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restraint and decorujn . Were these my Wgestions adopted , I have no doubt we Should find a considerable reduction in Ae number of offenders . " He states , Sat " he has often seen juries reduce the value of things stolen , contrary to clear proof . There is no reluctance to nrosecute or convict in his opinion in murder , arson , burglary , in its original sense of nocturnal housebreaking , highway robbery , with violence and murderous attacks on the person . The thieves observe the sympathy of the public ; it seems to console them , and they appear less concerned than those who witness their sentence . Certainly the general
feeling does not go along with the infliction of death in the case of crimes unaccompanied by violence ; there are very few advocates for the generality of the present punishments ; these punishments rather tend to excite the public feeling against the criminal laws . "
4 . Much of the above evidence sufficiently establishes the general disinclination of traders to prosecute for forgeries on themselves , or to furnish the Bank of England with the means of conviction , in cases where forged notes are uttered . There is no offence in which the infliction
of death seems more repugnant to the strong and general and declared sense of the public than forgery ; there is no other in which there appears to prevail a greater compassion for the offender , and more horror at capital executions . In addition to the general evidence
above stated , to notorious facts , and to obvious conclusions of reason , your Committee have to state the testimony of some witnesses of peculiar weight , on the subject of forgery . Mr . John Smithy a Member of the House , and banker in London , stated , that he knew instances where
prosecutions for private forgeries were relinquished on account of the punishment , and had no doubt that if the punishment was less , prosecutions would have taken place . Mr . Burnett , also a Member of the House , and a banker in London , is of opinion , that capital punishment goes
extremel y to discourage prosecutions in forgery ; he knows many instances of this ; scarcely a year passed without some * thing of the kind ; he is of , opinion that toe majority oif private forgeries pass unpunished , on account of the severity of y e punishment . The ; pitnisjiwoient of death tends , in his opinion , to prevent prosecution , and to increase tl > e crime * Ja ^/^ E ^^ ^ H ujssto merchwt , ana Mr . E . tfdrstpr , ft banker in London , Save some remarkable examples of the re puffnance to prosecute in forgery . In ° > by the connivance of the prosecutor ,
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a person , who was introduced to the magistrate fasi a Mend of the prisoner ' s , desired to dee the forged check , snatched it away , and threw it into the tire—a mode of avoiding prosecution , which , from other parts of the evidence , does not seem to be uncommon . In another , a
forgery to the large amount of fifteen hundred pounds , where the forger and the utterer were both h > custody , the prosecution was relinquished merely be * cause the offence was capital . Had the punishment been ever so severe , short of death , no endeavour would have been made to save the offenders . In the opinion of Mr . E . Forster , more than one
half of the private forgeries wmch are committed , escape prosecution on account of the severity of the law : he added an example of the' like sentiments , in the offence of stealing in a dwelling-house , which the Committee consider as remarkable , because it occurred in the officers of a public institution , who usually allow
themselves to be less influenced by their feelings than individuals : a committee of a public institution , whose house had been robbed , would not engage in the prosecution unless the goods were valued under forty shillings . In this committee were persons of respectable condition in almost all the occupations which are most liable to loss by forgeries and thefts .
Mr . Fry , a banker , in London , mentioned four cases of prosecution for forgery which were prevented by the capital punishment , in one of which the party injured swallowed the forged note , that he might not be compelled to prosecute . Mr . Fry explicitly stated , what is indeed implied in the evidence of the preceding
witnesses , that , as a banker , he should consider his property as much mdre secure if the punishment of forgery were mitigated to such a degree that the law against that offence would be generally enforced ; in nine cases out of ten of forgery which he has known , there has been an indisposition to prosecute .
Dr . Lushington declared that he knew , that in the minds of many persons there is a strong indisposition to prosecute , on account of the severity of the punishment ; and that he had heard from the mouths of prosecutors themselves , wl * o have prosecuted for capital offence * where there was a danger of the persons being executed , the greatest regret'tfcat they had so done ; and many times lifey have expressed a wish , that h ^* ney been able tq have foreseen tfef * consequences , they i would never > ltftVe resorted to the laws of thehr cottf ^ J -He also related the case of a seiftpit who committed a robbery upon-hfen m the man was apprehended , and his guilt was dear ; but />/ % LusMngton " refused to prosecute for
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Register of Public Documents . 183
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1820, page 183, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2486/page/55/
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