Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-07-25
A LEE EoR A LEE,

The criticisms of the courts of JUS
tice for their apparently lax admin,
istration Of the law are growing COM
mon In recent years, SO common that
they cannot be disregarded. Even
lawyers are adding their voices to
the general clamor for reform and
once in while a Judge of wide ex-
perience and knowledge takes his
turn at showing that the court system
of which he has long been one of
the component parts is inadequate.
And yet. the system itself is not
so much to blame as are the men
who are chosen by the people to ad.
minister the laws. The same system
that is now bringing freedom to men
guilty of crime has in the past been
the means Of imprisoning people
guilty of similar wrongs. 1t is seem.
ingly desire on the part o. court
officials and executives to substitute
Imprisonment for execution short
terms for lon. terms. paroles for
marks of credit. Logically, If every.
one were honest and if every criminal
were able and willing to reform when
given an opp rtunity, this would be a
good plan. But if these conditions
existed there would be no need for
laws. Briefly stated, since 1885. In
this country there have been 131,951
murders and homicides anu only 2,286
executions for the commission OF
these crimes.
The figures show that the number
OF executions has decreased steadily
since 1885, while the number Of muir
ders and homicides has increased
but there is nothing In the statistics
to explain the decrease.
Eminent lawyers ascribe the de
crease in executions to two eauses
ole being the growing sentiment
against capital punishment and the
other and more important one being
the lax administration Of the criminal
laws and the TACT that attorneys take
advantage of every technicality tc
save the lives Of the murderers they
are hired to defend Secretary Taft
in his Yale address, referred to the
prevalence of this method of practice
among criminal lawyers, and declared
that the judges should be given the
power to compel the lawyers to try
their cases on their merits and not
permit them to exaggerate unimpor
tant evidence and cover UP the sail
ent points.
Analysis of the facts and figures OBJ
tainable points to the need Of re
form in the administration Of the
criminal laws, in the opinion of law
yers who have studied the figures
In 1885 the number of murders was
1903 and the number Of legal execu
lions was 1903, while in 1904 the mum
Der of muir. ers was 8,482 and the mum
Der of legal executions only 116. II
other words, there was an increase OF
mentioned, with an increase of only
eight executions In 1885 there was
one execution for every seventeen
murders com nitted and in 1904 there
was one execution for every seventy
three murders committed.
"A life for a life" This was the
way the old l-w of the jail-less from
tier read A murderer IVES executed
after having been given hearing
and chance to commune with his
maker.
Now the man who takes the lift
of anoth r Is given every opportunity
to prove thai he is innocent o.
murder. Let the law have Its way,
was good advice, no doubt. in the
old frontier days, but it has grown
to mean more and now it sometimes
might as well be said, Let the muir
derer have his way with the law
Society is entitled to protection. The
law breake also is entitled to protec
| ton from other law breakers, but no
from the law. The jailer should no
consider himself attorney for defense