CONDEMNATION OF CRIMINALS. 537 



punished or not punished, the fact was lost to sight that he had 

 disobeyed our social rules in not waiting for the courts to deal 

 with the criminal whose life he took. 



There are, roughly speaking, three elements in human society. 

 The largest is always the standard, and is modified in character 

 according to the conditions of the times. Of the two other ele- 

 ments that do not harmonize with this, the first is what is known 

 as the criminal class. This is sometimes made up of a compara- 

 tively large number of individuals, and is in reality composed of 

 members of the human race who are lagging behind in the ad- 

 vanced march of civilization. The other conflicting element is 

 comparatively meager in numbers, and is characterized by its 

 members being always in advance of the main body. They are 

 variously called reformers, cranks, or heretics. Many of these 

 two less numerous groups are often brought up to answer for 

 their acts, and the ultimate aim of all judicial processes concern- 

 ing them should be to make them members of the larger body. 

 Where this is unattainable, the incorrigible should be either 

 destroyed or removed permanently from the society with which 

 they are in conflict. The whole history of criminology up to date 

 indicates positively that punishment does not reclaim, and we 

 must banish from criminal law all idea of vengeance as involved 

 in the term. When we look at it as an isolated fact, the position 

 of a judge trying to impose the exact punishment to fit the crime 

 and weighing what he is pleased to call mitigating circumstances, 

 in order to lessen the measure of wrath prescribed for some unfor- 

 tunates who often as much need treatment as some of our insane, 

 we must at once be conscious that there is something wrong in 

 our judicial system. This idea has been deemed sufiiciently ludi- 

 crous to form one of the telling points in a comic opera. 



One of the principal elements impelling the criminal to crime 

 is his desire to punish his enemy, for it can not be denied that 

 a large number of murders are committed from this motive. 

 Should the law that we term majestic proceed with the same 

 motive toward the criminal ? It will always appear to be so 

 while we continue to speak of it in the language now used. If the 

 spirit of anger and revenge could be entirely eliminated from the 

 death penalty, and every idea of punishment meted out to an 

 individual was removed from the judgment, only the absolute 

 safety of society being made the reason for taking the human life 

 judicially, executions would become exceedingly rare. It must be 

 plain that the question for us to decide to-day is. Are we, who 

 belong to the predominating class of society, bettered by our acts 

 toward those who are not in harmony with the methods and 

 motives that have made society what it is, and keep it in the 

 position it now occupies; or are we debasing ourselves by our 



