The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-06-27
TAFT CRITICIZES LAWS DELAY
SAYS WE roo MUCH REGARD
CRIMINALS RIGHTS.
Secretary VI war, Addressing Yale Law
Graduates, Condemns Lenlty OF the
judiciary Toward Offenders -ibeisy
VI Justice Leads to Mob Violence.

NEw HAVEN, June 26-In an address
delivered this afternoon to the graduating
GLASS OF the Yale Law School. Secretary Of
War Taft made another protest against the
maladninistratio OF criminal law In the
United States. On June IL Mr.. Taft. In a
speech at the commencement exercises OF
Miami University, at oxford, o., pleaded
for reform In criminal law procedure, and
to-day he amplfied the idea. not mincing
his words in condemning the leniency OF the
judiciary toward offenders, and even attack
ing some of the constitutional and statutory
provisions, which gave, he said. too great q
measure Of protection to murderers and
others who committed crimes against
society.
Secretary Taft took as his text COM
parative study OF the two great systems OF
law-the Roman, or civil law, and the
Anglo-Saxon. or common law. Slow adj
ministration and rigid adherence to tech
nicalities. he argued. were responsible In
large part for the abuses which had grown
up under the criminal laws OF the United
States.
1t must be admitted that those OF US
who have been educated In the principles
OF the common law" he said. and have
not extended our study much into general
jurisprudence, are apt to be narrow In our
prejudioes In favor OF the common law
and are prone to think that there Ia very
little for US to learn from the civil law which
can be usefulfy adopted by government
In which the liberty OF the individual IL
held so sacred and the power Of the govern
ment toward the subject or the citizen
IL restrained by such careful regulations
as In England. in America or any Of
the popular self-governments for which
either OF those countries is respon-
sible. When We leave the
subject Of OWL rights and come to the
punishment Of the individual for ofenses
against the State we find in the civil law
greater anxiety that the State should be
protected against crime than We do in the
common law
Discussing trial by Jury, Secretary Taft
said it had been adopted in Porto Rico,
but not in the Philippines. Il do not think
1t too much to say, however" he said, that
1t has proved failure thus far in Porto
Rico"
Mr. Taft informed his hearers that by
order OF President Mckinley all the consti-
tutional projections to the defendant in a
in criminal cases in the Philippines except
the right OF trial by jury. Commenting
On this Mr.. Taft said:
Il am not certain that in a new country
this was entirely wiI. When examined
as an original proposition. the prohibition
not be compelled TO testify seems in some
aspects to be Of doubtful utility. II the
administration Of criminal law is for the
purpose OF convicting those " no are guilty Of
crime, then it seems naturally to follow in
such process the methods that obtain in
ordinary life. IL anything has happened
and it Il important to discover who Is the
author OF it. the first impulse Of the human
mind is to inquire OF the person suspected
whether he did it and to cross-examine
him as to the circumstances. Certainly
this IL the domestic rule by which your wife
or your mother proceeds to find out Who it il
that broke the window, who II is that stole
the jam from the pantry. or why 1t il that the
sweeping has not been done by the per-
son charged with the duty. She goes
to the suspected culprit and SKIS the ques-
lions natural under such circumstances,
to see whether suspicion of guilt L. well
founded.
Nov. the proposition that it is unjust
to call upon the person suspected OF a crime
to tell of his connection with ii is at first
sight untenable. Why ia it I'm lust? II he
Is not guilty will he not have the strongest
motive for saving 80, and If he is guilty
and seeks to escape liability will he not
use every effort to make his conduct con-
sistent with his innocence?'
The ease with which appeals are secured
in criminal cases was vigorously touched
upon by Mr.. Taft. He said
"The codeo of evidence and it's complicated
rules, the technical statutory limitations
supposed to be in favor Of the defendant
are all used a. a trap to catch the trial court
in some error, however technical, upon
which in appellate proceedings reversal
OF the Judgment of the court below may
be asked. The rule which obtains through
out this country IL that any error, however
small, which it is impossible to show af-
Tentatively did not prejudice the defendant
must lead to reversal Of the Judgment
The same disposition on the part Of the
courts to think that every provision of
every rule OF law in favor Of the defendant
widened in the effect in the interes, of the
liberty Of the citizen. has led courts OF
appeal to degree of refinement in uphold
ing technicalities in favor Of defendants
and in reversing convictions that renders
one who has had ,pra1 teal knowledge of
the trial of criminal case. most impatient
"Our country il disgusted by the number
oi iyiiciiiiiy- thai uyD'ii hu il in he North
and in the South, and excuses are sought
for the horrid and tiendsh crleties per
petrated by moos in such cases in some
other cause than the delays of Justice"
said Secretary Taft. Instances are cited
where the mob had executed men whom
they had every reason to believe were
about to be justly punished under the law.
to show that an improvement in the criminal
procedure would not prevent lynchings.
But every man Of affairs who has studied the
subject at all knows that il men who commit
crime were promptly arrested and convicted
there would be no mob for the purpose
Of lynching. A mob, after it has feen or
gained, loses all conscience and cannot be
controlled, but it is the delay Of justice that
leads to its organization. Nothing but a
radical Improvement in our administration
Of criminal law will prevent the growth in the
number Of lynchings In the United States
that bring the blush Of shame to every
lover Of his country