Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-03-22
WHO'S MAKING AMERICA
SAFE FOR MURDERERS?
Crime Laws Hereabouts Seem Hardly
More Effective Nowadays Than
the Volstead Act

Swayrd by sentimental horror when they are
asked to render a verdict which calls for the
death penalty. Homicide. il one may judge
by the current record of American courts,
will soon be as safe as golf.
There time not long ago when
unexplained and unpunished murders were
not readily forgotten or viewed as common
plac" and unavoidable incidents in the
routine of events Very rich men who used
millions TO obStruct or confuse the mcchan-
ism of the law. to slow down and drag out
court processes to Il point at which the IN
tcrcSr of the public and the energy Of prose-
rutorS lapScd together. have escaped the
consequences Of major crimes on few oc-
UuSiOnS. but they escaped usually by the
breadth Of hair and after agoni2ing or
deals. Nowadays Il man accused of murder
will seem to be heading straight for CON
viction on one day and on the next hc will
be receiving thC congratulations of his
friends as a free citizen.
The trend of recent events in the courts Of
Philadelphia is clearly suggestive of d
minishing general regard for human life
and the statutes erected for it's protection.
But our record is no worse no more sig
nitcant, than the records established else
whore. Another woman charged with mur.
der has been acquitted on her own testi-
mOny. In the coal fields of West Virginia,
where murder was an organized business
ana WNNtP uOONE twenty lNpS were uPllD-
crafty sacrificed in gun fights between strikers
and strike breakers the courts have been
unable to declare any one guilty.
Within the past few months at least two
men were murdered with brutal deliberation
in Philadelphia No one has been adc-
Quatcly punished for either crime and it is
not likely that any one will BE-.
\ Judge presiding at the trial Of a person
charged with murder is usually preorcupiCd
with the task OF maintaining the technical
cheeks and safeguards intended to insure
simple justice 10 the guilty and the innocent
alike. Jurymen are the Interpreters Of facts
revealed in the evidence. The lawyers for
! the defense have one dominating. driving
! purpose in mind when they plead in what is
technically known AS "a bad case. They
sock to create a doubt The doubt in tn"
collective mind Of the jury is the thing that,
| under the law. must shield the most in
human of murderor>. The first signs of It's
existence ar" 10 thc lawyers for the defense
more welcome than the sight of land was to
| Columbus
This is in way as il should be- The
! law j. not an agency of vengeance. II j.
established in the interest of justice. Ii
! the rights Of an accused man were not pro-
| toct"d at every angle, if judges permitted
! rhcir personal feelings 70 sway them. if doubt
| in the mind Of jury was not always viewed
! a. Justification of HrQuittal or punishment
! miIdrr than the cvidcnc" seems TO warrant.
! then. indeed we should have cause 70 worry.
! vet i j. certain thar justice is not always
| done in murder trials.
Luri"> Ur" often Il bit too ready to douOt.
| Somewhere" in til" machinery created for the
| enforcement of common laws tU"r" ure weak
! links. THESE weak links S"pm in tNe light
! Of recent and current events. to be the police
7 81, I,. e..