The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-05-26
TOO MUCH LENIIY.

1t j. admitted by all thoughtful per
sons that our system OF rcprcssing
crime through the operations of the
judiciary is showing signs OF breaking
down under its own weight The prac
ilcc Is too technical, TOO tedious Very
few criminals compared with the to.
tai number of them, are convicted. and
IN every trial tho criminal accused has
by all odds the better of the procedure
Mr.. Hubert Bruce Fuller, in the
World S Work for June, calls especial
attention TO this, scoring the criminal
courts for their objectionable lenity
He quotes President Taft as saying tnat
ga trial in the United States is a
game In which the advantage is with
the criminal. aud if he wins he seems
TO have the sympathy Of the sporting
pabhc' He quotes statistics 10 show
committed annually in the United
States. Less than , per cent of these
criminals pay the penalty fixed by law
for their crime. We have gained the
unenviable notoricty of being nation
of mankillers, surprising even the no
torious record of Italy. We have in
the United States 1l5 homicides an
nualy per million inhabitants; Italy
has 105 per million inhabitants; Ger.
many, Is; France, 10: Great Britain
and Ireland, %, Canada, Just across
our northern border, has but g. Mr.
Fuller naturally asks why should hu-
man life be held so dear in Canada and
so cheap in the United States7' and
he himself furnishes the answer IN say
ing that the comparison between the
systems Of Jurisprudence. and the Ger.
talnty that a crime will be punished
explains the difference. The people OF
States are, broadly speaking, of the
same race. Their systems Of govern
ment are almost identical in principle,
and the laws Of both have common
origin. The people are not essentially
different The difference in he record
of homicide is that with us mankilers
are not punished. with the Canadians
they are punished.
AS n sample of the methods used to
sway juries, Mr., Fuller gives this
A defendant was on trial charged with
forgery: Al what might be termed the
dramatic moment in his defense his law
yers introduced into the court room tho
defendants infant son in the arms or
its mother, and We read that "the jury
was deeply affected by the child's cries"
Referring to a notorious mass OF
Judicial procedure on the West Coast,
ne cites the following as a sample of
the technicahties upon which courts
act to defeat the ends of Justice;
A few years ago 1t was discovered that
the city of San Francisco was being
ton of political and business interests
Among others, Eugene Schmtz, the
Mayor of San Francisco, was convicted
OF the graft and blackmail which made
land After the law had for years been
tortured by various appeals and all the
writs known TO Ingenious inteIlects, the
judgment OF the lower court convlctinc
schmitz was finally reversed by the SUI
premc Court OF California, mainly be-
cause the indictment upon which he had
been tried failed to aiIece that at the
time he was charged with the corr,lp-
ton and Inisteasance he was Mayor OF
San Francisco, a thing which every
newsboy and bootblack in the city knew
and OF which the courts should have Ia
ken judicial notice.
it is shocking record where pub.
lie writer can show that in 5000 mur.
ders only , per cent, or $50, pay the
penalty fixed by law. But that is the
record made. by this great and glorious
-
tenn of public polity, business, or ad-
mInIstration, do we show such woeful
lack Of effectiveness AS in our courts.
President Taft has been outspoken in
regard TO this deep reproach upon the
judiciary for many years. He has been
insistent and candid In deuounciuc the
abortive results in the courts at varia-
ous times since he became President
The American Bar Association has Ia
ken up the question with view to
simplifying procedure and securing
speedy and effective trials, the eIimi-
nation Of tcchnicalities. and the getting
down TO the real pith Of the case Much
is TO be hoped for from the action of
the American Bar Association Presi-
dent Taft is a tower Of strength in NOV
ing for judicial reform, and in time we
may be permitted to hope this reproach
will be lifted from the Inhabitants OF
our noble Republic.