HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.
![handle is hein.death/cappun0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 1864.]
CAPITAL PUNISHMENTS.
AFTER an interval of several
years public attention has once
more been directed to the question
of the abolition of capital punish-
ments; and this time the advocates
of that measure have so far suc-
ceeded as to procure the appoint-
ment of a Commission to inquire
into the whole subject. It is to be
hoped that their inquiries will not
be confined to the single question
whether men shall continue to be
hung for murder, but that it will
extend to some other subjects closely
connected with the principal point
at issue, and often allowed to ex-
ercise great influence over the
opinions formed respecting it.
The subject will be found to fall
under the following heads: First,
Ought capital punishment to be
inflicted under any circumstances
whatever ? Secondly, Ought any
alteration to be made in the defini-
tion of the crime for which it is
infiicted; namely, Wilful murder?
Thirdly, Ought any alteration to
be made in the present administra-
tion of the prerogative of pardon?
These three questions are perfectly
independent of each other; and the
matter will be greatly simplified
if they are separately considered.
First, then, Ought capital punish-
ment to be inflicted for any crime
whatever, and particularly ought
it to be inflicted for murder? We
think it ought. First, because no
other punishment deters men so
effectually from committing mur-
der; secondly, because no other
punishment gratifies and justifies
in so emphatic a manner the vin-
dictive sentiment, the existence of
which is one of the great safeguards
against crime; thirdly, because no
other way of disposing of great
criminals is equally effectual, appro-
priate, and cheap.
First, no other punishment de-
ters men so effectually from com-
mitting crimes as the punishment
of death. This is one of those pro-
positions which it is difficult to
prove, simply because they are in
themselves more obvious than any
proof can make them. It is pos-
sible to display ingenuity in arguing
against it, but that is all. The
whole experience of mankind is in
the other direction. The threat of
instant death is the one to which
resort has always been made when
there was an absolute necessity for
producing some result. Those who
argue that the punishment of death
does not terrify, may be challenged
to answer this single question.
Suppose a pistol were levelled at
the head of a man proposing to
commit murder, and suppose he
knew that the death of his victim
would immediately be followed by
his own, does any one suppose that
the murder would be committed?
Again, men, in a good cause, and
under the influence of good senti-
ments and favourable circumstances,
are capable of acts of the most
heroic courage; yet even in the
heat of battle it is hardly possible
to get men to encounter certain
death. They will run great risks,
but, as Sir William Napier said of
himself, there is always 'a secret
springing kind of hope,' which sus-
tains them. No one goes to certain
inevitable death, except on compul-
sion. Put the matter the other
way. Was there ever yet a criminal
who, when sentenced to death and
brought out to die, would refuse the
offer of a commutation of his sentence
for the severest secondary punish-
ment? Surely not. Why is this?
It can only be because ' All that
a man has will he give for his
life.' In any secondary punishment,
however terrible, there is hope ; but
death is death; its terrors cannot be
described more forcibly. If we look
at facts, not at the narrow and incon-
clusive facts which are put forward
as statistical arguments on this
subject (as to which more will be
said hereafter), but at broad facts,
notorious to all mankind, it is plain
that the punishment of death,
when rigorously inflicted, has tre-
mendous deterring force. Take two
instances-the Reign of Terror and
the suppression of the Indian mu-
tiny. Can any one say that in these
cases the punishment of death did
3D2
753](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.death/cappun0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)