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1 Lulu Wanger, Notes Favoring Capital Punishment [1] (1920)

handle is hein.death/nfavcp0001 and id is 1 raw text is: CAPI TA-Lm CAPITAL PUNISHMENT T'- first duty two Soverign ow-:s to ora citizen is the protect ion an,'-Drs rvation of his lIf 'rmr vio,nca. It follows that every safeguard an, preventivL rTossible to Oe proviln, it is tr duty of th. ov-rnment to provide. In th foundation of governm.ents it was recuired that there be a -nenalty against murder to ta(e last degree deeadful and de terring, fatal and final. That penalty in miost states was death. Goldsmith an eminent British poet ald novelist says: In cases of murder the right of the State to take the life of tace criminal is obvious, as it is the duty of us all from th law of self defense to cut off that man, who has shown a disregard for t r life of another. This opinion was strongly su-nported by Benthaim, Romilly, Basil Montague and Machintosh, othr noted Englishment In cnsilering th ahvisatility of abnlishinA Caoital Pan- ishmant, an adenuate substitute must be provided. Is this sub- stitut im risonment for lifo? I think not. It is ina-4d strangP tlhat the comunirty should feel bound to nreserve the life of the rrurdar an other dangerouis criminals and give them a chance,4e how-r remot, to again proy u-non snci ety. Im-nri sonment giv-s a cnance to scare, and in carrying out th2e scane to make it l1ikly that the priminal will take th- life of a prison offical or somie other -oerson- It givas the criminal a chance for a pardon after serving part of his s ntence. By the system inow prevailing in most prisons, it is nossiole to got credits for ioo behavior; then the friends of the criminal get busy, the friends of the victim remain silent, political influence is brought to oear, sympathy usurps the place of judg- ment, and usually the criminal comes forth fromii prison and the chances are that he will again enter a life of crime, for it is ostablished by statistics that fully 745 of those rmloasd from nrison thka another chanco. (The cnrtain+v that the murArnr would not suffor ath would invitable increase t e crime. Ir Woul , in cffect, say to the criminal: iCap tal punishment is now abolish*A, Murd r and you are saetd. We wil prIslrv9 your life, t-ach you a trans an,! ive uTO l, onrtuxnityT to ref'oru. Now, by retaining the eath penalty, we will have a just and necssary right to rid the earth of dangerous criminals for the ^oenefit of society. Ii a recent news Aes-natch, you will remem- ber that a certain notorious mea trait robbe; having served a sentence of 12 years, was released, and within the next two or three years, again attemtted to roba triah, bein.g. killed in the attqr-nt, How muet. better it woult have been to taiK his life on the first off nse,AU - e -fe- 44 AD ti 0 of life terers go insane during their confinement, and this is substituting death by slow totture to death at one stroR .

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