The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-03-01

But while we may abolish the death
penalty easily, the suggestion to abolish
imprisonment staggers us like an earth.
quake. Every moral instinct in oui
little souls leaps up and shrieks In pro.
test, and IL that be not enough We fall
back with full conviction upon the con.
sideration Of security Of property. 1t Is
impossible to consider q measure which
would leave crimes against property
unpublished. And what other punish
ment for them than imprisonment Is
there or can there be?
Argument upon this matter evidently
bids fair to drag in pretty nearly every
thing else-sOciolOgy, political economy
religion, politics. law. medicine. psy-
chology-the whole conduct Of our life
and history Of our opinions. But ! must
content myself here with a few words
and leave volumes to others.
That personal property has value is
undeniable: whether II be worth what
1t costs us in the long run and from all
points OF view may be left to the judg-
ment Of generations to come. Law in
its origins is divine; whether our huma n
derivations from it partake OF it's high
nature is debatable. Medicine and
psychology. protesting much. have not
explained to us what or why We are or
what is our degree Of responsibility for
what We are and do. Politics sits or
the bench and argues through the
mouth Of the public prosecutor; u JUS
tice safe in their keeping?
This age did not invent prisons. but
inherited them from an unmeasured
past. 1t Is . primitive device. The
mother locks up her ma ughty child in
the closet or ties its legs to the bedpost.
Society does the same with its naughty
children. though with one difference
the mother still loves her child. She.
following the example Of God. chastens
In love: but what do We chasten In /?
II not In love. then in hate or indiffer-
ence or to get troublesome persons out
Of our way without regard to harm or
benefit to them.
And that Is not Godlike. but diaboli-
cal, being based upon selfshness. The
community being stronger than the in
dividual. its selfishness Is tyranny or
despotism. Many Of US indeed may be
willing to admit that prisons are per-
haps Objectionable or altogether wrong
in theory; but surely something must
he done with malefactors. and II not
prison. what?
The only answer hitherto il COM
promise-the old answer fresh once
more from the DEVILS inexhaustible
repertoire. We are willing to abolish
the death penalty. which Is more lnerci-
full than imprisonment. but we are un-
willing to abolish the latter, because in
spite OF it's inhumanity it seems to pro-
tect our property. In other words We
consider our own interests exclusively
and the culprit's not at all. though w
still protest that our object in imprson-
ing In as much the individuals reforma-
ton as our own security.
The fact. however. that imprisonment
brutifes and destroys instead Of re-
forming is beginning to glare at us in q
manner so disconcerting and undeniable
| that we feel something has to be done
and in accordance with our ancient
habit and constitutional predispositior
| that something turns out to be COM
promise. We sentence for murder, but
put obstacles in the way Of carrying
| the sentence out. On the same princi-
| pie We will now retain prisons, but make