The New York herald., 1922-12-17
A Way to Justice.

the criminal law entirely and empower
some wise and experienced citizen to send
to prison all those who deserve to go there
And there should be no appeal; no criminal
definitions or statutes Anybody could ac
cuse anybody else of anything that he
thought deserving of condemnation and the
Wise One would hear what each had to
say, interrogate their witnesses, and send
either or both to Jail.
: Many of the public have an idea that
some system tantamount to this is even
now in operation and that such a Wise One
already exists in the person of the District
Attorney, who has only to wave his hand
to have the unrighteous swept from the
face of the earth. Would that this were
less to the inadequacy of the substantive
law of crimes, the ineffectiveness of orimi-
nal procedure, or the weakness of human
nature. than to tho inherent impossibility
of arbitrarily differentiating between crime
and sin. This cannot and never will be
done. And for not accomplishing the i'm
possible the District Attorney will always
be blamed.
Over a quarter of a century ago our
present Mr.. Justice Holmes said.
What have we better than a blind guess
to show that the criminal law in its present
form does not do more harm than good ?'
I do not know how Judge Holmes an
swered or would have answered that
question, nor am l entirely clear as to
~ MI
equaities of justice, the laws delays, the
absurdity, ineffectuality and cruelty of put
ting people in Jail, the proud mans wrong
and the oppressor's contumely have been
favorite subjects of rhetoric, poetry and
irony from the time Of Solon to that of
Bernard Shaw. But 1 am an optimist.
believe that the criminal law in it's present
form is a lot better than nothing. l even
go further. l regard it as most encourag-
ing that such slight leaven of successful
prosecution should have the salutary eff
feet it does on the lump of humanity.
Yet while the criminal law may be vain
attempt to render the Day of Judgment
superfluous. and while it is doubtless sus-
ceptible of immea surable improvement it
would be good enough to muddle along with
provided could get the right sort OF
prosecutors to administer it. That is the
trouble with most human institutons-and
the criminal law is no exception The work
of the Cleveland Foundation in its recently
completed survey of the administration of
criminal justice in Cleveland. Ohio is both
thorough and admirable. Commenting up
on its report the Neto Republic saws 'In
the mind of the average citizen the failure Of
our criminal law to accomplish it's purpose
is doubtless ascribed largely to the per-
sonal delinquencies of the individual hu-
man beings who at a given time are
charged with its administration. Perhaps
the most notable thing about the Cleveland
survey is that it proceeds in utter disre-
gard of this popular notion
A survey into the efficiency of the law
as constituted could hardly proceed other
wise. 1t must assume that a good law is
capable of proper enforcement It's task
is the study of institutions and not men
But personally I share the opinion of what
the Net1 Republic calls "the average citi-
zen" believe that nine times out of ten
the failure of justice is due to the fellow
who pretends to administer it, And in this
with me.
The Attributes Needed.
Common sense and honesty, not clever
ness and oratorical ability, are the attri-
butes needed in a prosecutor. Yet because
of the tradition that the District Attorney