Wilmington daily commercial., 1873-06-17
Criminal Reform.

N
PUBLIc MEETING, LAST ENING--INTEREeIIHG Az
DRESSES KY COL NlELDs, MIR HIGGINS, AND 9TH
ERs-REPoRT OF THE WORK OF THE ASSOCIATION
The public meeting of the managers. mem
beIs and friends Of the Delaware Association for
Criminal Reform, held at the Central Presbyte-
rian Church, was attended by a small but intelli-
gent audience. DIR. Askew presided and the
meeting was opened with prayer by Rev. Field
or Israel.
Mr. Israel then read areport reviewing the op-
erations of the AssCC alton, from the time OF its
organization in May 1865. until the present time.
This report embodied the constitution of the
Association. which was also read He regretted
thai the Association had never been able to en-
poy an Agent, but to make up for this defcien-
cy, Mrs. McCees, at her own cost, and with Il
devotion and disinterestedness worthy Of honor
able mention, had visited all the Jails and Aims
Houses, distributing tracts. books, and papers,
conyersing with many OF the inmstos, and af-
fording such relief and comfort as the cases ur-
gently stood in need Of.
No report had been received lately from the
Kent comfy jail but in New Castle jail there
were 81 inmates. of whom wore females, or
this number are imprisoned for life for II
years for years.
There are n cells, in II Of which there are an
average Of III a cell and in the remaining cells
the rest are crowded, sometimes IN a cell
or religious instruction.
In the Sussex county jail there appear to be
only inmates, one OF whom is Joseph Green
aged % to be hung for rape June 2Oth George
Wood dttdS MaId, aged n, imprisoned months
for burglary. and two others awaiting trial.
The iUlowIug reformatoTy Measures were vet
needed in O1r State lst, pehteutiary that
crime may be punished and criminals reformed
I'd, A House Of Refuge, that crime NAV be pre-
vented. and the youth of the State pIoperly ed
tall tA ll and D
That the criminal institutions the State should
be selt-supportIng. lth, That tho profits OF
crime should be reduced below those OF honest
industry.
With no sekly sentimentalism about crime
ana lis lGnis hment. and with no morbid sympa-
tiy ttr criminals, these are a few of the reform
ELI sought and demanded by :hls Association
On motion of Mr.. N!ed- the report was unan.
monsly adopted.
Ber amin Nieds, Esq, being called upon by
the President, addressed the audience. He sta
ted that the question Of what shall We do with
the criminal Is answered by al other question
how shall We prevent crimeS If punishment did
not prevent II, then 1t is useless to use punieh-
ments. law which is compulsory in it's char
acter and not the outgrowth Of public senti-
ment, so far as the reformation OF the criminal
is concerned, is of no avail. The true object OF
law should be to secure personal liberty ana the
light to hold property. IT is admitted that soci-
ety is not held together by mere force of law, 80
much as by the moral sentiment Uf tie co1nfnu-
nifty. Severe laws did not rt form the criminal
nor did they prevent crime The laws III Della
ware arc more sevele than in any OF her sister
States, and yet, with population OF only 1876 900
the gallows claim more Vi TINS than they do in
Philadelphia though the lat er has times the
popul2tion that Delaware has. Notwithstand-
ing our severe administration Of law, it was eyi.
dent that the gallows, whipping post and pilory
did not prevent crime. This punishment de-
graded the criminal instead of reforming him
He believed the law in regard to capital otfenses
were altogether wrong. The State has no more
right to take life than an individual has
Its murder to take my own life and it is no
less murder to delegate that authority to anoth-
er,which an individual dare not exercise himself.
The social statistics OF the census OF 1870 chow
that Delaware has more criminals in proportion
to her population than any other State. oar
gallows and ether instruments of torture are kent
III operation and still, Notwithstanding that Del
ware is an agricultural State crime increases.
Tho criminal statistics show that there are 32 600
persons confined in the prisons OF the United
States. What Is to ba their coudition when let
loose upon society? When whipped the criminal
is worse than before. An enlightened and NH
lanthropic Christianity teaches us that they
should come out of prison better than when they
went INTO IT. and We are called upon to make
them better, MIR. n. Expressed himself as not
opposed to punishment ii it reformed the Crimi-
nal, but it was plainly shown in the States which
are IN advance of us that where puuishments
are the least severe crime least abounds.
A stranger in the audience by the name Of
Lattimer, and announcing himself as one OF a
Committee 10 visit lie prisons Of rhiladelphia
arose to retGto the argument of Col, Nieds, in
relation TO capital punishment. He said it was
divine law with which we had nc right to inter
feTe, that ''whUso Sheddeth mans blood by man
shall his blood be she'd His experiences in
visiting criminals was not encourageing to Grim
nal reform. The prisoners would pretend 10
accept the trnth but when at liberty were as bad
a. ever. We could but do our duty give them
hal tn mad sagtNt 4. 49,,
ard leave all to God. He found the colorad in
mates OF the House of Refuge more susceptible
OF Improvement than their white neighDors
Anthony Higgins, Esq being introduced, made
a few Well'timed remarks principally covering
the same ground and entertaining much the
same views as those Of Col Nlelds - Lead us
not INTO temptation he thought was the best
part of the Lords PRAYER. We know what We
now are. but we do not know what we will be-
with the temptations surrounding us IN speak
ing of our city cells, he said their condition was
such az should cause every christian man and
woman in the city to hang their heads in shame
In closing. Mr. H. referred 10 the liquor trail
c, with all its attendant evils, as the child of the
state, and the producer of nearly all tie crime
We wish TO abate, and advised the arousing of
public opinion againet this fountain head of
crime
Rey. Fielder Israel made few interesting
closing remarks in refutation Of the argument
of the stranger from Philadelphia His expert
ence for 20 years was exactly the reverse of that
of the stranger, for PRISON statistics show THAI 80
per cent of the criminals had been refor1ned d and
it was shown by the last meeting Of the Interna-
tional Prison Congress that 81 per cent of
criminals we're benefcially affected by these
prison reform influences
At the close of the meeting ]. s. Valentine
Esq, aud $. Hersey were appointed a committee
to solicit those present to become members of
the Association. After short canvass of the
audience, q new members were ieported when
the meeting adjourned.