The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1915-01-21
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.

Capital punishment as emedy fol
muredr or other horrible crimes has
long since utterly failed in the &C
complishment of its purpose. The an.
cient law, as inexorable as any law
of the Modes and Persians, can eye
for an we and tooth for a tooth,
no longer deserves place in civil
lied and intelligent sociology. The
death of an individual cannot bring
back to life his victim. The death OF
a murderer can not console the rela-
tives Of the murdered. The death OF
an assassin cannot relieve the want
and suffering caused by the sudden
undoing of breadwinner. Capital
punishment at best means little more
than a legalized murder. In theory
and practice it is wrong. In thory
it fails to reduce the number of MUIR
ders; in practice it is merely venge-
ance, or what used to be considered
the exclusive attitude of the Lord of
Hosts in barbarous times. Like much
of our present penal system, capital
punishment is mistaken idea. 1t is
true that an ounce of prevention is
worth pound of cure, but because a
murder has been committed, the kill
ing of the murderer compensates
nothing and nobody. Oftentimes a
murderer is insane or degenerate, and
in either case he is not responsible.
No man, unless he is consumed with
cowardice and hatred Qorms of de-
generacy) can deliberately plan the
death of a fellowman. And murder
consists in killing ap erosn deliber-
ately. The claim that there can be
no such thing as life Imprisonment.
although made by many eminent writ
ers, has never been established. While
there are exceptions to the general
rule in SINE States, statistics show
that life prisoners scarcely ever es-
cape and but few are pardoned, and
these usually in order that they may
die outside of prison walls. This is
humanely done to conciliate a mother
or a sister generally. We would act
more wisely and effectively in seek
ing to reduce the number of murder
ers by removing the causes of crime
Taking life for life will not serve
our purpose. Several countries have
seen fit to abolish capital punishment
and the predictions of those who
prophesied a large increase in the
number of murders have woefully
failed. Instead 1t is a demonstrable
and demonstrated fact that the
number of murders has actually de-
creased. Capital punishment belongs
to the pre-civilization period and
should have no place in a Christian
age or area. In its brutality it harks
back to the Middle Ages, and smacks
of vindictive Orientalism. There is
too much of vengeance in all our
penal code. A young man commits a
crime. He is sent to prison. He
must pay the price, for, like Shylock.
we demand of him the proud of
flesh. No effort at reformation is
made. He is sent to the scrap heap
and placed with associates who can
only make of him confirmed and
hardened criminal. Whether or not,
the saveragy of society follows him
upon his restoration to freedom. If
he seeks employment with the honest
and earnest intent to reform and re-
model his life. our gumshoe conserya-
tors of society are on his track, eager
to inform his employers Of the unfor-
Inmates REGARD. Except in rare in-
stances this means dismissal. He OBJ
tains other employment, perhaps, but
the end is always the same. when the
laws self-preservation asserts itself
Finding honest employment denied
him by the over-zealous protectors Of
society, he must adopt criminal ways
again or starve. What is true regard
ing minor crimes is also true of capi-
tai punishment for murderers. The
way to prevent murder is not to pun
ish, but to mitigate remove the
causes or incentives to murder. Ha-
tired, rage, thirst for revenge and sim