The Hawaiian gazette., 1904-02-05
CRIME AND JUSTICE.

The pass to whic't technicalities and
Judge-made law has brought the ad-
ministration of justice In this country
IA shown by some comparative statis-
tics presented by the Argonaut. IL
appears from these that while san
Francisco in the fiscal year 19O2-l9o5
had twenty-seven murders. four 1ustl-
fable homicides and six cases of man
slaughter London, with 6,5OO,OOO popu-
lation, had during the same PERIOD put
twenty capital cases. Granting that
San Francisco Is the center of 100000
population, that city, gagged by the
London standard of one murder to
every $3.50 people, has seventeen. AS
to the certainty of punishment, nine
ont of London's criminal twenty were
hanged four committed suicide and
four were adjudged Insane, while three
are supposed to have escaped. In san
Francisco, during the same time, eight
out Of forty-three were convicted.
Looking further we find about 12,0OO
homicides in the United States during
1893 and less than four hundred legal
executions. The statistics for Great
Britain are not at hand but we may
assume that the ratio throughout the
country Is not larger than 1t Is In
London.
The reasons for the differences thus
marked down are many. but the chief
reason lies in the quality of the law
and the administration of the courts.
In Great Britain there is no bench of
appeal in criminal cases and the par
.,f hn IL
amenable to the advice of the Home
Secretary, is rarely exercised. To
man accused of murder the verdict of
a jury is final; and knowing British
juries as they do, criminals rarely I'M
dertake, in cold blood, to challenge
conviction at their hands. In the
United States everything works in the
interests OF the accused. He may APP
peal indefinitely, first to the technicali-
ties which govern the procedure OF
trial courts second to the laws which
permit a review of his case by appel
late courts and final appeal to the
Executive. The chances are so good,
30 mathematically good, that a we'll
defended criminal viii not come to the
gallows, that respect for the rights of
human life has reached a very low ebb
indeed 1t is probable that there are
more homicides to the million in the
United States than there are in any
European country and we are not sure
but there are more than could be found
in some Asiatic countries.
Whether the defects in American
criminal practice can be cured while
lawyers make the laws Is an open ques-
tion. The great preponderance, in leg
islative bodies, of the legal fraternity,
has its good and bad sides. Generally
speaking the lawyer makes the best
law-maker; but it is undeniable that
the laws he has framed are so open to
litigation on technical grounds and
that they have established such COM
pick system of justice, as to give the
lawyers plenty to do at good pay. Nat
urally the profession does not want
things made too expeditions for large
fees. Appeals and counter-appeals are
its stocks in trade; upon technicalities
1t feeds as the squirrel does upon its
hoard. How to convert the lawyer
legislator to work for the good of the
State in matters concerning his own
livelihood becomes, therefore, an ante
cedent question of real Importance
when developing any plan, in this
country, to make law Synonymous with
justice.