The Washington herald., 1920-11-22
Unpopular Laws Must Be Enforced,
Says Taft; Time to Regard Public
Opinion Is Before They Are Passed

criminals. The unwarranted dis
trust of the power of Judges to ex-
ercise rightfully the function that
they always had in a common law
trial in dealing with the jury is a
precious boon to violators of the
law.
The present wave of crime Is
doubtless one OF the sequelae of the
war. Four millions of men were
taken from their usual means of
livelihood and their places filled.
Now they have been thrown back
upon the community, and a small
percentage of them have been
stranded and are unable or unwiii-
ing to find work. This is a fruitful
source of crime. The reaction from
this war. like all wars, has, too. q
demoralizing effect upon the moral
restraints of tho community itself.
tempting to violation of law.
For years the administration of
the criminal law in many of our
State courts has been hImiliatingly
inefficient and q real disgrace to our
civilization. The theory that nine
ty-nine guilty men, should escape
rather than that one innocent man
should be punished ha- been car
ried in practice to a ridiculous ex-
treme. The prosecuting machinery
of the law i3 of human construction
and must sometimes err in undue
! severity and In the punishment of
/ innocent persons. II we insist that
, We shall not have prosecutions with
, out absolute insurance that no ac-
cused person shall be unjustly dealt
| with, then we must give up prosecu-
| tion altogether and have no criminal
| law. The innocent man who suffers
| injustice under n properly framed
code of criminal procedure is
! sacrifice to a public cause, as clear
J as any martyr. We must recognize
! that the restraint of crime is essen
tial to society, even though in aecur-
! ing it there may be in rare instances
| innocent victims.
We are suffering from over-en-
thusiasm in the devising of GRIM
inal laws to make people good and
| to reach results that cannot in the
| nature of things be attained in
this way. The failure to enforce
! these laws always adds to. the dis
respect for law and greatly en-
/ larges a class of violators of law
1 immune from prosecution. For a
| time, at least, this must be the eff
| feet of prohibition laws. / am not
now discussing the wisdom of pro-
/ hibition ultimately. but certainly
! during the outset of this new. ma
| tional policy we are witnessing a
/ Generalization that calls loudly for
a sterner enforcement of the ,laY.
! Illicit manufacture and dealing In
| liquors extended through the COM
munity draws in it's train all other
forms of crime. This may be one
! of the reasons for the present
dreadful statistics brought out by
1 Mr.. Fosdick.
The time to give effect to popular
opinion and to have proper regard
to it is when laws are passed. not
when they are being enforced. II
is the possibility of enforcing them
that legislators should consider in
enacting them. Prosecuting officers
are bound by their oaths to disre-
| gard a public clamor whic opposes
! enforcement.
/ The scope of the subject is such
that an article like this cannot dc
| it justice. But one may say this
| That there is no opportunity for re-
form so great and no need of re-
form so crying as the change OF
our procedure in the prosecution OF
| criminals In the humiliating con.
trast between the trial of those ac.
cused of crime in England. a coun-
try having the same common Law
as ours. the same guarantees oi
] personal liberty and the trials In
| many of the State courts of this
country, we may find a reason tc
moderate our national pride.