Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-05-04
DEATH AND SOCIOLOGY.
Some Aspects Of the Plan Advocated
by Judge Amidon.
From the Boston Transcript.

From the Boston Transcript.
Although agitation for the abolition OF
the death penalty continues year after
year in a number OF states in this coun
try, from time to time there emanate sug
gestions from schoolgirls. more or less
eminent. that it be more extensively en-
ployed, not merely as a. penalty. but az
a means OF Kidding society of It's burdens
and it's waste. The latest advocate OF
this plan il Judge Amidon of the United
States district court for North Dakota.
He has openly recommended the painless
execution of professional criminals and
the hopelessly insane. He 10 not the frss
modern jurist of standing to express
views of that general character. Cold
/ blooded az the proposition seems. those
" no have advanced it have generally been
regarded as merciful men even in their
judicial capacity. Certain physicians also,
of high professional standing, have taken
similar ground.
Such an idea is not likely to make much
progress. and argument against II would
there fore be wasted. Still, on the basis
of cold logic, those who advance 1t migh-
prove their position strong one. Judge
Amidon says that so few professional
criminals reform that the chances OK sich
result are hardly worth considering.
and that In the case Of the hopelessiy in
sane it would be mercy to put them out
of their misery. These may be premises
not easy to disprove; yet II sometimes
happens that the apparently totally de-
prayed man does develop a conscience
and becomes a useful citizen. and those
pronounced hopelessly insane or nope
iessly afYi:cted with any other malady DO
sometimes confound the experts and re-
turn to the normal activities and pleas.
ures of life Only that infaliibility OF
Judgment -hich will probably never be
attained would warrant society In even
considering this proposed remedy for It's
ills and burdens.
Such an extreme suggestion can hardly
be regarded as progressive. The Amer
lean Indians employed somewhat SIM
liar method Of Kidding their ranks Of the
useless and burdensome members. eithe:
by desertion or I'm some cases ny tne
tomahawk Bentham said that the death
penalty naturally suggested Itself IN tne
infancy Of the state as the best method OF
preventing crime by the ext'rpation or
the criminals Blackstone pointed out one
hundred and sixty offenses in England IN
his day that were punishable with death.
These have now beeh reduced to four,
and in. our own state there il only one.
While the economic value OF such posi-
ton OF social wastrel might he apparent.
the moral effect would be disastrous. 1t
would lower our conceptions OF humanity.
and the same methods that now some
times send sane people into insane re-
treats might then pass them on TO the
| lethal chamber. Crime demands PUNISH unisn-
ment that fits it, not that which antici-
| pates potential crime. Misfortune APP
| peaIs to that which is noblest and best In
| US. and IL We simply eliminated the unfor-
| tunate there would be in time nothing TO
cali out and develop these higher quail
| ties. Moreover. with such q short cut to
! a solution OF this great problem. science
would lack lis present Incentives and
| losing it's momentum. drift backward into
the darkness from which it has emerged