Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-04-09
OUTSIDE POINT OF VIEW
Brand Manifestation Turn Him
Loose"

d SuIe-ali Tor all the lis tndt annie
the community, it is not to be expected
that we can always agree with each
particular writer. Seldom, however, has
any author Of national prominence Of
fered anything so thoroughly impracti
cable as Julian Hawthorne does in the
March North American Review. The
substance is given below. The writer
will take the liberty of Genying several
OF the statements as they are quoted.
sAs
In a typical murder trial, who is the
| most unpopular person in the court
room? Not the murderer in the dock
but the peoples attorney who is try
ing to secure his convictions! The
criminal committed his murder some
time ago, and popular animosity
against him has subsided; but the
prosecutor stands before us visibly
seeking the blood of a fellow creature.
The reason obviously is not that the
audience loves murder or murderers,
but that it no longer approves of the
legal method OF Furnishing murderers,
and is glad to witness its failure"
The above is positively false, as any
sensible person knows from the trials
Of murder casss in our midst.
But tho the community does not APP
prove Of executions, it does not, either,
wish the murderer to go scot-free, or
not to be tried and convicted for his
crime. We are willing that some PEN
atty should be inflicted Upon him: only
IT must be one with which we are in
sympathy. We are not yet so adj
vanced' as to be ready to leave the
murderer to his own conscience en-
tirely: but we do not wish him to be
killed, and we are not even quite sure
that we wish him to be imprisoned for
life or for twenty years. What then
shall be done?"
The community does approve OF ex-
ecutions, both by state and national au-
thorities, otherwise the legal executions
would not take place.
"The main thing desirable, apparent
ly, is to devise some form Of penalty
which, while leaving the criminal free
to go about in the world, and to mingle,
lie he choose, with better creatures than
himself. should yet keep him continu-
ally mindful OF his crime, and enable
others to be aware of it. Such a penal
ty would seem more likely than any
i've to him, and as safeguard to 9TH
ers. It would mark him as one who had
sinned, but who was presumably anx-
ious (for his own sake, II not unselfish-
|ly) to amend. 1t woull, In, short put
him in much the same condition as that
provided by the divine law of con-
science Is there any means wherey
this could be done?
"A means is suggested by the antique
penalty which used to be enforced upon
law breakers two hundred or more
years ago, in our old colonial days
Such persons having been convicted
were sentenced to be branded with a
letter or other mark indicating the ma
ture Of the crime OF which they had
been guilty. Why might not we de-
cree some notifications of this device:
1t need not necessarily be placed where
all could see It at all tines. but 1t
would be fixed upon him where. should
he ever repeat his offense, it could al
ways be found by the officers of the
law. In not more than one case in q
thousand. perhaps, would he ever re-
peat his offense; but should he do so
he might be again branded, this time
where all could see the mar. This
seems. at first sight, but a slight pun-
ishment for murder; but we are to re-
member that punishment. is not the OBJ
Iject which our enlightened public SEN
timent demands, but the reformation OF
the criminal-the discouraging him
from further iniquity; and If we think
Of 1t we'll, we shall find that few de-
vices could be imagined more apt than
this to render overt iniquity undesira-
BILE. The secret consciousness Of bear
ing that indelible marli--the dread OF
its revelation to the public eye-would
operate to make the man hesitate many
times before doing evil again"
There's only one word for such tom
my rot" as this. It's "halderdash." A
Jesse James or one OF the Younger
brothers branded on the shoulder. for
instance, would have so much secret
consciousness" The murderer Of Bur-
dick when tried and convicted should
be branded on the ankle and then al
lowed his or her liberty: After killing
some one else the brand should be on
the forehead! On the third murder
brand on one cheek, for the fourth the
other cheek, and so on lad inf1nitum ad
libitum!"
Not less beneficial would be the eff
feet upon our legal procedure In crimi-
nal cases. After the Cline had been
proved. no Jury would hesitate, on any
merely technical grounds. to convict;
no lawyer for the defense would deem
it worth his while to APPEAL; no audi
ence in the court would feel disposed to
murlnur for clemency. or to make a
hero of the criminal. The law would
not be cheated, or its majesty insulted.
because it's decree would be consonant
with public opinion. And it would be
less often broken, because criminals
would know that, If proved guilty, they
could not hope to escape.
Certainly, the result could produce
no state of affairs worse than exists at
present. Somehow or otber, and at no
distant day, the abolition of capital
punishment will be decrced. Some other
penalty must then be invented. 1t may
not be the one here suggested; but sug-
gestions are in order, and this Is Of
fered for what it may be worth"
The wonder is that the North Ameri-
can Review considers such stuff
worth" printing.
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