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tion of pity. The needful sanctions of the law, 

 the welfare of society, the interests of the inno- 

 cent and unprotected, the prevention of crime, — 

 all these motives constrain the judge to pro- 

 nounce the dread sentence. And, be it remem- 

 bered, the penalty is not inflicted as revenge. 

 It is simply "the necessary exponent of the 

 law. Without it, the law would be a dead letter. 

 On the same principle we shut up evil-doers in 

 penitentaries, and infected persons in pest-houses, 

 for the public good. " 



Nor are all the punishments of the civil law 

 for the reformation of the lawless. Some pun- 

 ishments do not recognize the possibility nor 

 probability of reform. If the man, who is incar- 

 cerated for the term of life, expects to reform, 

 the penalty for his crime is, however, of such 

 duration as not to allow his reformation to be- 

 come socially nor legally possible. And the in- 

 dividual who " hangs by the neck till he is dead 5 ' 

 is wholly cut off from the hope of any sort of re - 

 formation. 



These last instances indicate that the people 

 see no inconsistency, nor injustice, in rendering- 

 such extreme punishment as to cut off all hope 

 for reformation. 



It is also the recorded testimony of centuries 

 that all punishment is not for the sake of the 

 punished. And, since the infliction of death is 



