Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/714

 700 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

fines, damages, and by imprisonment the idea of reparation and reformation. It is, alas ! too true that these fundamental ideas are imperfectly applied ; nevertheless they are the basis of our penal codes.

The International Penitentiary Congress which met in London in 1872 unanimously agreed, with reference to the treatment of criminals, that "the prisoner must be taught that he has sinned against society, and owes reparation." And yet in the cus- tomary punishment of what is usually regarded the greatest of all crimes the idea of reparation sinks entirely out of sight, doubtless on the supposition that the murderer can contribute nothing toward repairing the wrong he has done ; and the idea of reformation is given up wholly to "making his peace with God " a proceeding which is often disgusting, if not blasphe- mous, in its nature. The punishment of murder by legal execu- tion is of positive value only as a warning to would-be murderers, and even here its utility is sometimes doubtful ; moreover, it satisfies neither the idea of reparation nor of refor- mation, so far as society or the state is concerned. The mur- derer has waged war against society, and society tries to get even with him by removing him a negative value. It is the old idea of vengeance, the feud of blood, one degree removed from the vendetta, founded on the brutal idea of hurting the fellow who hurts you, simply for the satisfaction you may get out of seeing him suffer. The fact that the vengeance of society is inflicted in accordance with certain prescribed rules and forms does not change it in the least. It is blind and brutal vengeance still. The recognition of this want of relation between the crime and its punishment accounts in a large measure for the growing public opinion against capital punishment, to which reference has already been made.

Is there a punishment for murder to fit the crime ? We have referred to the war that the murderer makes on society, as well as on the individual, in the commission of his deed of blood. The murdered man's life cannot be restored. The hanging of the murderer repairs no injury. The sacredness of human life is respected in neither case, and society receives no compensation