Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-06
PUNISHMENT OF CRIME
PHILOSOPHY OF PENAL SERvI~
tube FOR LAW BREAKERS.
The Arguments for and Against the
Killing OF Murderers-Rights and
Wrongs of Capital Punishment.

From the London Express
At a meeting OF the Society for the AboIi-
ton of Capital Punishment. held this week,
gentleman named AIR. V. Tchertkofr Is re-
ported to have said that personal fear OF
the murderer was the only reason that cap
itai punishment Was not abolished.
While II may be admitted that personal
rear Is reason, and very proper reason,
why mnrderers should be given no further
opportunity for INDUCING their unpleasant
tastes. very small amount of considera-
ton win prove Mr.. Tehertkofrs assertion to
be all too sweeping. since the man as ig-
norant OF the meaning OF the word fear as
Lord Nelson himself may desire to protect
his wife and children from the possibility
of violent death
The discussion as to the rights and
wrongs OF capital punishment naturally
leads one to consider the idea behind the
punishment of criminals and the object of
that punishment
Abstract right and wrong hardly enter
into the matter. Men live together in social
relations under certain definite conditions
and the whole fabric OF society would crum-
bic to pieces IL gentlemen with anarchistio
tendencies were allowed TO rob. 10 forge.
or to murder and IL would be threatened
II other less dangerous persons were per-
United to be drunk and incapable in the
So IL has happened that TO all these per-
sons society says: If You persist in acting
In what is obviously an unsocial manner, to
become. in other words. a nuisance 10 your
neighbors, certain veYy unpleasant conse-
quences Will follow"
This idea perTneates all social relations.
man in an office an OXFORD college,
even a schoolboy, who becomes nuisance
10 his fellows is made to feel the weight
OF public opinion And this is done not only
to persuade him that decent conduct is on
the whole the best policy, but is also tact
declaration that similar consequences will
follow similar actions by other people.
TO Encourage the Others.
The first idea. therefore in the furnishing
of criminals is. to quote the famous French
phrase, Pour eneourager les autres." And.
therefore. the pain of the punishment must
be made greater than the pleasure OF the
offense.
Here, of course. one is met by the serious
difficulty that what is one mans food is an
other mans poison, and that punishment
which is unbearable by one person is almost
enjoyable to another.
There is an exemplifying instance of a
family where the punishment for Juvenile
misdemeanors took the form of diet or
bread and water. This most efficacious
with the two eldest children, whose natural
yearnings for strawberry jam and cocoa
made the bread and water pos. lively hate
full and caused their anticipation to become
an admirable preventive. But the third child
adored bread and water, and, since the only
way they could be obtained by misbe-
havsor, was naughty against his will in
order to have his favorite food.
1t Is possible of course, to legis,ate for a
family in such way that there may be
individual punishments particularly suited
for each individual offender. but that can
hardly be done in arranging laws 10 regu-
late the community.
The Inevitable Criminals.
Consequently no punishment can be
equally deterrent and. while the fear OF
hanging will undoubtedly prevent many
Observation-Disclosures persons from killing
for revenge or for gain, and while the fear
of Imprisonment will prevent many men
with criminal desires from robbing their
masters safe or forging their master's
name, there viii always remain minority
of madmen. of daring and INSCRIPTIONS
spirits, and of persons whose conditions or
life are hopelessly miserable. who Will
break laws and take risks. and would prob
ably do so II the punishments were made
severer.
II 1t were absolutely certain that every
criminal would be punished, the very fact
that they had broken the laws would be a
proof that the punishment was not SUM-
GENTLY deterrent, and that therefore. the
penalties should be increased But there Is
always the gamblers chance that detection
may be evaded, and this Is chance that Is
taken into account equally by the schoolboy
who steals apples and by the ruffian with a
taste for highway robbery. II II were possi-
BILE, which it probably is not, 10 obtain q
police force In which every constable had
the acumen of a Sherlock Holmes, and
to arrive at system under which detection
would be perfectly certain, you would have
a preventive OF crime far more sure than
the most severe laws that could be added
to the statute book.
Helping the Offender.
In these days IT is generally accepted that
while punishment should be sufficiently
unpleasant 1t should never be brutal. and
that the aim of the penal expert, while
remembering that his first principle is the
protection of society, should be to make
the criminal at the end OF his term of i'm
prisonment a better man than he was at
the beginning.
This theory has been worked out almost
with extravaganza In many OF the Afneri-
can prisons and there Is a tendency here
and elsewhere TO fall into an exaggerated
and positively harmful humanitariansm
There are men whose criminal tendencies
cannot be eradicated or controlled-Ish-
maels fated to turn their hand against
every man, with the inevitable consequences
that every mans hand is turned against
them.
1t may be reasonably suggested that It is
foolish to allow such persons any further
opportunities to become a source OF aan-
ger and annoyance to their fellows. When
once a man has proved that he Is an
enemy OF the people, the people are surety
Justified in permanently disarming him.
And this is the idea that induces society
to hang, gulllotine, or electrocute the MUIR
derer.
respect for the sanctity of human life
is the first principle of civilized society. and
the man who has once demonstrated his
disregard for this basic law is evidently I'M
fit to be allowed under any circumstances
to form IN item in the social life.
The murderer is danger In himself; II
he were not punished with the most awful
penalty within the power of his fellows
there is a distinct danger that MURDER
would Increase and moreover, the exelu-
tiou of the assassin is a declaration that
society regards human life as something
sacred and apart
To Cure Thumb Sucking.
From the New York MEDICAL Journal
Taking an appropriately sized thin rub