The Washington herald., 1909-06-12

TIE protagonists OF life Imprisonment
upon that most traditional OF subjects for
youthful augmentation. Resolved. That
capital punishment should be abolished.
was an easy victory in the prize debate
OF the Enosinian Society OF George Wash
ington University last evening.
The modern criminal was raked fore
and aft by the collegians. and carefully
dissected from ali points OF view. The
negative debateFs. who upheld the system
Of ages. made their stand upon the Scrip
tural declaration. ''Vhosoever sheddeth
mans blood, by man shah his blood be
shed. and REINFORCED this divine injunc-
ton by arguments. psychological. sta
tistieal, and sociological.
Not Strong Deterrent.
Norris Bowen. II. opened for the anrma-
tive. and trained his guns upon an anti
quated system which lsgauzed murder BY
the state. and which had not fully fustf
fed itself as a deterrent measure He
showed that fluctuations in murderous
outbreaks were not measured by the Sc
verify Of the penalty. because crime was
far more freQuent centuries ago thar now
under a horrible code OF punishment.
Those modern rstions and states which
have ABOLISH I capital sentence have not
experienced - increase in the crime OF
murder: 'h7 tendency is markedly the
other way. said
James " Berry. O9. made effective
reply 10 his opponent. quoted fgures and
opinions of eminent criminologists. and
ridiculed the notion that any state could
be guilty Of murder By inhlcung the
death penalty.
Edmund Burke said no man could
draw up an Indictment against an en-
Tire people, he said. and II is prepos-
ferrous 20 use the term murder in con
nection with capital punishment. Murder
must be committed in cold blood and
with malice aforethought The state. 10
protect itself against the lawless indl-
vidual. invokes the law of God. This
is called murder II II be such. the
more We have OF IL the better.
Tt is a mistake 20 Judge capital pun
ishment from the standpoint OF the Grim
inaL II must be taken as a protective
measure BY society. II the history OF
the past centuries shows that * is not
| only advisable but necessary"
Ernest A. Schreiber. 10. closed the az
/ firmative argument He quoted exhaus-
lively from statistics. showing that crime
was less in those countries which have
adopted life Imprisonment as the maxi
mum penalty for murder than Fl others
Capital Punishment Rare.
Belgium" he said. has tried both
system for periods OF years. and Il has
found. without exception. that murder
/ decreases under the administration OF life
| Imprisonment The fact is that murder
ers fear more & small punishment that Is
certain than a great punishment which is
/ inflicted only when the proof Is sbso-
lutte. The negative side has cited the
| fact that capital punishment is inflicted
only in a few cases as an argument This
I Is an argument; but rot on their side -
The debate was closed BY Joseph
Cure, 'oe. who emphasized the Biblical
authorization OF capital punishment and
dealt with the psychology OF the Grim
inai
The Judges brought IN a verdict for the
Affirmative, and awarded Ernest A.
Schreiber the prize as best debsJer.
James ". Berry was given honorable
mention The judges we're H. Z. Davis.
Dr. II s. Hodgklns. and D. 3 Klinger.