Read the first two paragraphs of the
Passage, on pages 1-2.
Click on TWO sentences that reveal an
awareness of what Mrs. Hall's inner thoughts
are.

this quote could be referring to the death penalty. it's questioning the morality of sentencing murderers to death as a punishment, because it seems hypocritical. this quote seems to be arguing for non-lethal punishment for killers.

jenkins wanted the narrator to write a ghost story for his magazine. he wanted the narrator to give the readers a story based on the supernatural. he wanted him to give the readers real 'horror' stories and not the type of live ghosts which he had presented in his earlier stories.

the central idea is basically saying that juveniles that have committed a crime will not have the same consequences as the   adults that have. they will have a softer punishment than what the adults have that is harsh in some ways.