Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 June 1873 — The Ethics of Hanging. [ARTICLE]

The Ethics of Hanging.

of burnttn government trafTthe neces- ! s-ity of capital piinisliinent as a peiral- j t v for somespUcics of crime been, doubted with any degree of universality. it is true . tiiat "with the progress of modern ideas- and the increasing refinement of public senti- ! men-f, a- strong distaste to so linrsii a t method of punistinient lias been de- j Veioped to sucii an extent as to con-J. trol legislation in some States ami to.j defeat its purposeft in others; but parallel to this development, whether induced by it or not, there has been suel j 1 tin riHiiyilsG J irtlrtr It if hi tler ‘ "oT" ■ murders eoinmitled, that the oliject ions to exTrerne men.-arrs of |Ttn ment have hem overcome by a.ljlioTrcncc.. of the crimes to be punished There is no one wtio does hot lamc-rtt the the state of affairs which requires the taking a human .being’s life, but so long asr Communities are compelled to choose between-the vicious propensities of the criminal ..classes to'.remain comparatively tin* checked and punishing murder with the death,of the murder, r, there can 1.0 no doubt which of the i\yo alterna- -, iv. g wiil be preienvd. i But S-liile Capital piiiiisiiiHent liaa : been ci.-nimon in alt agqs.ami countries the methods >; its iittliction have been various., The most primitive penal law is tiiat of retaliation. 1 which 1 1 elivt-rs-t-hfTcritninai iiitertire bauds of : tiie injured person for the intiietion of a punishment cq.ua! to. tiie injury done. In the Mosaic code this law received expression in the requiring of an eye for an eye. a tooth for a tooth and a life for a life. This law, with little or no modification, Was in force An the earliest ages oU perhaps ail countries, and combines in itself almost the whole criminal jurisprudence of ail savage nations. But as with tiie enlightenment of ideas the punislmieiitof criminals came to be looked upon as a means not of gratifying perol nt lwe yen go hut of i u'eseryiug, .off* !', e.\ (•■.;! m of penal laws was taken out of the hands of the injiiivd pensons, and qilaced in those of Tire properly constituted aulborUies of -society—Tire diversity- of methods wliieli wc-re then adopted was as great as the several stages of civilization which produced therm The Jews, whenever the crime offended against the conuuunity at large, toned the~ eriminal to death. Tiie Greeks ad..ministered tin- lieadly hemlock. The Romans crucified offenders against property or life and hurled from the Tarpian. rock those who plotted against iho State. During the Middle Ages the axe and the block vvere The instruments of execution, modified afterwards into the guillotine and other contrivances which accomplish; jed the same object by substantially Thef same means.. The church, perverting the kingdom of mercy into the most cruel Hii-d unreieiitiiig of all, fused life' stake—the wheel and the ; scores of other instruments of torture j invented for the punishment of her- ! csy. The Turks employ the bow- | string, the sack and ataghan for - putting oirenders against public or private law out of the way. The Chinese, conservative in their methods !of dealing with criminals,'as in every-. tiring else, adhere to tiie crucifix, j sanction by the usage of a thousand i years. Though disgraced by cowarilice or taunted with treason, the sold? I ier lias still enough of military pride 1 to desire to die a soldier’s- deatli, and : lie falls Upon the weapons of his com'“lT.deS. - 7 :■

1 ltd,S' not merely accidental that all ; these 'methods of civil execution have ; been .rejected in civilized countries ! lbr"t!TCTO]>c"aifi1 r scaitold.. Wh-ue-Ute idea of revenge or retaliation was yet !he leading one in the conception of legal penalties',■-those methods which, produce.torture and mutilation were most in harmony with popular notions of justice and propriety. Since, however, punishments have chine to be looked upon purely as means of preventing crime, methods have been selected with a View to that end alone* Banishments operate in two ways for tlie prevention of crime, by their effect on the persons punished by their /influence on others. It is with reference—to." these two things that the effectiveness of di lie re at" kinds of peiialtieS is to be eonsidered. Ail methods of capital punishment have tlie same effect upon the person punished as regards’ his criminality in the future, so tiiat the influence of different kinds of executions upon the criminal population generally, alone remains for consideration. 'Viewed from this standpoint, the 'hangman’s rope will be found In every respect worthy of the distinction which has been given .'it by 'Thu criminal jurispHulehce of civilized countries. It inflicts death upon the cuij tit in a form frrkn which perhaps, more than all otlirs, save tliose of absolute torture, a human ! being recoils* It is not-painless to bo sure, but it is not yet by any means established that the fear of death, unaccompanied try gain, tlie most effective in preventing felonies; and until it is so established considerations based on. the-.fi-iml su-t;brings 'oi' crhainnU cannot be. Weighed against the-greater ends to be obtained by capital punishment. It is likely that tlie death throes occasioned by hanging more than compensate society lor the outrage done to feelings of humanity by those—throes -themselves. Furthermore, it can be claimed with much reason that capital punishment by hanging has less brutalizing effects than any other method. Inflictions of death penalties brutalize Chiefly through tiieir suggestiveness to depraved and vicious minds. Perhaps no execution of a death sentence is entirely free from this effect, but hanging is more free from it than any other, because it is suggestive only in its result and not in its manner, being seldom if ever resorted tons a means of criminally-taking life, and not seT down in the murderer’s catalogue of resources, All other metliods of execution, whether by .shooting, beheading, blowing away from guns as lias lately been suggested by a distinguished scientist,„or: chloroforming &s is persistently advocated by some mistaken philanthropists, brutalize both in the spectacle of killing a man, and in showing liow it may be readily done. -Hanging, if done in public, does the former but not tlie latter. By excluding tlie public from the executions as is how generally done, the objection is still further removed, Criminally persons only know that a felon has suffered a painful death for his crimes. They have had no opportunity to gloat over the spectacle of a murder, and tlie method by which it Was performed is one never employed save: in the name ol law. Justice has received vindication ift a way as far removed as seems possible from revenge, legalized murder or suggestiveness of imitation. Altogether, hanging is yet capable of being defended as a means, of preventing crime, and may be recommended as the most wholesome, remedy How 'known far the murderers Hint now infest the country. —Indianapolis journal.