The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-12-19
p.ARDoNs AND REFORM.

The arrest and pleading guilty yes
terday to 4 crime similar in nature
Ia that for which he was convicted,
lh% Wilson Zell who was one of the
convicts pardoned at the last session
of the pardon board. gives rise to the
inquiry whether or not the indiscrim-
mate p%ardoning of convicts Is not
a burlesque on justice and a cheap
ening Of the danger of crime. The
Times does not want to be understood
as demanding an y for an eye or
q tooth for a tooth, though that was
the law Of the inspired lawgiver. A
life for a life merely to satisfy the
anger and aroused vengeance Of the
public mind is 0 the underlying
principle Of criminal jurisprudence.
T. contrario, the setting aside Of all
power OF the courts by granting par
dons without justifiable grounds, is
catering to an ~overdeveloped senti-
ment that has no place in the criminal
procedure of n state.
There are various classes of Grim
inals-almost as many as there are
individuals. 1t has been the ideal of
c~rminologists that the criminal be re-
formed and made into a useful ci1i-
zeR. This is certainly a good plan.
And with some Of the unfortuna1es
1t is a success. The merit system and
the parole system We're intended to
reach men of that kind. But this hui
name scheme is not applicable to the
depraved criminal. The man who
commits crime. whether against
property Or person. under the stress
OF passion may not be-in fact. sell
dom is-a hardened criminal; that is,
q man who commits crime with the
same deliberation that honest men
pursue business. If in an unguarded
moment, the reason is %dcthroned, the
hand of mercy extended through a
pardon, is a matter of justice. There
is no danger to society in returning
such an individual to it.
In the case of Zell he had been
pardoned but a few days when he
committed a crime similar to his
first offense. The punishment did not
dAre him and probably the compile
ton of his sentence would not have
done so. His pardon certainly had
h effect Of removing in his mind
the dangers to himself of violating
the law. The pardon board will prob
ably be called upOn again to pass on
his case before the new sentence cy-
pires. In the case of the one woman
in the state p~enitentiary, whom Gov
ernor Burke told an eastern audiences,
during II recent trip of the COVER
nors' special, he would pardon at
once if he had the power, she was
found guilty of poisoning "a helpless
child. who was in her power, for the
purpose of procuring the insurance
policy on tn cchild's life. The fend
whether man or Woman-whO
could deliberately plan and execute
such Il diabolical crime is outside
the demands of mercy. Such an in
dividual is a mcnac and Il danger to
society. If set free, there is no rea-.
son to believe a similar crime would
not be committed against another
helpless victim if the opportunity af-
forded. That crime was conceived in
the deliberative moments. All the
adherence it involved were flung
aside deliberately and the mind calm
~ planned the execution of the de-
1ibcrato judgment. II requires little
effort to distinguish between the foul.
ness of such n crime and one in
which the mind has been instantly
swept from it's m%"Orings by passion
or some other Overpowcring influence.
The one calls for the fullest punish
nent: the other for the clen1cncy of
pardon.