Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-02-20
DTATH PENALTY
IN PENNSYLVANIA
Relation of Capital Punishment
to Number of Murders Said to
Be Fortuitous-Will Any
Law Be Enforced?
By DIR. AUSTIN O'MALLEY


| lshw.ut iu Pennsylvania the arguments
,f'nrrd iu favor OF the abolition Of the
death penalty are. as usual, more S'hi'-
mental than rational As the law Is ap-
piled in this state at present, II makes
little or no difference whether the sanction
ct the law against murder is death or inn
prisonmcpt
Possibly rrc imprisonment would be to
slight degree more effective than death'
because there might be more convictions
by our incompetent, emotional JutloS II
the punishment were imprisonment alone.
In an ideal condition, where the doci-
sion would D.. made by a bench Of Judges,
or oven commission of lawyers. there ia
little doubt that the death penalty would
hc moro effective than imprisonment
Thorc seems, however to be no posSlbd-
fly of attaining this change, as the jury
system has become "a couFcuital suporst'
tiuu among Euglish-Fpcaktng nations.
| Tho term effective Is Eravcly misuscd OF
late. Tho deterrent effect Of tho sanction
Of law should not hc effective IN
physical sense, but only i'm an cmotlNe
sense II needs to hc deterrent only in
go far as M uaoIf sufficient TO induce
rational win tn observe the law; and,
secondly m the sons" that there Is a
proportion uctwnou the reward or pam
4 consequent uu the Observance or violation
OF the Law and that observance or viola
| tIon 4 sanction # not to be effective in
/ tho sense that it mbbits impulse. or over
| vhoms voluntary action.
Politicians and talcamon who say they
! INV ' ''' ''.'' i.., ,i,,
,u,... ...'.,,". ' .,,,,,,,,i moral
mnri,n force. ma, am emotional inipuIsp. and
/ Those "conrcicutiuus" obicctors are purely
/ emotional Thrv are like the English
/ sackors who object to the mud ion the
/ trenches "uu conscientious motives An
| individual has supreme natural right TO
.,t tgf
! right oven 10 the cNtcut OF killing a formally
/ or materially unjust aEgrossOr upon this
| right because the right the aggrcsSor has
| TO life falls by the fact of the aggression
] int" a position Of luridic inirrolliF 10 the
! right the attacked man possesses; and thus
! the aEgrcsa"rs life is Justly Sacrhc'a J."
| plrs'rN" lu' innocent HE, AWAY" a'ppoS-
! IiE %" "in'f hGaHN VIII HNdIL F"E Il 'N'
! reason lh' E'di' may XIII "a h"N''"o Ii'
! defense "i ire social ire or "'d'f WH'"
/ J.. J'oH"lU"'" ~ Ih' act ol murderer
/ Man mas a natural tendency 10 ciNlI society.
/ ana no. 'h'f'."I'' mas 'IE"' 10 preserve
/ 'n' social order I inat preservation re-
! w" '1 '"g ''"'n "' ''r ,'"' '"Vl', ' 10
! ''"''"| p'''"''S'''' 10 h'II the 'n''"'I'''
| The central questions then t" hc answered
/ are: FHS' "orS homicide destroy S"C.e!
! I'",, ''I."','' If '". .'"'''"u vi .,'
49," 90 ''.''.'' '' '', ,'' ", ,,t,,,
"''H ''''''l' ,''1".- we ",,'. y, ~ , u,,' ',''7
,o'IrI,u h'.n''.u' IL '.' 7'al, ''u PL",,I, P,'.
'''' "' " ,'''"7 ',7' '"''' ,'', ",,,
/ ,.',"'I " 'u.l u'.' 'pl'lS ,m' "'u," p'''',,' '
/ '''''"', .N-"''''''' "''M" ''"'" '"'
'uS'',''' '' ''+ ,n ''"N NI'''u"I ',. ",'S" ,''
v. ,''''',. ',",.'r 'nE "u,,'', ",,t D,
! 81, ~ ',,,' '' e., @ i,,i'
''''" ''''" ''' ''''' VI ''' '''
Murder Rate Misleading
| Il" Who'c subject Is extremely ''HPu-
''ird. \ S'aI' may nave 'oT,."" Increase
/ lu MS murder rat" Tor a WhUr aIi'r the
abolition of the death penalty. but TN" real
| reason for the decrease IS oiteh aloEeiu'r
! unconnected with that abolition, FoT 'N-
| ample the abolition has in several instances
taken place i'm time OF social revolution,
and the subsistence of the revolution ana
its causes lcascncd the murder rate; again.
check in the use OF alcohol has been CO.
incident with the abolition and the murder
rate declined because of the absence Of
alcohol To certain degree. This last ap-
pears to be one of the reasons for the de-
cline OF the murder rate i'm Maine. Italy