The Dawson news., 1924-09-23

Some Illuminating Comparisons on
Crime in Various States.
CHICAGO.-Is the death penalty
deterrent to murder and protection
to society?
Much argument over this is likely
to enliven the legislature at Spring
field this coming winter The ques-
ton becomes acute as result of the
judges decision in the Leopold-Loeb
case.
1t is the old attempt to abolish cap
ital punishment in Illinois. 1t is
timely for the ordinary citizen to
prime up on the subject The expert
ence OF other states affords one ap-
proach.
In the last 10 years five states abol-
ished the death penalty and then re-
stored it. The general reason was that
crime had increased
Arizona abolished the eailows as
the maximum penalty for murder in
1910 and restored it in 1918.
| Missouri abolished the death pen
atty in 1917 and restored it in 1919
The homicide rate had increased from
81 for each million population to 103.
Oregon abolished capital punish
ment in 1914 and restored it in 1921.
Washington took the death penalty
off i'll 1913 and put it back in 1919,
largely due to deeds of violence by
the "wobbles."
Tennessee abandoned capital pun
ishment in 1915, re-established it in
1917
Crime Decrease Follows.
Iowa in 1872 got rid of the death
penalty. But six years later that state
restored it by allowing juries to fix
punishment for murder, which is
either death or Imprisonment for life.
In bulletin in 1917 the Massachu-
setts civic alliance said: Murder in
Iowa increased very rapidly from 1872
to 1876, until, for this reason, the
death penalty was restored"
Colorado abolished capital punish
ment in 1897 but as a result of
lynching outbreak in 1000 restored it
in 1901.
Vermont repealed the death penalty
in 1911, except that jury could rem
der a verdict with capital punish
ment" The law however, was sup
posed to be a complete repeal of cap
ital punishment.
! The result, so the civic alliance bull
letin sets forth, was that in the first
year after the repeal there were 20
murders in the little state of Vermont.
But after jury gave a verdict with
capital punishment" in the Elroy Kent
case and sent him to the gallows the
crime wave "subsided almost entirely.
This illustration of the marked eff
feet of the hanging of one man in that
state" says the civic alliance, was so
great that the Vermont legislature in
1913 restored full capital punishment
by mandate for murder, by an over
whelming majority"
Even in Rhode Island which elimi-
mated the death penalty in 1852, muir
der increased and violence among lif-
ers in the state prison became so Sc
rious that in 1883 capital punishment
was partially restored-for murder by
life convict within the prison.
| Thus at least one-eighth of the
states appear to have learned from
actual experience that the death PEN
atty is a service to society and that it
possesses value as a deterrent.
The mere presence of capital punish
ment in the criminal code, of course,
lis not sufficient in itself Inevitability
OF punishment always is a far greater
deterrent of crime than is severity OF
threatened penalty When combined
they are the greatest Encouragement.
Chicago saw this a few years ago.
The crime commission pointed out
that on April /, 1920, there were 135
persons awaiting trial for murder in
Chicago. and of those 104 were out on
bond. many of them committing 9TH
er crimes.
Murder Rate Cut in Half.
Four Judges in the civil courts vol
unteered to sit in the criminal court
until the docket was cleared. In the
trial of these cases II were sentenced
to hang and II to the penitentiary.
The effect upon crimes of violence
murders, burglaries and robberies-
was electrical. The murder rate was
cut in half. Where there were $50
murders in Chicago in 1919 there
were 100 in 1921 The burglary and
robbery rate fell off, and where the
police in 1919 received $4,000 criminal
complaints in 1921 they received 10,-
500. reduction of one-third.
Much OF the propaganda for repeal
OF the death penalty seeks to prove
that fewer murders occur in states
without the gallows than in those with
it. The figures, however, are the re-
verse of convincing.
In the first place, statistics on crime
are haphazard and unsatisfactory and
not standardized Conditions vary
greatly according to states, the make
up of population. the Capitalization of
people in cities. One pamphlet seeks
to compare a homicide rate Of IS per
million population in the five states,
Maine, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Min
nesota and Michigan, which have no
capital punishment, with rate OF 81
per million population in rs death pen
atty states. The comparison is worth
less, one factor that makes 1t foolish
is the rate among the negroes in the
south, which is about five umes as
great as the homicide rate among
whites.