and pun The range of penalties is very great and covers almost every Crimes subject. To the practical legislator, as well as to the student ishments of comparative legislation, the bulletin prepared by the New York State Library is mainly valuable because of the thorough and excellent classification by subjects of the whole body of legislation for any one year. To these it is more important to know the nature of the new law than to consider the penalty attached to it. The penologist, on the other hand, is concerned not only with the nature of the law but with the penalties affixed; for every penalty is in some way an indication of the degree of importance attached to the fulfilment or observance of the law. A comparison of the different penalties attached to the same well defined offense in different parts of the country furnishes a barometer of social sentiment and shows the tendencies and direction of penal law. The subject of "Crimes and Punishments" comprises but six pages in the entire bulletin, and I must repeat here the warning to the reader given in the cross reference under the title, that various special offenses must be sought under the subject of the law. While the so called higher crimes against life and property are mostly included under this title, there are a great number of misdemeanors and even felonies which are not included in this section. Other reviewers will deal with these subjects and may perhaps refer to the penalties attached. I confine myself to the laws grouped under this title and to some offenses not treated by other writers classified under "Order and Decency." Legislation during the last year in different states concerning crime illustrates in an interesting way how rapidly public sentiment may develop and express itself throughout the country with reference to some acute social danger. Lawmakers are at times extremely difficult to move. It requires petitions, hearings, organized and persistent agitation to overcome legislative indifference or inertia; and when a particular law is part of some general program of reform the process must be repeated in state after state until the new law has slowly trailed across our statute books. Occasionally, however, the legislative machinery of all the states seems to move suddenly and spontaneously as though the finger of some authoritative Crimes and punishments event had touched the electric button and the impulse was felt in every legislative chamber from Maine to California. The daring kidnaping of a boy in Nebraska, the son of a wealthy man, and his release only after his father had ransomed him by leaving a large sum of money at a designated place aroused the attention and indignation of the whole country, and likewise awakened not a little alarm. The capture of an American missionary in the Bulgarian mountains and her detention for a ransom is an historic and not unfamiliar form of brigandage, but the audacity of men, who in the very heart of a great city, kidnap a boy, and hold him till ransomed in spite of all the efforts of the police, exceeds in daring almost anything in the annals of modern brigandage. The torture of early capitalists by various forms of suffering, such as the drawing of teeth, the use of the rack and the thumbscrew, to make them part with their wealth, were tortures distinctly physical. The refinement of modern cruelty to effect the same end by stealing a wealthy man's child imposes a torture which is painfully mental. The modern kidnaper can agonize a whole family at once and prolong the pain for days and weeks. No crime more rapidly kindles indignation than one directed against childhood and parentage, a ruthless desecration of the home. The kidnaping of the Nebraska boy revealed the fact that not only in Nebraska, where the crime was committed, but in several other states, there was no definition of the crime of kidnaping and no penalty attached to it. In other states the penalty fixed, judged by the varying and arbitrary standards. of modern legislation, seemed insufficient to match the gravity of the crime. Without concerted action, but simply in response to newspaper and popular appeal, the Legislatures in nearly all of these states have promptly taken steps to define the crime and impose a severe penalty. The result is that 24 states passed laws in the last year relating to kidnaping and abduction. It is noticeable that this legislation is characterized by the severest penalties. In Alabama ['01 p.145] the penalty is death or not under 5 years imprisonment in the discretion of the jury; in Arkansas ['01 ch.166] imprisonment from 5 to 21 years. and pun In California ['01 ch.83, 106, 155] the penal code is modi- Crimes fied so as to provide life imprisonment for kidnaping, while the ishments penalty for stealing a child, which was formerly $500 or 1 year in the county jail, has been increased to 20 years imprisonment in state prison. In Connecticut ['01 ch.7] the penalty for kidnaping has been increased from 3 years and $500 fine to not over 30 years; in Delaware ['01 ch.212] it is death or life imprisonment; in Indiana ['01 ch.162] life imprisonment; in Maine ['01 ch.139] it has been raised from 5 years to not over 20; in Massachusetts ['01 ch.428] the maximum has been made 25 years. In Georgia the age under which detention of child constitutes kidnaping has been raised from 12 to 16 years and the limit of penalty changed from 10 to 20 years; in Missouri ['01 p.133] death or imprisonment is imposed at option of the jury. In Nebraska ['01 ch.88-89] the penalty for kidnaping is imprisonment for life; for injury to person kidnaped death or imprisonment for life; for threat to kidnap imprisonment from 1 to 20 years. In Nevada ['01 ch.46] the penalty for kidnaping is 5 to 20 years (formerly 1 to 10); in New Hampshire ['01 ch.44] 5 to 30 years; in North Carolina ['01 ch.639] the maximum is 20 years; in North Dakota ['01 ch.115] 5 to 20 (formerly 1 to 10); in Oklahoma ['01 ch.13 art.3] not over 10 years; in Oregon ['01 p.123] 1 to 25 years (formerly 6 months to 10 years) or $10,000 fine (formerly $5000); in Pennsylvania ['01 ch.33, 300] life imprisonment and the maximum penalty for aiding and abetting, $5000, or 25 years imprisonment. In South Dakota ['01 ch.171] the maximum is life imprisonment; in Tennessee ['01 ch.31] 20 years; in Washington ['01 ch.59] 21 years. Thus it will be seen that in three states, Alabama, Delaware, Missouri, the death penalty may be imposed for kidnaping, and in case of injury to the person kidnaped it may be imposed in Nebraska, and in five states, California, Indiana, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota, the maximum penalty is life imprisonment. Imprisonment may be substituted for the death penalty at the option of the jury in the states imposing it. In other states the maximum would amount to life imprisonment in many cases. Judging from the history of repressive measures it would be hasty to conclude that these severe penalties constitute any adequate defense against kidnaping. More effectual deter Crimes and punishments rents may be found in a more efficient police and detective system and the capitalist may resort to bodyguards for his children. But the penalties quoted illustrate the strength of social indignation and serve notice upon criminals that society means to deal rigorously with such offenses. The calculating criminal who expects to make money in this business may be influenced by the social indignation in counting the cost. The increasing tendency in later years to impose severer penalties for sexual crimes is seen in several states in the raising of the age of consent, which is one illustration of the steady pressure of an organized reform movement in legislation largely conducted by women. In crimes against property fluctuations of opinion and new standards of valuation are illustrated. In Arkansas ['01 ch.21] the minimum penalty for horse stealing or receiving a stolen horse has been reduced from 5 years to 1. In California and Colorado [Cal. '01 ch.126; Col. '01 ch.66], on the other hand, stealing a bicycle has been made grand larceny, and in South Carolina ['01 ch.436] the larceny of bicycles is made punishable as the larceny of live stock. In South Dakota ['01 ch.194] a marked reduction in penalty is made in relation to receiving stolen property worth not over $20; the former penalty of 5 years or a fine of $250 is reduced to 30 days and $100. The humane sentiment in relation to animals finds expression in several states. California, Michigan, Utah, and Washington1 impose penalties for docking horses' tails, and in Michigan. importation of such horses is forbidden and the registration of docked horses is required. It would be interesting to the penologist to indicate in this review the most important changes in the classification of offenses, such as new felonies and new misdemeanors, misdemeanors raised to felonies, or felonies reduced to misdemeanors, and to what extent new offenses and penalties involve a deprivation of liberty; but the limits asigned to this review and the division of subjects adopted will not admit of this, and the reader is referred to the Summary and Index of Legislation for a large number of misdemeanors and felonies not classified as crimes. 1 Cal. '01 ch.123; Mich. '01 ch.45; U. '01 ch. 140; Wash. '01 ch.146. laws, NOTES ON SESSION LAWS, REVISIONS AND CONSTITU. Session TIONAL CONVENTION PUBLICATIONS OCT. 1, 1900, TO revisions SEP. 30, 1901 T. L. COLE OF STATUTE LAW BOOK CO. WASHINGTON D. C. and constitutional convention publica Session laws. A list of states holding legislative sessions and tions the date of opening and closing will be found on p.820 of Comparative Summary and Index of Legislation in 1901. Those in need of special note are the following: Alabama (1900) General and Local Laws, 1 v. (or General Arizona (not printed separately from Revised Statutes 1901). Hawaii, first regular and extra sessions, 1v. Kentucky, extra session (1900), 1v. Maryland, extra session, 1v. Michigan, Public Laws, 1v. (Local Laws not yet issued). Extra session (1900), 1v. (an extra session was also held in December 1900 but no laws were passed). New Mexico, Laws in English, 1v., Laws in Spanish, 1v. New York, 3v. North Carolina, Public Laws, 1v., Private Laws, 1v. Oregon, General Laws, 1v., Special Laws, 1v. Porto Rico, first regular session 1900-1, 1v., extra session July 1901, one resolution passed. Rhode Island, 1v. (This is the first year since the beginning of its legislative history that Rhode Island has had only one regular session. The number of sessions a year heretofore have varied from 13 in 1776-77 to two during recent years. An adjourned session was held in November 1901.) Texas, two extra sessions, General Laws, 1v. Virginia, extra session, 1v. Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Ohio held no sessions during the year ending Sep. 30, 1901. Alaska has no Legislature and the laws for the District of Columbia are printed in United States Statutes at Large. Revisions, etc. Alaska, Codes 1900, 1v., annotated by Thomas H. Carter (unofficial). |