Michigan, 205; Minnesota,
159, and Iowa 202. If we figure these
murders in proportion to population |
the south has about twice as many as |
the middle states here listed. The six |
states which do not hang had: Colo
RADIO, 252: Rhode Island, 52 Maine, |
Is; Michigan, 205; Wisconsin, l54, |
and Kansas, 235. In the cases of
Kansas and Colorado the statistics |
tend to bear out the capital punish
ment claim, as last year Kansas had |
one murder for each 6, 253 of popula- |
ton, and Colorado one for each !
2,202, whereas Missouri, a hanging
State had but one murder for each
1888 But no other comparison to be
made between the hanging and non
hanging States show thus favorably
for the view that capital punishment
diminishes crime.
With respect to mobs the statistics
are even less satisfactory. The latest
available figures are for 1899, and
they show lynchings as follows: Ar
kansas, IT: South Carolina, IA; Geor-
gia, II: Missouri, &; Kentucky, s;
Texas, 81; Maryland, ,; Oklahoma, l;
Washington L. Wyoming, 81 Illinois,
l;Indiana !; Mississippi Is; Indian
Territory, 3; New Mexico Ala /;
bama, II; North Carolina, A; Tennes-
see, 6; Virginia, 4; West Virginia, /;
Florida, /; Alaska, /; Kansas, l.;
Montana, /. OF the six states that
have abolished capital punishment,
Kansas was the only ono that in the