Litchfield enquirer., 1879-09-18
Reform of Criminals.
MILWAUKEE, Wis, l

Ed. Enq.-ln objection to the plan of vari- ously graded reform institutions, as a substi- ute for jails prisons and penitentiaries, it has been asked whether in justice to humanity, the present expensive court trials could safely be dispensed with, and it is further suggested that instead of lessening the present expense of criminal trials we should rather increase it by additional court trials for insane This scep- tic also lays considerable stress on the idea that that the existing easy going system of confn- ing the insane too often works injustice to the sane, and expresses an apprehension that so prompt style of disposing of criminals might increase that oppression.
 In reply to these objections I would first state in a general way that from his stand. point of observation his fears are we'll ground ed. While he is progressive, very encour- agingly so, there are still other revolutions" that have not yet touched him.
 The idea we have inherited is that the peo- pie cannot be trusted. Allowing ourselves to be governed by all the ideas of our ancestors we should never do better than they did. Fortunately no one can now be found who would be quite so conservative as that and yet those progressing from the old out into the new, are found by Darwin at great variety of places along the road; some making rapid, others very slow progress
 The objection is we'll taken that ''some of the worst cases of oppression known to civil ized society have been those of persons unjustly shut up as insane" It would have come near CT the truth to have said Ia great many" in- stead of ''some." Also, after these persons are thus shut up, those in charge of the asylums do not understand thelr so-called insanity, con- sequently have not the most remote idea of the treatment needed. This additional and more advanced knowledge is coming to light by degrees, so that in the near future these sad cases of unjust oppression will grow beautiful ly less, and all cases of insanity will finally disappear forever. This again will be in spite of the church and not because of it. I allude in this connection to the church as it is respon- sible for so many of the worst forms of op- pression, and of mental slavery.
 For the insane would not have them con- fined by so easy process as that of our pres ent system, neither would have SO expensive and litigious mode as you suggest. would suggest a county or town committee of three or five inhabitants according to population, composed of the most competent minds, and they should decide the case. This committee would not decide the length of time the patient should be deprived of his liberty.
 Precisely in this way would have all crim- inal cases disposed of. When the general mlnd shall have been educated and grown up to the right understanding of these things there will no longer be disgrace, nor the least tinge of disgrace connected with either class. The committee acting as court should have no more right to determine the length of time required for thorough reform, in criminal take to bring the insane mind back to sanity Their function should be merely to decide whether any treatment at all was necessary Then the humanitarian and sanatory persons in charge of the various places, adapted to the various needs, should decide about their time of detention. In o, her words, the committee should decide about thclr going in, and the Faculties in charge should pronounce upon their coming out.
 In criminal cases, often a few weeks or on- ly few days might be sufficient, as is now the case with the insane. The disgrace of it would be no more than when we are confined at our homes with colds or any other of our numerous ailments
 The objection might be further madr that many would desire 10 get into these nlce insti- tut ions and thus the system be abused. We would reply hy asling if many do not now commit petty offenses for the sole. purpose of getting a winters keeping at some house of correction or other prison?
 l When the christian spirit is modified from what it now is, and brought back to that | which it once was all of these reforms will be possible.
 How can any of ourpresent courts determine the time required to reform a criminal, any more than they can say how long it would take to cure the insane? Yet criminal should by controlled till he is reformed, if it takes 8 lifetime. The insane are kept till they are well. The criminal is entitled to the same just consideration. B. w. B. The foregoing letter brings us upon the fla miliar ground of trial by jury. It has hitherto | been considered a fundamental right of the citizen of any English speaking country to l have full personal liberty unless deprived of it by unanimous verdict of twelve of his fellow citizens, upon proof beyond reasonable doubt | of his wrong doing. To deprive the citizen of that right would seem to us reaction rather than progress How would ''E. w. B." select his committee of three. or five who are to have the right to sentence their fellow citizens to detention without trial To choose them by | ballot would be to expose us to oppfession from every variety of political, religious, class or race prejudice yet no other form of selec- ton could we'll be adopted in republic. Nor could we trust any Faculty we eversaw, | or heard of, with unlimited power to detaln people put under their control by that other limited power of committal The difficulty with our friends system is that it it despotsm in disguise. No human beings can be safely trusted with the unlimited power given his committees and faculties. It is the funda- mental and saving principle of all true democ- racy to distrust every species of unlimited power. Hence it is that our judges are given no power of deciding questions of fact, unless by consent of the parties interested They may settle the law, but the application of the law to individual cases is withheld from them and given to disinterested juries, drawn with out distinction of class, creed, or race.