Tracks Of A Rolling Stone by Henry J. Coke (free e reader txt) 📖

Chapter 18 Pg 94

 

All Punishments Or Penal Remedies For Crime,  Except Capital

Punishment,  May Be Considered From Two Points Of View: 

First,  As They Regard Society; Secondly,  As They Regard The

Offender.

 

Where Capital Punishment Is Resorted To,  The Sole End In View

Is The Protection Of Society.  The Malefactor Being Put To

Death,  There Can Be No Thought Of His Amendment.  And So Far

As This Particular Criminal Is Concerned,  Society Is

Henceforth In Safety.

 

But (Looking To The Individual),  As Equal Security Could Be

Obtained By His Imprisonment For Life,  The Extreme Measure Of

Putting Him To Death Needs Justification.  This Is Found In

The Assumption That Death Being The Severest Of All

Punishments Now Permissible,  No Other Penalty Is So

Efficacious In Preventing The Crime Or Crimes For Which It Is

Inflicted.  Is The Assumption Borne Out By Facts,  Or By

Inference?

 

For Facts We Naturally Turn To Statistics.  Switzerland

Abolished Capital Punishment In 1874; But Cases Of

Premeditated Murder Having Largely Increased During The Next

Five Years,  It Was Restored By Federal Legislation In 1879. 

Still There Is Nothing Conclusive To Be Inferred From This

Fact.  We Must Seek For Guidance Elsewhere.

 

Reverting To The Above Assumption,  We Must Ask:  First,  Is 

Chapter 18 Pg 95

The Death Punishment The Severest Of All Evils,  And To What

Extent Does The Fear Of It Act As A Preventive?  Secondly,  Is

It True That No Other Punishment Would Serve As Powerfully In

Preventing Murder By Intimidation?

 

Is Punishment By Death The Most Dreaded Of All Evils?  'This

Assertion,' Says Bentham,  'Is True With Respect To The

Majority Of Mankind; It Is Not True With Respect To The

Greatest Criminals.'  It Is Pretty Certain That A Malefactor

Steeped In Crime,  Living In Extreme Want,  Misery And

Apprehension,  Must,  If He Reflects At All,  Contemplate A

Violent End As An Imminent Possibility.  He Has No Better

Future Before Him,  And May Easily Come To Look Upon Death

With Brutal Insensibility And Defiance.  The Indifference

Exhibited By The Garrotted Man Getting Up To Adjust His Chair

Is Probably Common Amongst Criminals Of His Type.

 

Again,  Take Such A Crime As That Of The Cuban's:  The Passion

Which Leads To It Is The Fiercest And Most Ungovernable Which

Man Is Subject To.  Sexual Jealousy Also Is One Of The Most

Frequent Causes Of Murder.  So Violent Is This Passion That

The Victim Of It Is Often Quite Prepared To Sacrifice Life

Rather Than Forego Indulgence,  Or Allow Another To Supplant

Him; Both Men And Women Will Gloat Over The Murder Of A

Rival,  And Gladly Accept Death As Its Penalty,  Rather Than

Survive The Possession Of The Desired Object By Another.

 

Further,  In Addition To Those Who Yield To Fits Of Passion, 

There Is A Class Whose Criminal Promptings Are Hereditary:  A

Large Number Of Unfortunates Of Whom It May Almost Be Said

That They Were Destined To Commit Crimes.  'It Is Unhappily A

Fact,' Says Mr. Francis Galton ('Inquiries Into Human

Faculty'),  'That Fairly Distinct Types Of Criminals Breeding

True To Their Kind Have Become Established.'  And He Gives

Extraordinary Examples,  Which Fully Bear Out His Affirmation. 

We May Safely Say That,  In A Very Large Number Of Cases,  The

Worst Crimes Are Perpetrated By Beings For Whom The Death

Penalty Has No Preventive Terrors.

 

But It Is Otherwise With The Majority.  Death Itself,  Apart

From Punitive Aspects,  Is A Greater Evil To Those For Whom

Life Has Greater Attractions.  Besides This,  The Permanent

Disgrace Of Capital Punishment,  The Lasting Injury To The

Criminal's Family And To All Who Are Dear To Him,  Must Be Far

More Cogent Incentives To Self-Control Than The Mere Fear Of

Ceasing To Live.

 

With The Criminal And Most Degraded Class - With Those Who

Are Actuated By Violent Passions And Hereditary Taints,  The

Class By Which Most Murders Are Committed - The Death

Punishment Would Seem To Be Useless As An Intimidation Or An

Example.

 

With The Majority It Is More Than Probable That It Exercises 

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A Strong And Beneficial Influence.  As No Mere Social

Distinction Can Eradicate Innate Instincts,  There Must Be A

Large Proportion Of The Majority,  The Better-To-Do,  Who Are

Both Occasionally And Habitually Subject To Criminal

Propensities,  And Who Shall Say How Many Of These Are

Restrained From The Worst Of Crimes By Fear Of Capital

Punishment And Its Consequences?

 

On These Grounds,  If They Be Not Fallacious,  The Retention Of

Capital Punishment May Be Justified.

 

Secondly.  Is The Assumption Tenable That No Other Penalty

Makes So Strong An Impression Or Is So Pre-Eminently

Exemplary?  Bentham Thus Answers The Question:  'It Appears

To Me That The Contemplation Of Perpetual Imprisonment, 

Accompanied With Hard Labour And Occasional Solitary

Confinement,  Would Produce A Deeper Impression On The Minds

Of Persons In Whom It Is More Eminently Desirable That That

Impression Should Be Produced Than Even Death Itself. . . .

All That Renders Death Less Formidable To Them Renders

Laborious Restraint Proportionably More Irksome.'  There Is

Doubtless A Certain Measure Of Truth In These Remarks.  But

Bentham Is Here Speaking Of The Degraded Class; And Is It

Likely That Such Would Reflect Seriously Upon What They Never

See And Only Know By Hearsay?  Think How Feeble Are Their

Powers Of Imagination And Reflection,  How Little They Would

Be Impressed By Such Additional Seventies As 'Occasional

Solitary Confinement,' The Occurrence And The Effects Of

Which Would Be Known To No One Outside The Jail.

 

As To The 'Majority,' The Higher Classes,  The Fact That Men

Are Often Imprisoned For Offences - Political And Others -

Which They Are Proud To Suffer For,  Would Always Attenuate

The Ignominy Attached To 'Imprisonment.'  And Were This The

Only Penalty For All Crimes,  For First-Class Misdemeanants

And For The Most Atrocious Of Criminals Alike,  The

Distinction Would Not Be Very Finely Drawn By The Interested;

At The Most,  The Severest Treatment As An Alternative To

Capital Punishment Would Always Savour Of Extenuating

Circumstances.

 

There Remain Two Other Points Of View From Which The Question

Has To Be Considered:  One Is What May Be Called The

Vindictive,  The Other,  Directly Opposed To It,  The

Sentimental Argument.  The First May Be Dismissed With A Word

Or Two.  In Civilised Countries Torture Is For Ever

Abrogated; And With It,  Let Us Hope,  The Idea Of Judicial

Vengeance.

 

The Lex Talionis - The Levitic Law - 'Eye For Eye,  Tooth For

Tooth,' Is Befitting Only For Savages.  Unfortunately The

Christian Religion Still Promulgates And Passionately Clings

To The Belief In Hell As A Place Or State Of Everlasting

Torment - That Is To Say,  Of Eternal Torture Inflicted For No 

Chapter 18 Pg 97

Ultimate End Save That Of Implacable Vengeance.  Of All The

Miserable Superstitions Ever Hatched By The Brain Of Man

This,  As Indicative Of Its Barbarous Origin,  Is The Most

Degrading.  As An Ordinance Ascribed To A Being Worshipped As

Just And Beneficent,  It Is Blasphemous.

 

The Sentimental Argument,  Like All Arguments Based Upon

Feeling Rather Than Reason,  Though Not Without Merit,  Is

Fraught With Mischief Which Far Outweighs It.  There Are

Always A Number Of People In The World Who Refer To Their

Feelings As The Highest Human Tribunal.  When The Reasoning

Faculty Is Not Very Strong,  The Process Of Ratiocination

Irksome,  And The Issue Perhaps Unacceptable,  This Course

Affords A Convenient Solution To Many A Complicated Problem. 

It Commends Itself,  Moreover,  To Those Who Adopt It,  By The

Sense Of Chivalry Which It Involves.  There Is Something

Generous And Noble,  Albeit Quixotic,  In Siding With The Weak, 

Even If They Be In The Wrong.  There Is Something Charitable

In The Judgment,  'Oh! Poor Creature,  Think Of His Adverse

Circumstances,  His Ignorance,  His Temptation.  Let Us Be

Merciful And Forgiving.'  In Practice,  However,  This Often

Leads Astray.  Thus In Most Cases,  Even Where Premeditated

Murder Is Proved To The Hilt,  The Sympathy Of The

Sentimentalist Is Invariably With The Murderer,  To The

Complete Oblivion Of The Victim's Family.

 

Bentham,  Speaking Of The Humanity Plea,  Thus Words Its

Argument:  'Attend Not To The Sophistries Of Reason,  Which

Often Deceive,  But Be Governed By Your Hearts,  Which Will

Always Lead You Right.  I Reject Without Hesitation The

Punishment You Propose:  It Violates Natural Feelings,  It

Harrows Up The Susceptible Mind,  It Is Tyrannical And Cruel.' 

Such Is The Language Of Your Sentimental Orators.

 

'But Abolish Any One Penal Law Merely Because It Is Repugnant

To The Feelings Of A Humane Heart,  And,  If Consistent,  You

Abolish The Whole Penal Code.  There Is Not One Of Its

Provisions That Does Not,  In A More Or Less Painful Degree, 

Wound The Sensibility.'

 

As This Writer Elsewhere Observes:  'It Is Only A Virtue When

Justice Has Done Its Work,  &C.  Before This,  To Forgive

Injuries Is To Invite Their Perpetration - Is To Be,  Not The

Friend,  But The Enemy Of Society.  What Could Wickedness

Desire More Than An Arrangement By Which Offences Should Be

Always Followed By Pardon?'

 

Sentiment Is The Ultima Ratio Feminarum,  And Of Men Whose

Natures Are Of The Epicene Gender.  It Is A Luxury We Must

Forego In The Face Of The Stern Duties Which Evil Compels Us

To Encounter.

 

There Is Only One Other Argument Against Capital Punishment

That Is Worth Considering.

Chapter 18 Pg 98

 

The Objection So Strenuously Pleaded By Dickens In His

Letters To The 'Times' - Viz. The Brutalising Effects Upon

The Degraded Crowds Which Witnessed Public Executions - Is No

Longer Apposite.  But It May Still Be Urged With No Little

Force That The Extreme Severity Of The Sentence Induces All

Concerned In The Conviction Of The Accused To Shirk The

Responsibility.  Informers,  Prosecutors,  Witnesses,  Judges, 

And Jurymen Are,  As A Rule,  Liable To Reluctance As To The

Performance Of Their Respective Parts In The Melancholy

Drama.'  The Consequence Is That 'The Benefit Of The Doubt,'

While Salving