1908.........35............17..........67............33
1909.........43............11..........80............20
1910.........45............15..........75............25
TOTAL.......382...........138......Av. 74........Av. 27


A popular impression exists at the present time that a man
convicted of murder has but to appeal his case on some
technical ground in order to secure a reversal, and thus
escape the consequences of his crime. How wide of the mark
such a belief may be, at least so far as one locality is
concerned, is shown by the fact that in New York State, from
1887 to 1907, there were 169 decisions by the Court of Appeals
on appeals from convictions of murder in the first degree, out
of which there were only twenty-nine reversals. Seven of
these defendants were again immediately tried and convicted,
and a second time appealed, upon which occasion only two were
successful, while five had their convictions promptly
affirmed. Thus, so far as the ultimate triumph of justice is
concerned, out of 169 cases in that period the appellants
finally succeeded in twenty-two only.

Since 1902 there have been twenty-seven decisions rendered in
first-degree murder cases by the Court of Appeals, with only
three reversals.* (* Written in 1909.) The more important
convictions throughout the State are affirmed with great
regularity.

As to the conduct of such cases, the writer's own experience
is that a murder trial is the most solemn proceeding known