The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1917-11-02
ON LAW ENFORCEMENT.

We read in one of our exchanges
the remarks of a minister on the m
forcement of the law in which at
least i~nferentiallv he asserts that
there is more laxity in the enforce
ment of the laws each year anh that
more men each succeeding year are
escaping the punishment which their
crimes merit. In support of his con-
illusions he asserts that a fewer num-
Der of individuals were executed last
year than some year before.
A person who asserts, or thinks,
that criminals are standing a better
chance to escape punishment in the
courts today than heretofore has not
been a close observer. There never
was a time when the judgments of
the courts against wrong-doers were
more speedy and more certain. Any
lawyer and any judge who has a
knowledge of these matters will bear
out this statement. The records of
the courts will prove that it is true.
The records of the criminal court
in the county where the minister
spoke will show that few men charg-
ed with crime escape conviction and
punishment.
The truth of the matter is that
the pendulum, in many places, has
swung to the other side. In many
parts of the country to charge a
man with crime is to secure his con-
viction and punishment, often re-
CARELESS of his guilt. In counties
not so far away from Abbeville men
have been convicted of crimes who
were not guilty, and it has been
hard for the innocent to secure JUS
tice. The presumption of innocence
which the law throws around a man
charged with crime is worth little
nowadays. When one is charged
with crime he is generally required
to prove his innocence.
e. It is true that men charged with
murder and other capital offenses
are not often executed. They are
most frequently convicted of man.
slaughter, (which is the real crime
in most homicides) or lesser crimes,
or they are recommended to mercy,
and receive a prison sentence.
= The preachers should not be sur
prised that the number of executions
are growing less. Preaching the doc
trines of a religion which embodies
the commandment against man.
Staying the preachers should not be
surprised that their hearers refuse
to stain their hand with blood even
when they are a part of the machin-
cry of a judicial tribunal. And
while we believe that the preachers
may demand Of the people to
whom they preach obedience to all
laws, we believe that they might ask
that justice, be tempered with mercy,
and that the number of executions
be made less and that prison SEN
fences be substituted for execution
rather than cry out for human
blood. We do not believe that the
Master whom we are exhorted to
follow at this. late day would favor
execution for any crime.
And the preachers might profit
their hearers by advising a more
wholesome respect for the courts,
whose human machinery is like other
human agencies, sometimes out of
alignment, but which in general runs
about as nearly perfect as the ma
chinery, over which the preachers
preside. AS a matter of fact we be-
lieve the judges are better qualified
to run the courts than the preachers.
It may not have occurred to some
preachers that a man who has blood
on his hands is enduring a punish