The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1879-01-08
MISCELLANY.
OUR PUNIsHHEETs FOR CRIME.

While Governor of this State, I learned
that the suffering for crime, as rule, fell not
upon the offender, but upon lis family
When | look over our penal laws, their titles,
to my mind, read between their lines, i" Acts
! to punish aoioes and children Of those ,oho uio-
late their terms" | was constantly appealed
to To pardon convicts for these reasons and
in some cases by the wives of those who made
the complaints upon which the wrong doer
was convicted. When this was told to them,
their answer was, that while that was true,
yet while the husbands were in Jail, where
they were fed and warmed, their wives and
children were left to starve and freeze for
want of support.
There is no perfect way of dealing with
crime, but there is no worse way than the
system of this State Some years ago lead
ing lawyer of New York travelled through
Egypt. He met the chief of wandering
tribe of the desert, and among other things,
he told this wild ruler of our laws, and the
ways we dealt with crime. He was heard
with astonishmept, and for the first time he
himself was struck with their absurdities.-
After his return he used to say that he was
never SO thoroughly ashamed of his country
as when he was telling his simple minded
auditor what laws we had upon these subjects
and how they were enforced.
While we may not frame perfect systems,
much can be done TO make better state of
things-to simplify justice, and to break up
the tendency to disorderly conduct and to
vagrancy. We can not hope to make any
marked improvement in our jails. Each
county must have one, and its population will
determine the character of it's place of con-
| finemeut. Those in charge of them will be
frequently changed, and save in the large cit
les the number and character of the inmates
will not admit of classification, etc.
The first change should be one that will al
low our judges to impose punishments other
than sending the offenders to these common
schools of vice.
As nothing can be worse than our present
laws, there can he no harm in trying new
plans. We must have iails. there are cas-
es when the safety of society makes it neces-
sary to lock men up But, as a rule. other
restraints cdn be used which will check, not
teach crime. Our laws only allow two pun
ishments to he inflicted for MINOR offenses -
fines or imprisopment-and these must be
imposed without regard to age sex. condition.
nv circumstances. The law demands these.
it matters not what moral or material mischief
they NAV do. As rule. fines nhict distress
on families and friends. wiliie iails are gate
to a course of wickedness which leads to the
State prisons. For these reasons no punish
ments are inflicted until the offenders have
grown into hardened criminals who excite no
sympathy. There is no power to deal in
tight way with the first step in crime. with
acts of mingled errorand wrong. doing. Tt has
been my duty to look into great number of
such cases. and have given much thought
and study to onr statutes with regard to til sm.
Next to moral and rel ious Influences. we
must rely upon the wisdom Of or laws with
regard to Youthful offenders. IT is eompar-
atively an easy matter to deal with grave
crimes.
The first step toward reform is to give mag
istrates right within certain limits, to direct
such punishmcnts as they shall see are best
fitted TO reform wrong-doers. They have all
the facts before them, and bes. know what is
just and right in each case. This will not
give them undue powers, but it will take
away pretexts for not doing their duty. Now
they must fine, or imprison, or discharge. In
many cases either of these courses is insult
able, and many wrong-doers go free, for to
enforce law would only make things worse.
This state of things is full of evil. If mag
istrates could bind tliem out to do work, or
to direct the minors to be chastised by par
ents or guardians or suitable persons, many
would be saved from the moral leprosy which
infects our jails. Such or like punishments
would be Inflicted and there would be no ex-
cnse for letting offenders escape.
Magistrates should have i'll addition to their
present powers the same right Of control over
Migrants, disorderly PERSONS and habitual of
tenders which parents or guardians have over
their children or wards The fact that they
belong to these classes should be judically
decided after a certain number of convictions.
When they are thus enrolled in these classes
they should have no right to vote at any cleo
ton. AS our laws now stand, notorious Of
tenders who do no honest work. who can only
live in immoral ways, are held to be innocent
persons, when they are arrested, until the
formal, technical, and sometimes expensive
proofs are furnished that they are guilty of
practices which there is a moral certainty
they indulge in. This is right when they are
accused of grave crimes. But there is no
hardship in putting such persons into that
state of wardship in which the law places all
persons who are under the age of twentyone
years, or who are afflicted with disorderly
morals be more lenieutly dealt with than dis
orderly intellects?
There is no danger in giving magistrates
the power over habitual offenders whica par
ents and guardians have over minors-that of
making them work, of binding them out, and
of locking them up and, in the case of chill
dren, having them chastised rather than sent
to jails. There is no reason to fear that this
punishment will be used too often or too
harshly. 1t would rarely be applied, b 1t
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