Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-12-04
Gov. BALDWINFOR
A WHIPPING POST
Connecticut Executive Has De-
cided Views as to Penalties
for Various Violations.


were advocated by Governor Baldwin
of Connecticut in an address delivered
before the governors conference here.
In his speech Governor Baldwin de-
clared he was more in sympathy with
the classical school of penology' than
the new or noisier one, mainly made
up Of sentimental humanitarians or
theoretical psychologists"
The former school, he said, main
tains that criminals should ordinarily
be punished by subsection to some
form Of suffering; the other that they
should ordinarily not be made 70 suffer
for their misdeeds except as nature
forces it upon them through the mind,
but that their treatment by the state
should be aimed primarily at their NOR
al Improvement
There is a certain crime Of which
one seldom speaks Governor Bald
win continued Its very name has
come TO be banished from our news
papers. Yet the thought of it is daily
terror to every woman in the south and
brings a sense OF uneasiness and con-
straint into the life of her northern
sisters. It is the cause of most Of those
lynching cases which disgrace our civ
lization. II is to be kept down only
by the seyerest methods
as IL too much to say If the courts
are not ready to apply these, the peo-
pie will? The people who may thus
bring some rufian to his death will
not be the best people in the commun-
ity. They may occasionally seize the
wrong man But has a conviction ever
yet been had in the United States of
any one of mob of lynchers for hang
ing man accused Of rape?
That crime does a wrong to a wo-
man which many of them have deemed
worse than death. Such a man is no fit
subject for an indeterminate sentence.
He has proved his inherent weakness
of will power. In every clear case of
rape, in my judgment there should be
an operation of sterilization"
In discussing what he termed the
two schools of modern penology, Gov
ernor Baldwin said:
Modern penology, in both schools,
has accepted imprisonment as the main
method of punishment. The old plan
has been to use capital punishment
very freely; bodily mutilation occa-
sionally; fogging often.
Capital punishment which in Black
stones day. England inflicted for 100
offenses, is now universally restricted
to very few. and has been totally
abolished in many jurisdictions. Visi-
bic bodily mutilation has also disap-
peared. Flogging remains only in ex-
cep-ional cases, as for children. So
far, it seems to me, that it should be
preserved.
"A prison, do what you will, is a
cherries place, and its associations I'M
/ desirable. It's maintenance brings a
4 large expense to the state, which the
earnings Of the prisoners, in most
cases, are quite inadequate to meet,
particularly when they are serving
short sentences. The indeterminate
. sentence is the remedy for this, al pres
ent most popular But for certain
/ classes of offenders, it hardly fits the
( case.
"A wife-beater. for instance, or the
burglar who uses torture TO compel his
victims to produce their valuables,
ought to suffer a certain punishment
which he may know beforehand. 1t
seems 70 me that the prospect Of a
whipping-of course a moderate and
private one-would often best answer
that purpose. l have myself, when
serving on the bench, more than once
sent culprits to Jail where it would,
think, have been of more good to the
interests of public justice to infiict a
punishment shorter in duration and
sharper in pain.
Particularly is this true of boys. A
sound whipping is a remedy that the
world has always recognized as belong
ing 10 their time of life. In the great
schools of England birChiug has been
freely dealt out by the best teachers,
and it brings no shame, unless there
be a want of pluck to stand it bravely.
1T is, in practice, often inflicted, in
an irregular way, under authority of a
court, upon young offenders. The
choice is given TO a boy, or perhaps his
parents, whether he shall be sentenced
70 fine or Imprisonment, or whipped
by, or under the eye of, a court officer
think this is often a judicious method
TO pursue but it would be more sat
isfactory if there were a statute to au.
thorize it, and also if this authority
were not dependent on anybody's con
sent.
There are two objections, and really
but two objections, to reinstating the
ancient penalty OF sterilization-it in
wolves an act which might be crit
cised as cruel; and its effect is to low
er human life beyond recovery.
las for the cruelty of 1t, the same de
gree of suffering is inflicted, for a pur
pose in one respect not dissimilar. OF
half Of our larger domestic animals
We do not deem it cruelty to them 81
far as vasectomy is concerned, it ha.
recently been pronounced not a crue
form Of punishment by the supreme
court OF Washington, and in severa
sta'es there are laws authorizing the
operation upon degenerates in aims
houses, asylums and prisons
There is g crime still meaner thar
that 10 which I have alluded that {