Judge Dykeman: That would be a delightful state of affairs.
Travesty: And now I suppose you are perfectly prepared to substitute some new method of procedure? An original system of jurisprudence? What better method than imprisonment have you to offer for bringing a man to his senses?
(Annie does not understand the following.)
Gordon: I do not know, as yet. Is it fair to expect that I have found that which has been a mystery through all the centuries? But don’t you see that the present method is inadequate? We punish crime with fine, imprisonment, and death, but is the fine given to the one injured? Does imprisonment of the criminal compensate the victim? Does death restore the dead?
Travesty: It is the Law!
Gordon: Yes, but the Law is wrong!
Jim Poor: Listen to that!
Gordon: Has not the State, so clear in defining the duties of the individual to itself, failed in its duties to the individual after his conviction? Is it not absurd and unjust for the State to wreak vengeance on the criminal and then abandon him? There must be a better way! A scientific method which is not based on suffering and inhumanity! To find it is the duty of the State. The National Government should undertake it.
Jim Poor: It’s not the National Government’s business!
Gordon: Yes, it is.