Murder Goes Unpunished: Juries and Leniency in America
The United States stands at the head of civilized countries in the number of its homicides. One of the great difficulties in the trial of murder seems to be in bringing to justice. The Cleveland Leader declares: “There are criminals who escape with a shocking frequency the penalties of their outrages against mankind. They are the brutal murderers who may take children or women for their victims as readily as men. Over and over in Cleveland as in other cities murderers have gone wholly unpunished by the law, and in this municipality alone scores of murderers have escaped capture and conviction within a comparatively short period.” Leniency on the part of juries is said to be one of the greatest factors in failure to mete out justice to the criminal.