New-York tribune., 1908-04-29

,enient bappveo-luc,xy character of the American
owen airairs and not fully realizing the tremendous
evils of their community that such condtion m
system certainly essential to the rights OF
the individual @ aganst possible s9gses dag in
the trials The grand jury system enforced d oy rn
of the states also is another step when constl-
tutes bringing criminals to justice rnlIy con-
strictions essential the preservation of the
6ery OF the s bd aEra ed HGF 0 Which
Legislature by formulating proper and e1peaItII9u
and disgraceful delays that now exist when the
criminal has the means to employ the most aGu9e
necessity presented by the rules obtaining in the
trial of criminal causes.
POWER OF RICH DEFENDANT.
The theory Of a and q ,dsed nded OF Works 4hs
for the benefit of the public If the power OF the the
the power the jury greatly magnifed "a and we
as Ws eo tnWar the western and the newer
Under such conditions the advantage that Inc me
eoanse wms to "as esot II, To
s. acq9tta can t hardly rd5v6 Se eefhy Criminal
it was in Biblical times for camel 10 pass sis
as in the case of appeeis that the disposition Of
legislatures weaken the power Of the court aha h
opposite effect from that which was intended and
by the wealthy when brought before the bar of the
court.
OF the difficulty of obtaining jurors the
speaker said:
Another cause is the difficulty of securing
jurors properly sensible of the duty which they
summoned to perform. In the extreme ten
acreded as cEtmnas and especially as
murderers; they allow peremptory challenges 10 20
the defendant far in excess of those allowed TO
the state In my own state OF Ohio. for long
peremptory challenges. and the defendant twenty
three in capital cases This very great d1Screp3
the defendants counsel to eliminate from all
panels every man of force and character ana
standing in the community. and 10 assemble col
character weak and amenabIe to every breeze Of
issue.
one very salutary provision which ought to be
introduced into the statutes of state and the
statutes of the United States in regard to ap-
peals in criminal cases, and indeed IN regard ap
peals in civil cases would be that no Judgment OF
error which the court aIter readlng the entire re-
ord can aftrmatively say would have led TO a dif-
justice and would end reversals for techncalties.
And now, what has been the result of the lax
Criminal statistics exceedingly difficult TO OBJ
the aR newspapers rs tR nube of ynchngs and
the number Of executions: but the number Of in
dictments. trials, convictions. acquittals or mis-
trials it is hard to find In 1873 the number OF
s4s3 The nnmbeT Of Executions in Ss5 was los IN
1904 ii was 1l6 This startling increase in the nun
the number OF executions tells the story. As muir
der is on the increase. so are all offences OF the
will continue to increase unless the criminal laws
more severity than they now are
7 freely admit that the strongest force in COM
munitv Ike this is the force OF public opinion, and
that frequently the existence Of evils IN the com
nunity is due to the fact that the force Of public
opinion sufficiently directed TO the evil in
hand. The enormous discrepancy between The
crimes which committed and the crimes which
are actually brought TO trial is sufficient to show
that the force Of public opinion is acute enough
and directed against the prosecuting officers
and the judicial officers with sufficient vigor 70
bring every man guilty OF an offence 10 trial or
recent years have been engeged in the trial
Of wealthy men and corDorations, charged with
violating the antitrust laws and the anti-rebate
laws laws against railway discrimination. In
trials which have ensued there has been
brought home to the public the possibility of
test offered wealthy defendants. who employ
counsel to take advantage of all the techni-
cGlities and delays which the laws Mt present
in force offer II is quite possible that the escape
OF wealthy ma!efactors under our present criminal
system from Just punishment will bring home
the people at large the conviction, which ought 70
obtain. that in the tenderness toward the indi-
vidualS charged with crime manifested by IegiG-
latIres and lawmakers during the last fifty wears
in this country. great injustice has been done 10
the interests OF the public and that it Is a time
for the calling or q halt.