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A Disgrace to Society

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International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 30, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 41.

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A Disgrace to Society.

By Editor

LAST week a young man was arrested in San Francisco on a charge of burglary. When the case came up in the court for trial, the accused pleaded guilty to the charge. The court, however, appointed two lawyers to defend him. They immediately induced the culprit to withdraw his plea of guilty, and then worked up such a theoretical defense that, to the surprise of everybody, and in the face of the fact that the young man had already pleaded guilty, the jury brought in a verdict of acquittal.
Unfortunately this is not an isolated case, at least so far as the court and the lawyers are concerned. To say that such proceedings are a disgrace to society does not do justice to the case. Macauley truly said: “Wickedness when punished, is disgraceful only to the offender. Unpunished, it is a disgrace to the whole society.”
Society is not disgraced by the fact that crimes are committed, but by the fact that they are not only tolerated, but defended. Those lawyers and the jury made themselves accessories to that crime, just as much as though they had picked the lock for the young man to enter the house. And yet “society” no doubt regards them with favor. The community that passes lightly by such travesties on justice, becomes a party to crime.
Paul said that rulers are a terror to evil works, and when they discharge the duties of their office, and “execute wrath upon him that doeth evil,” they are so indeed. But when they set a premium on crime, and labor to shield the criminal, they become a terror to good works.
There are honest citizens, and honest lawyers, else the country would be God-forsaken; but it cannot be successfully denied that we even now come very near fulfilling the words of the prophet, when he says that “judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.” Isa. 59:14.