THE PRISONER ATTHE BAR
SIDELIGHTS ON THE ADMINISTRATION
OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE
BY
ARTHUR TRAIN
Assistant District Attorney, New York County
SECOND EDITION
REVISED AND ENLARGED
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1915
Copyright, 1906, 1908, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
To
ETHEL KISSAM TRAIN
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
The favorable reception accorded to the "Prisoner at the Bar," notonly in the United States but in England, and the fact that it haswon a place in several colleges and law schools as a reference book,and in some instances as a sort of elementary text-book upon criminalprocedure, have resulted in a demand for a new edition. When the bookwas written the author's sole intention was to present in readable forma popular account of the administration of criminal justice. Upon itspublication he discovered to his surprise that it was the only book ofits exact character in the English language or perhaps in any other.Reviewers pointed out that whereas there were annotated text-booksof criminal procedure and isolated articles on special topics, mostof them relating to the jury system, there was in existence no othersketch of criminal justice as a whole, from arrest to conviction, basedupon either actual experience or hearsay.
This new edition has been indexed and is supplied with cross-referencesto other works on allied subjects. A chapter has been added upon"Insanity and the Law," and such statistics as the book contains havebeen brought down to date. It is satisfactory to add that these show agreatly increased efficiency in the jury system in criminal cases inNew York County, and that the tabulations of an eight years' experienceas a prosecutor only serve to confirm the conclusions set forth in thefirst edition.
The author desires to express his thanks to Prof. John H. Wigmore, ofthe Northwestern University Law School, for his many kind suggestionsand flattering references to this book in his masterly work upon thelaw of evidence; to Augustin Derby, Esq., of the New York bar, whomost unselfishly gave much time to the examination of references, andvoluntarily undertook the ungrateful task of compiling the index; andto those many others who, by comment or appreciation, have made asecond 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. Thenewspapers keep us steadily informed as to the doings of all sorts ofcriminals up to the time of their capture, and prison literature isabundant, but just how the criminal becomes a convict is not a matterof common knowledge. This, however, does not prevent the ordinarycitizen from expressing pronounced and, frequently, vociferous opinionsupon our methods of administering criminal justice, in the same waythat he stands ready at any time to criticise the Darwinian theory,free trade or foreign missions. Full knowledge of any subject isinevitably an impediment to forcible asseveration. Generalities