The Alaska daily empire., 1915-04-26

BILL AGAINSl
 EXECUTIONS.
 lcontmued from page ll
 safoty and good order however
 wln scarcely be doubted by any con- s,dorofe person. lt is therefore not deemed necessary to enter upon al discussion of this right for when the right of society is once admitted to nnnish onenses 1t seems difficult to assien any limits to the exercise or that right. short of what tne eAsen- cies of society require. ine eNpeai- ency of capital punishment, however opens a wide field for discussion
 rhere are able men who do not doubt the right but who deny the eSpedi. ency of in0icdng it and t may be ad- mittod that wise legislature ought to be slow In ailxing such punish. ment to any but very enormous and dangerous crimes. The Alaska crim. inal code in this respect is liberal and 1t is strictly within the province of the jury trying the case ot murder in the first degree to iiN the penalty at Imprisonment for life In the an nals of criminal Jurisprudence in Al- aska only two cases of capital punish. ment are recorded. it isalso true chat there have been comparatively large number of murders committed in the Territory where the perpetrators have never been apprehended; and it may be urged that the existence of the law imposing capital punishmnt has not acted as deterrent and it will also be admitted that the bloodiest codes are not those which have most el fecuauy suppressed olenses. The vast water stretches and the lonely trails of Alaska frequently render itI comparatively easy for the offenders to make good their escape. In the past three years there have been atI least six murders committed under conditions apparently of great and premedilated atrocity and 1t is such crimes as these with their attendant danger to society. which should be most euecmary guarded against
 It is clear that capital punishment can have no effect in reforming the oi- fender himself but it may have. and ordinarily does have. the e0ect oi de- terring others from doing likewise. it may be added that a reasonable doubt may fairly be entertained whether any society can lawfully exercise Che pow CT of pnishing beyond what the just Iexigencies of that society require. On the other hand, a total abolition of capital punishment would. in some eases. at least. expose society Co the ! risk Of deep and vital injuries < man who has committed murder deliberate l ly has proved himself unit for society | and regardless of all the duties which belong to It. The safety of society is most effectually guarded by cutting him off from the power Of doing iur- ther mischief If his life foe not taken away the other means lef is con0ne- ment for life. and this not perfect security against the commission of other crimes. for not iufreQueuty ai- ter the lapse Of a few years. through some influence or other. pardon is is. sued and Che offender may again be I menace Co society.
 It would seem therefore that it is difficult to maintain the proposition that capital punishment is at all times and under all considerations nexpedi. ent lt may rather be affirmed that in some cases it is absolutely indis- pensable to the safety and good of so. ciety.
 In States having fixed and perma nent population with well settled con- ditions of society 1t may be conceded that there are stronger grounds for the abolition Of capital punishment than in new countries of sparse and unsettled population. and where social and other conditions can moi be said to be established That in Alaska we have a law.abidiug population need not be said that the very conditions obtaining here are such as to lesson II the commission of crime, or deter it, may be doubted The opportunities for Che escape of the offender are many as has been shown by the eX- perience of the past and to lesson the punishment now provided by existing k law for capital o0ensos would. in my judgment, be most unwlse. This seems to be especially true in view of the fact that within the next few years a large increase of population may be expected. many perhaps of different status of civilization from that which We now enjoy; and while an increase of crime might not follow it would in my judgment be against good pub lic policy to abolish at this time the death penalty With capital punish ment eliminated from the statute book Increase of capital crimes might be II expected and in its absence men might take the law into their own hands and administer lynch-law a condition be- ing thus created which would be re- volting in its effect.
 With the degree of guilt in capital cases. determined by a ipry as is now the case in Alasak, and the fact that as a general rule. humanity iorbids such punishment to be aplied to any