Glenbuchat Heritage

5 Callam Essay 'Capital Punishment'

John Callam's essay on 'Capital Punishment'.

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Capital Punishment

It is a serious thing for a man to destroy another upon grounds short of absolute certainty of his guilt - But supposing it possible to get better of theses objections it still remains to solve the question What is gained by executions? if we leave out of view compensation to the suffering party which may sometimes be affected it is generally if not universally allowed that the ends to be sought in punishment are two and two only the first is the reformation of the offender and it is self-evident that we do not reform a man by hanging him prepared or not prepared we hurry him into eternity so that one of the ends is not even aimed at Do we then accomplish the other which is the prevention of crime Does the fear of an ignominious death deter from its commission Does the guilty and abundant associates of the criminal take warning from his untimely end

Does executions produce any salutary effect on those who witness them - does the master of a family send his children and servants to benefit by the sight? the contrary is notoriously the case while executions disgust the good, we have the united evidence of those best qualified to form an opinion that they harden the bad.

Then as regards the victim himself death is often dreaded less than other punishments - Often has the condemned criminal gloried in the notoriety he has acquired or in the horrors with which he meets his fate. Hear the language of a culprit hanged some years ago in Glasgow for burglary. On receiving sentence, he said to the judge "I have the good will of your Lordship death is sweeter than confinement cowards die many times I will die but once"

In Belgium from a table laid before the Chamber of Representatives it is shown that during seven periods of five years each ending in 1834 the executions sank from 235 in the first five years to none in the last and the number of convictions from the amount of 30 per annum to the small number of 4 in the last period.

With? ... less than three persons incarcerated in the jail of Abdn for murder can you say then that capital punishment is a means to deter others from committing such offences no Gentlemen but let our legislative council devise means to instruct the people in a sound education and it is my opinion Gent.

That there would be no use of capital punishment for look Gent. to the number of people congregated anxious to witness an execution and say after all the people are afraid of capital punishment by no means the numbers concerned show that they are not afraid of it.

END