Crime and Punishment

Early last year a Delaware court sentenced 40-year-old Talmadge R. Balsar to 25 years in prison and 20 lashes in a public whipping.

Mr. Balsar, whose crime was a $4 robbery, felt he was being punished too severely and took his case to the State Supreme Court. The higher court agreed that there was some merit in his plea and ruled that he be resentenced. In a fit of generosity, Judge Stewart Lynch reduced the sentence to 15 years and 10 lashes. Balsar will be flogged on Jan. 28.

The Eighth Amendment, which prohibits "cruel and unusual punishments," certainly seems to apply in this case. It is surprising that a state such as Delaware, which has abolished capital punishment, should insist on a public whipping. Hopefully, Balsar can still avoid the cruel and unusual sentence which has been put upon him, if necessary in federal courts under the Eighth Amendment. And further whipping penalties should certainly be abolished by Delaware's legislature.