Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-08-27

/ way to reform criminals is to convince them thai
honesty is the best policy in the most litera
! sense OF the term. The fact, however, of supreme
Importance is that what Captain Griiiiths calls The
"Chaplan's Reign at Mlbank Penitentiary, was
1 complete failure /: and that the methods employed
by him were utterly discredited II does not Of ne
cesSty follow that religious mstruetionn prisons
/ without value. We desire to make no such infer
cree But II IS necessary 10 point out that far IS
pEaetleal experience goes the conclusion is uuavoid
aoie that criminal reformation to be effective, mus,
De pased upon Tar other influences and principles
hhowIedge IN these matters has been purchas ed
at a very costly rate, and through tedious expert
ment. When penal reform first agitated the idea
OF ciaSSlneaton naturally suggested ITSELF and it was
proposed TO separate criminals according to age,
sex, character of offense and general reDutstion
This done it was thought that everything had been
done, but 1t was soon made evident that IA, slch
classification was OF the least practical value 1t was
seen to be impossible 10 separate the cTinina in
accordance with these standards as create really
analogous and un form classes. Those who were,
young in years might be mitch more advanced in
crime than their elders. Those who were in for one
crime might really belong to quite different cate
CORY of law-breakers. Thus the burglar might COM
init manslaughter: the pickpocket might commit
q burglary. the Sneak-thief might turn pickpOcket
and forth. Arbitrary classification resulted only
in confusion c1nfounded and after full trial
it was found necessary to abandon that system All
this time new truths bad been slowly evolving.
however. aud by painful degrees it being real
lied that order TO treat the convict successfully
nature hut his Individuality.
THE GROWTH OF KNOWLEDGE.
On the proposition that reform OF criminals was
necessary there little difference. 1t per-
ceveithat while the ssety of Society the first
quirement OF punishment the rest ietion and dmnu-
ton OF crime required the utmost eifOrs TO be made
to turn criminals from their evil ways. As TO how
this should be done there great diversity Of
opinion. For long time, as we have shown, the
religious hypothesis was entertained, and though
1t cannot be said that any practical effects have
resulted from it, it has held place in every system
% penal reform up 10 the present time. IL not
until Captain Maconochie and Sir Walter Croftou in
England 0bermair in Germany, No tesincs Ia
Spain and Lucas in France, had worked out their
schemes OF reform through the agency Of the
vict himself, that whatmay be termed the scientific
view OF penal administration began to be enter.
tanned In order ID comprehend these methods
thoroughly it will be necessary to inquire what
stltutes criminal. The medieval idea, we may
term that ecclesiastical view which tested with
SUI disastrous results at Millbank was that every
convict was degraded ia his own eyes; that he was
as odious to himself he appeared TO others; that
he recognized tie just &c of his punishment that
he held the same general fundamental concepts as
the Chaplain, regarding things temporal and eter.
nal; ard that he could therefore be made to per.
ceive his iniquity carly, and TO embrace religious
mode OF thought and action. Evidently, as Mr..
Mayhem has shown, this view was not based upon
any analogy in society outside the prison. Fer It
is very certain that free do not act upon such
motives nor do they cOntemu and despise themselves
when they have done things which, though MT ille
gal may nevertheless be h5grantly immoral and
even more detesable than breaches Of the law II
was in fact, n completely theOretiC and unre as
pert OF human motives and actions, and therefore
II could not produce the effects sought by it.
Mr. Pike, in his :" History Of Crime in Eugland,r
gives more rational AID realistic sketch OF the
criminal character and one which accords with
modern experience and research. He says: THE
criminal has and always has had ideas of right
aTl Ea from ne
men in the signihcation which he attaches TO the
words. He is rarely or never without associates
whose ideas OF right and wrong are the same as
bis; he has, therefore, a public opinion which not
only supports him in his own views, but would
cease to support him ii he substituted for them
the views OF the non-crminal classes Thus one
OF the me'iVes which might deter a man who
habitually lived within tie law has precisely the
opposite effect upon man whose life is a war
against society. criminal of this stamp with
courage and address, cannot in his own eyes be
dong wrong when he gratifes the love of advent
ure which is a part of his nature He is not
responsible for the quick blood which flows in his
veins, for his long line Of ancestors, all arailiar
with deeds OF violence aud cunning, for the cir
cumstances OF bis Ct ildhood which determined the
course OF his later life. Instinct and his fellows
tell him that it is good to be brave: he is brave
They tell him 1t IS good to fleece more honest
men he fiseces as many as he can. They tell
him that TO obey the laws through fear is 10 play
the part OF coward; he viii hot play it. They
tell him that he Is good and game he believes
1t. lie is a Criminal-a most dangerous and in
cJrrigible crimin9l-but it be said that he is a
bad mani He has acted as well as he was able,
according u the lights he possesses Can the best
of us say more for ourselves; Can 4 man be de.
PRAYED who is not deprayed in his own eyes {?
THE CRIMINAL TEMPERAMENT.
The truth is tn I criminals, as Mr. Pike observes,
constitute society OF their own, in which many of
the maXims Of law-abding Society are reverted
They virtually are the foes Of law-abdng Society,
but experience shows that they by no means there
fore regard themselves as inferior, as disgraced
as requiring reformation They therefore frequently
resist the we-meant efforts of those who seek to
persuade them OF their fallen state, and they harden
themselves against such appeals hopelessly. a
fuller understanding OF the criminal character is be-
ing obtained now and this throws great deal Of
light upon the whole question Of penal reform
There are, for example, great number of habtua
criminal s. Now it is ascertained fact that in
many instances these habtual criminals are the in.
heritors of criminal temperament and that the
pTedsposition to crime has existed in their families
for generations. The most convincing and thorough
investigation of this subject OF criminal heredty
yet made was undertaken by MIR. K. L. Dugdale of
the New York Prison Association, and published I'M
der the title {" The Jukes,' in 1876. Mr. Dugdale
was enabled to trace the offspring OF two criminals
living about 5eventytiye years ago. He found that
in this period the family had produced 200 mem
bers that these offshoots had cost the country 81
100000 in crime, Imprisonment, plumber, waste
OF capital, wages unpaid, etc, not to
spread around them, and their indirect
maligu influence upon society Throughout this
period OF seventy five years Il tendencies Of all the
members of the .'Jukes family were towards law
less ways, disease and crime Nearly all the women
became harlots, and had illegitimale children
Nearly all the men became thieves or burglars or
receivers OF stolen property. But these not the
only exhibits made in the course OF this exhaustive
analysis of Mr.. Dugdales. He shows that among
habitual and hereditary criminals the tendency to-
wards disease is quite as marked as that towards
crime. The children of debauch and lawlessness
are feeble OF brain and of nervous system They in
helt an instability of character which renders them
incapable OF sustained eXertion. The nomadc in.
stinct is in their blood. They have a constitutional
dlstaste for steady industry, and constitutional ina
bility to intellectual elevation. They are born
breakers Of conventions but in them it is made APP
parent that the tendency to rebel against conven.
tons, though usually ascribed to a progres. i've
spirit, may be the result of race deterioration
The hereditary criminal is declining creature He
is proof that degeneration is DO sble as well as
civilization. And in proportion to the strength
ana number of his inherited aptitudes he is of
necessity the mere difficult to deal with
THE MARK SYSTEM.
As we proceed with this review, however, we shall
perceive that the teachings of experience gradually
come into accord with the most thorough deduc-
tons OF reason; or as Herbert Spencer nuts it.
" the methods which have succeeded so marvelously
IN decreasing criminaty, the methods which
most nearly fulfill the requirements of abstract
Justice All efforts to reform the convict by ex-
terna influences may be said to have failed con-
pletely. No doubt there was great deal Of hypo-
critical cant on the part Of prisoners who fully
understood that their best policy was to stand well
with the Chaplain; but the statistics OF crime not
only failed to show any diminuton in offenses, but
on the contrary, demonstrated that the number of
recommttais was increasing. The theory OF spirit
ual reformation had broken down, and the theory of
severe punishment had been equally futile The in
Fiction of purely coercive labor did not have the
effect of convincing the convcts that labor was
pleasant. On the contrary, it imbued them with
deeper hatred OF industry There was no motive to
reform in any of the elaborate systems which had
been devised with so much enthusiasm II is true
that much has been claimed for the CT llulaT system
ard perhaps it may be true that the men who had
gone through separate impTisoI ment under that
system were no. often rec0mmitted. But it is tine
opinion of experienced penolc gsts that the cellular
system so weakeus the mind OF the prisoner as to
make him no longer capable OF pursuing avocations
which require keen aud prompt Judgment, md
that this is the real explanation of the alleged superb
GRITTY OF that system. The presumption certainly
is against that Tethod
The world owes 10 Capital Maconochie and Walter
Crofton the dis covery and practical application Of
the most effective and thoroughly scientific penal
system yet devised. This is what is now known as
the =" mark system. II rests upon the theory that
no reform can be Of any value which does not con-
sist in the steady and continuous building up of
good habits on the part Of the prisoners Under
the mark system the convict is made to earn his
own promotion to greater privileges and com orts
and he is also permitted to lessen the term OF his
Imprisonment. But he must perform definite
amounts of work before he earns his marks, and he
is not allowed them merely for the negative
qualification OF abstainins from misconduct.
Il is to be observed that the Good.
win Act, in this State, has in operation