THE INDETERMINATE SENTENCE. There is at present before the General Assembly a bill making provision for the criminal classes which, while one of the most radical of reform measures, it is also one of the most progressive, and if passed will give Connecticut the foremost place among the states seeking a solution of this problem. All reasonable people will admit that the interests of society demand the reformation of the criminal, and that there is certainly very little progress accomplished toward that end under the present system. We speak of it as a radical measure, but though in part an untried one, it cannot be construed as a jumped-at solution, for it has had careful consideration by leading authorities in penology. Mr. William B. Cary, Chairman of the State Prison Committee of the present Legislature, says in regard to the present system : "To open the prison door for the discharge of a prisoner simply because a certain fixed day on the calendar has arrived, and for no other reason, is manifestly about as illogical a way of doing the business as could well be conceived," and Mr. John C. Taylor, Secretary of the State Prison Association, who has studied the question for a number of years, fully The first two sections of the proposed SECTION I. When a convict may be sentenced to the State Prison, otherwise than for life, or than in connection with a sentence to execution for a capital crime, the court imposing the sentence shall not fix a definite term of imprisonment, but shall sentence said convict to the State Prison. SEC. II. Any convict so sentenced to the State Prison may, after having been in confinement within said prison for a period of not less than one year, be allowed to go at large on parole, in the discretion of the Board of Directors and said Prison and of the Warden thereof, if in the judgment of said Board and Warden said convict shall manifest a sincere desire and exhibit a settled purpose to live industriously, peaceWhile so at large ably and honestly. said convict shall remain in the legal cus- The remaining sections of the bill provide for the details of the rules and regulations of the parole and its violations. It is well known that Mr. Charles Dudley Warner has given much attention to this question, and to give a comprehensive idea of the situation we cannot do better than to quote from an article he has written on "The Indeterminate Sentence-What Shall be Done with the Criminal Class?" He writes as follows: The problem of dealing with the Crimi nal Class seems insolvable, and it undoubt edly is with present methods. It has never been attempted on a fully scientific basis, with due regard to the protection of society and to the interests of the criminal. It is purely an economic and educational principles that govern in any successful problem, and must rest upon the same industry, or in education, and that we recognize in the conduct of life. That lit tle progress has been made is due to public indifference to a vital question and to the action of sentimentalists, who, in their philanthropic zeal, fancy that a radical reform can come without radical discipline. We are largely wasting our energies in petty contrivances instead of striking at the root of the evil. What do we mean by the "Criminal Class?" It is necessary to define this with some precision, in order to discuss intelligently the means of destroying this class. A criminal is one who violates a statute law, or, as we say, commits a crime. The human law takes cognizance of crime and not of sin. But all men who commit crime are not necessarily in the criminal class. Speaking technically, we put in that class those whose sole occupation is crime, who live by it as a profession and who have no other permanent industry. They prey upon society. They are by their acts at war upon it and are outlaws. The State is to a certain extent responsible for this class, for it has trained most of them, from youth up, through successive detentions in lock-ups, city prisons, county jails, and in State prisons and penitentiaries on relatively short sentences, under influences which tend to educate them as criminals and confirm them in a bad life. That is to say, if man once violates the law and is caught, he is put into a machine from which it is very difficult for him to escape without further deterioration. It is not simply that the State puts a brand on him in the eyes of the community, but it takes away his self-respect without giving him an opportunity to recover it. Once recognized as in the criminal class, he has no further concern about the State than that of evading its penalties so far as is consistent with pursuing his occupation of crime. Why should we tolerate any longer a professional criminal class? It is not large. It is contemptibly small compared with our seventy millions of people. If I am not mistaken, a late estimate gave us less than fifty thousand persons in our State prisons and penitentiaries. If we add to them those at large who have served one or two terms, and are generally known to the police, we shall not have probably more than eighty thousand of the criminal class. But call it a hundred thousand. It is a body that seventy million of people ought to take care of with little difficulty. And we certainly ought to stop its increase. But we do not. The class grows every day. Those who watch the criminal reports are alarmed by the fact that an increasing number of those arrested for felonies are discharged convicts. This is an unmistakable evidence of the growth of the outlaw classes. But this is not all. Our taxes are greatly increased on account of this class. We require more police to watch them who are at large and preying on society. We expend more yearly for apprehending and trying those caught, for the machinery of criminal justice, and for the recurring farce of imprisoning on short sentences and discharging those felons to go on with their work of swindling and robbing. It would be good economy for the public, considered as a tax payer, to pay for the perpetual keep of these felons in secure confinement. And still this is not the worst. We are all living in abject terror of these licensed robbers. We fear robbery night and day; we live behind bolts and bars (which should be reserved for the criminal) and we are in hourly peril of life and property in our homes and on the highways. But the evil does not stop here. By our conduct we are encouraging the growth of the criminal class, and we are inviting disregard of law, and diffusing a spirit of de moralization throughout the country. I have spoken of the criminal class as very limited; that is, the class that lives But it is by the industry of crime alone. not isolated, and it has widespread relations. There is a large portion of our population not technically criminals, which is interested in maintaining this criminal class. Every felon is a part of a vast network of criminality. He has his dependents, his allies, his society of vice, all the various machinery of temptation and indulgence. "It happens, therefore, that there is great sympathy with the career of the lawbreakers, many people are hanging on them for support, and among them the socalled criminal lawyers. Any legislation likely to interfere seriously with the occupation of the criminal class or with its increase is certain to meet with the opposition of a large body of voters. With this active opposition of those interested, and the astonishing indifference of the general public, it is easy to see why so little is done to relieve us of this intolerable burden. The fact is, we go on increasing our expenses for police, for criminal procedure, for jails and prisons, and we go on increasing the criminal class and those affiliated with it. "And what do we gain by our present method? We do not gain the protection of society, and we do not gain the reformation of the criminal. These two statements do not admit of contradiction. Even those who cling to the antiquated notion that the business of society is to punish the offender must confess that in this game society is getting the worst of it. Society suffers all the time, and the professional criminal goes on with his occupation, interrupted only by periods of seclusion, during which 300 he is comfortably housed and fed. The "The proposed method is the Indeter- Fear is expressed that men will deceive their keepers and the board which is to pass upon them, and obtain parole when As a matter of fact, they do not deserve it. men under this discipline cannot successfully play the hypocrite to the experts who watch them. It is only in the ordinary prison where the parole is in use with no adequate discipline, and without the in- "We have tried all other means of protecting society, of lessening the criminal class, of reforming the criminal. The proposed Indeterminate Sentence, with reformatory discipline, is the only one that promises to relieve society of the insolent domination and the terrorism of the criminal class; is the only one that can deter men from making a career of crime; is the only one that offers a fair prospect for the reformation of the criminal offender. "Why not try it? Why not put the whole system of criminal jurisprudence and procedure for the suppression of crime upon a sensible and scientific basis?" Why not indeed? Connecticut has been the leader in many things which are a source of pride to her inhabitants. Let her have the foremost place in the line of progressive reform. "The Leading Fire Insurance Company of America." STATEMENT of the condition of the Aetna... On the 31st day of December, 1898. Cash Capital, Reserve, Re-Insurance (Fire), Net Surplus, Total Assets, Surplus as to Policy Holders, Losses Paid in Insurance Company, HARTFORD, CONN. . . . . $4,000,000.00 3,137,103.13 63,180.92 344,302.92 104,682.85 169,504.88 4,808,846.75 $12,627,621.45 $8,808,846.75 Eighty Years: $83,197,749.32 WM. B. CLARK, President. W. H. KING, Secretary. E. 0. WEEKS, Vice-President. A. C. ADAMS, HENRY E. REES, Assistant Secretaries. Dickinson, Beardsley & Beardsley, Local Agents, 664 Main Street and 65 Pearl Street. Please mention THE CONNECTICUT MAGAZINE when you write to advertisers. |