This trial
answered so well, that the same legislature again, in the year 1794,
established an act, in which several Quaker principles were
incorporated, and in which only the crime of premeditated murder was
punishable with death.
As there is now but one capital offence in Pennsylvania, punishments for
other offences are made up of fine, imprisonment, and labour; and these
are awarded separately or conjointly, according to the magnitude of the
crime.
When criminals have been convicted, and sent to the great gaol of
Philadelphia to undergo their punishment, it is expected of them that
they should maintain themselves out of their daily labour; that they
should pay for their board and washing, and also for the use of their
different implements of labour; and that they should defray the expences
of their commitment, and of their prosecutions and their trials. An
account therefore is regularly kept against them, and if at the
expiration of the term of their punishment, there should be a surplus of
money in their favour, arising out of the produce of their work, it is
given to them on their discharge.
An agreement is usually made about the price of prison-labour between
the inspector of the gaol and the employers of the criminals.
Pages:
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197