From the Wool-sack
| Jurisdiction | United States,Federal |
| Citation | Vol. 6 No. 9 Pg. 1570 |
| Pages | 1570 |
| Publication year | 1977 |
1977, September, Pg. 1570. From the Wool-Sack
There is a strong temptation in our society to forget a man's non-criminal accomplishments as soon as he has been convicted of a crime. Indeed, if the truth were known, a man's non-criminal accomplishments are probably forgotten shortly after he is charged with a crime since most people do not wait to judge a man until a court of law has done so. When I read some years ago that a former classmate of mine had done in his mother-in-law in a manner more befitting Jack the Ripper than a graduate of a good university I instantly forgot about his various academic achievements, his impeccable chapel attendance and thought of him only as a murderer. Similarly, if one were to ask the average American about Lizzy Borden's background one would be unable to relate whether or not she was a good student, a devoted and affectionate child prior to the time she murdered her parents or, in short, tell you whether she had any virtues, much less describe them.
A person who is convicted of a crime, in addition to the punishment imposed by the court, is further punished by society by being thereafter forever deprived of any public recognition for whatever good works preceded his commission of such crime. This applies whether the crime committed is a first class crime or a fifth class crime.
Regular readers of my column will remember that some years ago I pointed out that the Colorado Criminal Code now divides felonies into categories ranging from first to fifth class. Such arrangement, however, was not an effort by the Colorado legislature (which is typically known for its conservatism and law and order bent) to give prestige to criminals grading them on the quality of their crimes. It was to establish categories of crime which one could readily address in the statutes by making reference to them as first class, second class, etc. It was a concomitant of that explanation, though not explicitly stated therein, that there is no such thing as a first class criminal or a second class criminal. Under our legal system all criminals are created and treated equal and one criminal is not superior to another simply because he led a good life until he fell from grace. Or so I thought until reading of the recent...
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