Tonopah daily bonanza. [volume] (Tonopah, Nev.) 1906-1929, 1911-11-22
sENTIMENTALITY AND CRIME.

10 temper Justice with mercy is the ideal and
also the practicable standard for the administers
lion Of the law and, happily, within the last few
years the tendency in all parts OF the civilized
world is to regard the prevention OF CRIME as far
more essential than its punishment. In the hui
name and wise modern method of juvenile courts,
OF probation for first offenders and the parole
system for convictS. society is abandoning the
old theory and practice Of punishment. and is en-
ploying measures far better calculated to protect
itself which is the first aim of criminal law.
But in all this righteous and wise modern
crminology il is of the utmost Importance, for the
protection Of society, that manly virtue and san
ity should not be imposed upon by mawllish sen
timentality and hyseria The professional Grim
inal is reality. and until the millennium arrives,
society must rotect itself against him Moreover,
the sort Of false pity that is Showered upon the
criminal the vapid that are made for
crime the resentment that is shown against pun
Shment and the plea that the offender should be
wrapped up in absorbent cotton and treated as
Il pampered invalid instead Of being kept behind
iron bars in comparative discomfort and on hard
fare all tend rather to encourage than to deter
the criminal We are asked to believe that the
activity Of the second-term burglar is due to the
sins Of society rather than the young man S own
sin and the young man is held up before the pub
lie rather as martyr and hero, even as a
prophet than sef-disgraced feon. Humanity
and Justice rightly insist that when offender
has served his term he has eXpated his crime
and society should be at much pains to give
him fair opportunity to re-establiSh his rcputa-
ton as it took to punish him for his ofense. But
society also is right in refusing the privileges OF
equal citizenship to the paroled prisoner until he
has proved himself worthy of that citizenship
The stigma should be removed when the convict
leaves the pententary free man, but the main
factor in the removal of that stigma is the con
duet and character Of the man himself. Give hin
every change to re-estabsh himself and this is
better done by manly aid than by mawkish sen
tmentaity. His trouble is with himself, not with
society as his apoogists pretend, and society viii
aid him best not by sitting at his feet to Absorb
his tale Of woe but by setting him to honest work
Sentimentality is always fashionable in de
generate age, and is fostered by degenerate PEG
pie In the third quarter Of the eighteenth cen
fury it was quality highly regarded and had its
enfeebling effect upon morals, manners, iteratur'
and the art But healthier spirit prevailed thu
virtue Of manliness, sound living and straight
thinking ousted the sentimentalistS, who came tC
be regarded with sheer disgust "A sentimental
mind wrote Archbishop Whatey, lis rather
prone to sverwrought feeling and exaggerated
tenderness The biography of porchclmbel
and the essays Of the .stick-up" may have theil
purpose but they not food for babes, being
apt to disseminate vast amount of misinforma
ton and to propagate poisonous sentimentaity
which acts more as tonic than preventive o.
crime.