Mob Justice | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jul 6, 1915

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 42, No. 26.

“Mob Justice”

On grounds that seem sufficient to him, Governor Slayton, of Georgia, commuted the death sentence of Leo Frank to life imprisonment. A large number of people in that state had made up their minds that Frank was guilty, and that he ought to hang; and as soon as the action of the governor was known, threatening mobs paraded the streets and surrounded the governor’s mansion. The militia had to be called out to hold the rioters in check.

This case, while possibly a little more pronounced than some others, nevertheless represents a condition that has become very alarming in this country, and it is not confined to any particular locality. “Popular clamor” forces the hand of justice. In the majority of cases, neither the judge nor the jury is left free, but the influences of powerful organizations, of various kinds of social bodies, are brought to bear to sway the decision in important cases. If the “popular clamor” is against a man, reason and justice have no opportunity to work. The poor fellow has to meet the punishment, regardless of whether it is right or wrong; and on the other hand, if the “popular clamor” is in favor of an individual, no matter how criminal he may be, it is almost impossible to convict him.

It is well for the country that there are some men left like Governor Slayton, who will follow their convictions regardless of personal danger. The prophet Isaiah speaks of a time when judgment would be turned away backward, when justice would stand afar off, truth would be fallen in the street, and equity could not enter. The influences that are at work everywhere to keep our courts from administering justice, create the conviction that we are living in the time upon which the prophet fixed his eyes when he gave utterance to those words.