The Prisoner at the Bar: Sidelights on the Administration of Criminal Justice

by Arthur Cheney Train

To

ETHEL KISSAM TRAIN

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

The favorable reception accorded to the "Prisoner at the Bar," not only in the United States but in England, and the fact that it has won a place in several colleges and law schools as a reference book, and in some instances as a sort of elementary text-book upon criminal procedure, have resulted in a demand for a new edition. When the book was written the author's sole intention was to present in readable form a popular account of the administration of criminal justice. Upon its publication he discovered to his surprise that it was the only book of its exact character in the English language or perhaps in any other. Reviewers pointed out that whereas there were annotated text-books of criminal procedure and isolated articles on special topics, most of them relating to the jury system, there was in existence no other sketch of criminal justice as a whole, from arrest to conviction, based upon either actual experience or hearsay.

This new edition has been indexed and is supplied with cross-references to other works on allied subjects. A chapter has been added upon "Insanity and the Law," and such statistics as the book contains have been brought down to date. It is satisfactory to add that these show a greatly increased efficiency in the jury system in criminal cases in New York County, and that the tabulations of an eight years' experience as a prosecutor only serve to confirm the conclusions set forth in the first edition.

The author desires to express his thanks to Prof. John H. Wigmore, of the Northwestern University Law School, for his many kind suggestions and flattering references to this book in his masterly work upon the law of evidence; to Augustin Derby, Esq., of the New York bar, who most unselfishly gave much time to the examination of references, and voluntarily undertook the ungrateful task of compiling the index; and to those many others who, by comment or appreciation, have made a second edition necessary.

Bar Harbor, Me.,
Sept. 1, 1908.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

The prisoner at the bar is a figure little known to most of us. The newspapers keep us steadily informed as to the doings of all sorts of criminals up to the time of their capture, and prison literature is abundant, but just how the criminal becomes a convict is not a matter of common knowledge. This, however, does not prevent the ordinary citizen from expressing pronounced and, frequently, vociferous opinions upon our methods of administering criminal justice, in the same way that he stands ready at any time to criticise the Darwinian theory, free trade or foreign missions. Full knowledge of any subject is inevitably an impediment to forcible asseveration. Generalities are easy to formulate and difficult to disprove. The man who sits with his feet up and his chair tilted back in the "drummer's" hotel will inform you that there is no such thing as criminal justice and that the whole judiciary, state and federal, is "owned" or can be bought; you yourself doubtless believe that the jury system is a failure and successfully evade service upon it; while your neighbor is firmly convinced that prosecutors secure their positions by reason of their similarity to bloodhounds and retain them by virtue of the same token.