“ But when we know that life is so little valued by a large class wearied of it, and that many would gladly seek death if the latter would only come without a pang, it is surely the perfection of folly to offer that class the very method of death which it does not fear. ”

“ If men never committed suicide, or if we could trust a man under sentence of death to his own devices in his cell, with appliances for suicide at his command, there would be some reason in the argument. ”

“ And why should they, of all men, go out of existence in a gentle sleep, knowing no more of their death than of their birth. The common theory is that by taking the life of criminals the law deters others, by the awful dread of the penalty, from committing the crime for the punishment of which the penalty is cast. ”