as possessing
no fundamental value. It is often said that the accused should be given
an immediate trial; that this and subsequent proceedings should not be
hindered by delay; that the uncertainties of punishment furnish the
criminal with the hope of escape and therefore do not give the community
the benefit of the terror that comes with the certainty of punishment
that could prevent crime. I can see no basis in logic or experience for
this suggestion. It is based on the theory that punishment is not only a
deterrent to crime, but the main deterrent. It comes from the idea that
the criminal is distinct from the rest of mankind, that vengeance should
be sure and speedy and that then crime would be prevented. If this were
true and the only consideration to prevent crime, then the old torture
chamber and the ancient prison with all its hopelessness and horror
should be restored. Logic, humanity and experience would protest against
this. If there is to be any permanent improvement in man and any better
social order, it must come mainly from the education and humanizing of
man. I am quite certain that the more the question of crime and its
treatment is studied the less faith men have in punishment.

England and Continental Europe are often pointed to as examples of sure
and speedy justice. The fact that there are more convictions and fewer
acquittals in England in proportion to the number of trials does not
prove that the English system is better than ours. It may and probably
does mean that ours is better. Here the accused has more chance. There
the expense, the formality, the power of the court all conspire to
destroy every opportunity of escape, regardless of innocence or guilt.
Even the fact that there are fewer crimes committed in England does not
prove that the system is best or that it prevents crime. An old country
with its life of caste lacks the freedom and equality that naturally
produce defiance of rules and customs and lead to breaches of the law.
Other things being equal, a greater degree of freedom leads to more
violations of rules and greater resisting power among the poor than a
lesser degree of freedom. It does not necessarily follow that the
country is best where the people are the most obedient. Complete
obedience leads to submission, to aggression and to despotism. Doubtless
China has fewer crimes than England. The power of resistance is so
crushed that no one thinks of defying a master, resenting an inju