New-York tribune., 1905-06-28
CRIMINAL LAW REFORMS.

Secretary Tafts indictment of our criminal
| law system is entitled to serious consideration
In an address before the Yale Law School on
| Monday the Secretary Of War denounced as "a
disgrace to our civilization the perversions of
| justice which we have allowed to creep into
| our criminal practice. This is strong language.
But does it not embody the growing conviction
of all intelligent students of our judicial sys-
TEN that in the criminal courts at least we are
sacrificing to less important ends the prompt
and reasonable administration of justice?
The chief count brought against our present
methods is that they sacrifice essentials to nom
essentials. The business of the criminal law
is, in Secretary Tafts opinion, to convict AMI
punish the lawbreaker. But the jury system
which we have inherited lays more stress on
protecting the presumably innocent than on
exposing and Furnishing the presumably guilty.
From the point of view Of abstract justice 1t
is clear. as Mr.. Taft argues, that the jury sys-
tenn contributes to criminal immunity
than it does to social security. Its fundamental
assumption-that the accused is entitled to the
benefit Of every doubt and the advantage OF
every technicality-is, Of course, inconsistent
with the logic of ordinary life. Mr.. Taft calls
trial by jury an American fetich and per-
haps he would contend that the Latin method
of criminal administration is more exact and
more scientific. How far he would go In re-
nOOelllQE
it is evident from the general tenor of his re-
marks that the practical defects Of the present
jury system in his opinion, far outweigh its
practical benefits.
Can we rid ourselves of criminal procedure
which has come to be admittedly ineffective?
Apparently public opinion in the United States
is not prepared for this step. The jury sys-
TEN has its roots too deep in our political and
social life. Developed as a protection against
governmental oppression, it has long been cher
ished as one Of the safeguards OF popular lib
erty. In a monarchical and aristocratic form
of government its value to the non-privileged
class is obvious But in 8 democracy such as
ours its Importance as a political guarantee nat
urally diminishes. 1t ceases to be a shield
against tyranny and oppression and Is pervert-
ed more and more into q mere dragweight on
the administration of prompt and equal JUS
tice 1t puts an instrument Of defence into the
hands of the lawbreaker and his advocates
which unduly hinders society in its fight against
disturbers Of the social order.
With all its faults the jury trial will proba-
bly, hold its place in our criminal practice.
But the many unessential abuses which have
! been fastened on it-abuses which Secretary
| Taft most righteously condemns-cannot be
| tolerated much longer by the American people
The improper extension of the right of ap-
| peal in criminal cases, the constant reyersais
| on trivial technicalites, the limitation of the
| judges role in criminal trials to that Of a
mere moderator in a religious assembly,
these innovations In American procedure have
converted hundreds of prosecutions into "a
mere game, in which the defendants counsel
| play with loaded dice" They give an i'm
munty to indicted offenders which is a real
menace to social security and social develop
ment Mr.. Taft advocates an abolition of the
/ light of aODeaI in criminal causes ana the res
| toration of the courts power to comment on
| the facts as we'll as the law in every criminal
trial These reforms and others equally drastic
must be effected, if we are to free our criminal
procedure from the reproach under which it
now lies of ineffectiveness and laxity. We can
only revive respect for law by strengthening
| its administration all along the line-by making
the processes of justice swifter. surer and more
| peremptOry