In cities like New York, where the jury system
is seen at its very best, where the statistics show seventy
per cent. of convictions by verdict for the year 1907, and
where the sentiment of the community is against the invocation
of any law supposedly higher than that of the State, our
talesmen are unwilling to condone homicide or to act as
self-constituted pardoning bodies, for they know that an
obviously lawless verdict will bring down upon them the
censure of the public and the press. This is perhaps
demonstrated by the fact that in New York County a higher
percentage of women are convicted of homicide than of men.
But the plea of insanity, with its vague test of
responsibility, whose terms the juryman may construe for
himself (or which his fellow-jurors may construe for him)
offers an unlimited and fertile field for the "reasonable"
doubt and an easy excuse for the conscientious talesman who
wants to acquit if he can. Juries take the little stock in
irresistible impulses and emotional or temporary insanity save
as a cloak to cover an unrighteous acquittal.
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