Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-12
Stop Capital Punishment Says British Penologist

deterrents but they were found to be less eff
fective than other punishments. The real OBJ
lection to torture in the Middle Ages was not
that 1t was cruel but that one defeated his
object in the of it. 1t was not pO-
tent in getting the truth from offenders. The
real acid test of this matter of deterrency Is
made through practice not theory.
GIN NORWAY, Sweden, Holland, Portugal,
Switzerland, Rumania Denmark, Queens
land, Australia and other countries which have
abolished capital punishment the crime situa-
ton has in no single case been adversely at
fected by the change in the nature of the pen
atty. If the death penalty were the only eff
fective deterrent, surely murders would have
increased in those abolitionist countries which
have already made the experiment.
Those States in America which have no
capital penalty certainly occupy a favorable
position in relation to those which retain it, as
the following facts show
Statistics are only available for the rs
States known as the registration area OF
these the State which has the fewest deaths
by violence is Maine, where capital punish
ment has been abolished since 1887 Four of
the next seven States in order of lowest homi-
cidal rates are abolitionist States The eight
States within the area having the highest
homicidal rates all retain capital punishment
From these facts it is clear that the United
States takes her place among other countries
In testifying that the death penalty offers no
security from murders and can safely be dis
penSed with
Grimes of violence in some cases. are con-
sidered in the light of profession in America.
because they pay AS soon as you perfect your
machinery of dispensing swift justice and pun
ishment you will put step to this furnishing
1nF1f of inI
more efficiency the part of the police and
regulation of the sale of firearms will all help
to curb crime far more than capital punish
ment will. The latter leads to sensationalisrn
and sensatonalism leads to initiative crime
The whole combination has terrible effects on
children.
There is a terrific glamour about a murder
trial The spectacle of person fighting for his
life against the whole forces of the State in
PRODUCES gladiatorial element into a murder
trial which provokes extraordinary public in
teTest. The utmost publicity is given to 1t.
People of inadequate self-control are thereby
enabled to dwell upon the details of such
crimes, with real danger of repeating them.
The morbdly disposed brood about 1t and. as
certain people are highly susceptible to sug-
gest1on, this often causes the beginning Of a
cycle of like crime
HERE is much evidence to show that the
unhealthy interest in murder trials,
stimulated by capital punishment, often leads
to morbid hero worship Of the criminal and In
some cases even to initiative crime
Another objection to the death penalty is its
trrevocability for there have been proved cases
OF the conviction of innocent men. There Is
little chance Of an error of justice coming to
caDital flor
the condemned person is executed and no lon
ger able TO plead his case. In the future when
our knowledge of human nature becomes more
comprehensive, we will be more convinced Of
the fallibility of human justice
NO punishment recognized by law inf1icts
suf1erng upon so many innocent persons as
does the death penalty Foremost among these
are the prison officials upon whom falls the re-
sponsibilty OF carrying cut the sentence who
1eel such an acute sense of personal shame in
doing 1t. There is something wrong with an
act that lessons the self-respect of those who
accomplish 1t. Even among the strongest sup
porters of the death penalty few would tben-
serves De willing to carry it out. We have TO
right to ask our public servants to do In cn,r
behalf that to which we have a moral obfee-
ton ourselves
The attitude of the man on the street IN n
public executioner reflects the universal oppo-
sltlon 10 the death penalty. Nobody loves an
executioner. Few women care to marry exc
cutioners and not many people want them for
intimate friends
1--WE MUST remember, too the death pen-
atty infiicts cruel suffering upon the In
nocent family OF the condemned man without
In any way alternating the suffering of the
family Of his victim In executing the nnr-
derer we are torturing all his innocent reI.-
tives. No matter how bad a man is his mother
is never going to cease loving him. She lives
on to suffer long after he has been put m,t
OF the way, beyond all suffering.