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ihg to rectify what is wrong-. 4 f la moderate governments /* says ftfoptesquiett , c * a good lejrtslatojr is less bent upon punishing than preventing crimes $ he is more attentive to inspire good morals than to inflict penalties .
It is true , that when we speak of the amendment of an offender , we suppose that an offence has been committed , and to prevent offences , it may be reasonably urged , should be our leading desire and aim . Offences , however , will come under the best
system of policy . Their eUOrmity may be greatly restrained , and their number diminished , but notwithstanding the force of religion and of law they will exist in every society . Good institutions for religious and inofal instruction , wise means for diffusing a
virtuous spirit through a nation , are the most effectual preventatives of crime . But our present business is with criminals , and with the ~ laws relating to persons actually in that class . We may contend , then , that the most
efficient means of lessening the number and enorinity of crimed will be found in judicious plans for reclaiming offenders at the commencement , or at an early stage , of their career . With reflecting persons it surely cannot be difficult to establish the truth of this
position . To apply correctives before the mind has been hardened by a long course of criminality must , it seems , offer a better chance of success than to attempt to restrain obdurate offenders by severity of punishment .
I he criminal not deeply practised in vice would , in very many , if not in most , cases be reclaimed by being plated in an appropriate situation , and supplied with suitable instruction and aid . He might be led and encouraged , but even he would rarely be forced and terrified into
amendment . And as to criminals more advanced in their , sad course , we may , without hesitation , say , that so long as any reasonable hope of their reformation could be entertained , it would be right , and conducive to the best interests of society , to make their punishment a reclaiming process .
But if these be truths , and if in speculation they might receive . general and ready assent , it is evident that they have not been much attended to by practical politicians am ) JtegislaMrs . That which we have mentioned third
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iiv order , among the ends of criminal justice , appears ttlity or-pitaeipanjr to have Occupied their attention . Every one will concur in t&e principle that laws must be enacted and measures adopted for this end , of deterring from crime ; though a wide difference
of sentiment may exist respecting the application of that principle—respecting the measures and the laws best suited for the purpose . Legislators appear commonly to have considered that the prevention of crime could only be effected by the severity of
penal enactments . Hence the cruel laws to be found in the codes of many civilized nations , ancient and modern ; and hence among us the great number of offences against which the penalty of death is denounced . Montesquieu was of a different opinion . He says ,
" Experience shews , that in <; ountrie& remarkable for the lenity oi their laws , the spirit of the inhabitants is as much affected by slight penalties , as in other countries by severer punishments . Imagination grows accustomed to the severe as well as » the milder punishment . Robberies on the highway
were grown common m sotne countries ; in order to remedy this * evil they kivented the punishment of breaking on the wheel , the « terroir of which put a stop for a while to this mischievous
practice . But soon after robberies on the highways became as common as ever . If we inquire into the cause of all human corruptions , we shall find that they proceed from the impunity of criminals , and not from the
moderation of punishments / ' Beccaria , another writer of deservedly high name , thus declares his sentiments : ' Crimes are more effectually prevented by the certainty than the severity of punishment , llie certainty of a small punishment will make a
stronger impression than the fear of one more severe , if attended with the hope of escaping . If punishments be very severe , men are naturaH y led ta the perpetration of other crimes to avoid the punishment due to the first . In proportion as punishtoroeiHs become
more cruel , the minds 6 f men , as a fluid rises to the fcmhe ^ height with that which surrottnekr it , -grew ha * — d « ned and insensible ^ and ; the force of fhe passions stiU cot * tintting > in the frpace of 100 years the ^ heeT terries no more than formerly thfe-prfaott .
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26 Essay on tfiePrinc ^^^ 6 rknimI Litw
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1823, page 28, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1780/page/28/
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