Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 May 1912 — Plan to Compel Criminals to Work [ARTICLE]

Plan to Compel Criminals to Work

By SARAH BLUEMENTHAL

Aside from all ethical reasons why capital punishment should be forever abolished I beg to mention a more potent one. I make my appeal now in the name of economy. W e all know that in most cases the expense in the prosecution is in direct ratio to the financial rating of the accused, but even where four men are sentenced to be hanged within two months of the date of their crime there is a certain amount of money spent by the state. It seems hardly fair that the public should be taxed for this purpose needlessly.

Again, there are many instances where the family of the murdered man become the charges of the public at large because the only bread winner has been taken from them. liere the convicted men are executed society is forever placed beyond the possibility of drawing upon the wrongdoers for the support of those who have suffered most keenly. i The public is put at a double expense, the expense of the prosecution and the support of the sufferers. There should be indefinite imprisonment, first and foremost for the purpose of making good to society, to as high a degree as possible, for the harm done. The work done by the prisoners should be at a living wage so that the very source of the privation caused by crime should have an opportunity to make restitution. If once the principle is decided upon the method can easily be discovered.