Editorial

• Date: 01 April 1973
• Published date: 01 April 1973
• DOI: 10.1177/003288557305300101
• Subject Matter: Articles

1-

EDITORIAL

The

Public

Mood

Once

again,

the

issue

of

capital

punishment

is

being

debated.

The

public

mood

in

just

the

last

decade

seems

to

have

swung

from

abolition

to

restoration.

Again

we

have

seen

the

old

arguments,

pro

and

con,

revived,

usually

differing

only

by

the

inclusion

of

later

examples

and

sometimes

a

little

more

sophistication.

It

is

essential

that

the

debate

be

held,

for

we

consider

our-

selves

to

be

rational

beings

who

make

our

decisions

on

the

basis

of

good

research

and

hard

evidence.

Thus

this

issue

of

The

journal

is

necessary.

The

Prison

Society

has

been

traditionally

opposed

to

the

death

penalty,

so

we

make

no

apologies

for

publishing

here

largely

the

work

of

authors

who

favor

abolition.

On

the

other

hand,

we

must

not

be

so

naive

as

to

believe

that

the

side

with

the

best

arguments

will

win

the

day,

because

essentially

we

are

dealing

with

an

irrational

issue.

The

taking

of

a

human

life,

whether

on

the

streets

or

by

law,

is

too

emotional

a

sub-

ject

for

logic

to

prevail.

We

are

reminded

of

the

experiences

of

the

civil

rights

move-

ment,

wherein

victories

and

defeats

were

totally

unrelated

to

the

rhetoric

that

flowed

through

the

churches,

the

legislatures,

and

civic

auditoriums.

Attitudes

changed,

seldom

by

a

rational

decision,

but

usually

through

an

experience

that

was

close

to

a

religious

conversion.

Today

Americans

are

afraid.

Violence

has

become

highly

visible,

and

the

public

feels

it

must

do

something,

no

matter

how

irrational,

to

stop

it.

If

it

cannot

be

stopped,’at

least

we

can

repay

the

perpetrator.

Collecting

dust

on

many

shelves

are

reports

of

presidential

commissions

and

academic

studies

that

show

how

the

causes

of

crime

and

violence

lie

in

the

economic

disparity,

the

racism

and

the

moral

hypocrisy

of

our

society.

In

each

study,

the

prescription

for

prevention

suggests

a

massive

social

attack

on

these

causes.

But

the

nation

has

no

will

for

that.

So

citizens

continue

to

reach

out

blindly

for

more

simplistic

remedies

that

cost

less

in

money

and

sacrifice.

The

scapegoat

whose

life

we

take

in

the

name

of

justice

will

be

in-

deed

the

symbol

of

a

society

that

refuses

to

confess

its

corporate

guilt.

About

This

Issue

The

lead

article

for

this

issue

describes

how

one

state,

Mass-