2. THE PRISONER'S SENTENCE.
I believe in capital punishment. When a man falls so low as
maliciously, willfully and premeditatedly, to take the life of a human
being, he should be hung by the neck until he is dead. Before it is just
to impose such a sentence as this upon a human being he should have a
fair and impartial trial, which many persons charged with crime do not
get. If poor and unable to employ the best legal talent, the court
should see that it is furnished. Too often is it the case when a poor
man, charged with crime, makes affidavit that he is unable to procure
counsel, that some young and inexperienced attorney is selected, in
order to give
him a start in practice. The consequence of this inexperience is that
the man charged with crime has to suffer for his lawyer's inability to
secure for him his rights. After the jury has brought in a verdict of
guilty he should have the privilege of taking his case to the Supreme
Court, and have it reviewed by that tribunal at the expense of the
State. No human being should be hung on circumstantial evidence,
unsupported by positive testimony. If the judgment below is confirmed,
then let the murderer be kept in close confinement in the penitentiary
for one year, and, if during that time no new evidence or mitigating
circumstances arise let him be hung by the neck until he is dead.
Let the execution take place in the prison, let it be private and
witnessed by but few persons, designated by the executive of the State.
It is better for the criminal to be hung than to be sent to the
penitentiary for life. While serving out a lifetime sentence he suffers
ten thousand deaths. Those States where the death penalty is inflicted
have the least number of brutal murders, in proportion to their
population. The dread of death is a better protection to society than a
life of imprisonment.
The fiend with murder in his heart thinks "while there is life, hope
remains," and if he is sent to the penitentiary for life he may get a
pardon after a time. But if he is aware of the fact that if he strikes
the fatal blow he must atone for his crime on the gallows, he is more
liable to think twice before striking his innocent victim once. There
should be no such a thing as a life sentence. No criminal should be sent
to the penitentiary for a term longer than fifteen years. The suffering
he endures during this long sentence is enough to atone for any crime he
may commit aside from a brutal murder, and for this he should be hung.
Fifteen years of imprisonment is sufficient to break down almost any
constitution. Having spent this length of time behind prison walls a
man is a physical wreck, and, having atoned for his crime, let him have
the last days of life in the world of freedom. The greatest desire of a
life man in our penitentiaries is to die outside of prison walls. No
criminal should be sent to the penitentiary for less than five years.
After giving him one fourth off for good behavior, he has but little
more than three years of actual service. This will give him plenty of
time to learn a trade, so that
when he goes out of prison he can make a living for himself and for
those depending upon him. For crimes that require lighter sentences of
imprisonment let jails or reformatories be brought into requistion.{sic}
In the eyes of the world a jail sentence is not so disgraceful as one in
the penitentiary.
The plumage of a jail-bird is not so black as that of a
penitentiary bird. The disgrace of being sent to the penitentiary for
one year is as great as being sent for five or ten years. Whether he
goes for one or five years, for all the future he is set down as an
ex-convict. People do not stop to inquire as to the length of his
sentence. The main question is: Was he in the penitentiary? If so, he
wears the mark of Cain—the stamp of disgrace. Not so, if he simply has
been in jail. There are a great many young men, while surrounded by bad
company, yield to temptation and commit crime. A dose of jail service
will do them as much good as a year in the penitentiary. After they get
out they do not feel the disgrace so keenly, and there is some hope for
their reformation. Send them to the penitentiary and it will be a
miracle if they ever amount to anything in the future. If a jail
sentence of a year does not reform a young criminal, or a man of older
years, who has committed his first offense, then give a term in the
penitentiary for five years for the second offense. It is too true that
a sentence to the penitentiary for a first term is the irretrievable
ruin of the young offender. This becomes an obstacle which, during all
the future, he cannot surmount. This plan being adopted let everything
be done to reform the youthful offender while in jail. It is much easier
to carry forward the work of reformation in a jail or reformatory than
in a penitentiary.
