The Washington herald., 1908-01-05
MANY CHANGES MADE
Committee Reports on Grim
inal Law Revision.
FINDING GOES TO CONGRESS
Both Houses VIII he Notified To-
morrow - Important Revision Is
pressiOn-DrOpping of Minimum
Punishment Wherever Provided.

The joint committee Of Congress to re-
wise the work Of the commission 10 codify
the laws. will report tomorrow to both
Houses OF Congress on the revision OF
the criminal laws.
Many important changes have been
made in the report of the codifcation
commission. The revision of the civil
laws has not yet been completed, and
may not be before the adjournment Of
the present session Of Congress.
The work Of the Joint committee has
been exacting. More than ten weeks
were given TO the revision OF the crlml-
nal laws alone.
Among the important changes made
was the adoption OF uniform style Of
expression. In the existing laws, differ
ent wording is used in different parts Of
the laws 20 express the same meaning
This has been changed in the revision.
Another important change is the drop
ping Of minimum punishment wherever
it is provided in the existing law. Only
in one or two isolated eases is it re-
tanned in the revised criminal code.
DROP M FEEaeAphs
Another expression dropped by the re-
visionists is punishment at hard labor -
That omission from the new code the
commission deemed essential, because
most Of the Federal prisoners are sent
TO State prisons, and the imposition Of
hard labor is, In the judgment o. the
committee. matter of prison regula-
ton.
In the past a question has frequently
arisen. where the judge has failed in i'm
posing sentence. to name hard labor
when II was provided as a penalty by
the statute point has been made in
some cases that IL tnvaidated the sen
tence and the committee decided that il
could well be omitted from the sentences
Of Federal prisoners in the future.
The revisionists also left out the desig-
nations OF fel0nies and high misdemean-
ors,' and substituted a general definition
for each. Under the revised code, a
felony shall be any offense punishable by
Imprisonment Of more than one year,
while a misdemeanor shall be any offense
the punishment for which is prescribed
at one year or less in prison. The COM
mittee also framed a general definition
of Federal jurisdiction. In the existing
law there is lack Of uniformity in stat-
ing what shall constitute Federal jurls-
diction. It Is divided into two classes.
First, territorial jurisdiction, which in
ciudes all onenses committed on govern
ment reservations, over which the States
have yielded their jurisdiction 70 the Fed
eral government. and cases arising with
in the limits Of admiralty jurisdiction.
Second, offenses In which the Federal
Jurisdiction attaches because the act is
against the sovereignty Of the United
States, such, for example. as counter
feiting. mail frauds, and crimes of that
nature.
Another important change is the divid-
ing of the crime of murder into degrees.
Under the present law there is but one
designation for unlawful killing, namely.
the common law definition OF murder.
The revised code recognizes first and sec
ond degree murder, and voluntary and
involuntary manslaughter. In this change
the joint committee adopted the forms
used in the codes of Utah and California,
which were really borrowed from the old
New York code
Recognition of Offenses.