Connecticut western news., 1922-08-10
SYMPATHY FOR THE CRIMINAL
 OR ACCUSED.

A very peculiar trait of human character crops out whenever an individual is arrested and brought \ before Court for trial, and that is sympathy for the accused and feel ing of almost resentment against the Court, officers and prosecuting attorney. This quite often is not confined to the unorganized public but is shown by jury who will sometimes make a hero out of 9 worthless scoundrel who has com mitted some misdemeanor, simply because their sympathy has been aroused. A few weeks ago in a neighboring town court there was enacted a scene which approached the realm of making a joke out of court procedure. It would appear from press reports that a remon- strance had been filed with the. State Police Department against permitting merry-go-round on Sun days, and after a due hearing the State Police Superintendent ordered the closing of the merry -go-round on Sundays. The proprietors of the amusement park in defiance of the orders of the State Police insisted on running the merry -go-round and were arrested and brought into Court. The accused employed a good attorney and after a trial were found guilty. The court fined them the minimum and costs and then re- mitted all he could and practically apologized for the insult inflicted upon them in having them arrested.
 It happened that the accused were good fellows but that should not deter Judge from doing his duty and imposing a penalty when the law and authorities have been defied as they were in that case. Sympathy for a fellow man ought to be en- outraged but it ought to be prac- ticed more zealously toward an innocent party than against the criminal.
 Many times it has happened right here in the Town of North Canaan that the local authorities have ar- rested some party or parties for committing some outrageous and indecent crime and were met with criticism from people who had bet ter be backing up the enforcement of our laws rather than letting their sympathy run away with them and taking sides with criminal who has perpertrated some crime.
 New York City like the rest of the country has been experiencing a crime wave which has reached such proportions that people hardly dare to venture out on the streets with out some body guard; a great many newspapers have advanced reasons for this prevalence of crime such as the influence of the war, and prohi- bition, but the real underlying cause for this great increase of crime is the lack of proper enforcement ot the law and particularly the lack ot cooperation on the part of the pub, lie in backing up the officers and courts in a due observance and rigid enforcement of oure criminal laws Our Judges must turn over a new leaf and begin to deal out more severe penalties when these crirnin- als are caught and brought before them. 'H"
 In this good old State of Connec- ticut we have gone the limit in pro- tecting and safeguarding the rights of the accused. We have enacted laws providing for public defender who conducts most complete and rigid defense of an accused at the expense of the State. In other words we have placed ourselves in that peculiar position of placing a fnan- cial burden upon the State to assist the criminals. in evading a punish
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