Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1889-01-02
CREATING CRIMINALS.
A Vivid Picture OF Existing Evils In tt
Treatment OF Law-Drenkers.

A Vivid Picture OF Existing Evils In the
| Treatment OF Law-Drenkers.
The telegraph joyfully announced
the other day that q notorious cracks
man had been caught in Boston. How
did he happen to be at large? He was
familiar figure in penitentiaries; he
was we'll known to the police; he had q
public reputation. 1t was perfectly
vel! known that his business was burg
larry with incidental murder if nec-
essary to his safety; that he had no
other occupation; that he associated
with persons of both sexes whose sole
calling Is the plumber of society. He
was u professional criminal, belonging
to a well-detined criminal class, who
never do a stroke of honest labor,
whom the community support in idle
ness and crime. How did he happen
to be at larger
After some weeks or months in q
comfortable jail this criminal will bo
tried. He will have the sharpest,
most ingenious criminal lawyer to de-
fend him; every advantage will DO
taken of technicalities, and allowed;
and the ablest effort will be made to
clear him of the specific crime for
which he was arrested. or to procure
for him the shortest possible sentence.
AS he Is so notorious, the chance is
that the jury will convict him. He
will spend a few years in the State
nric0n Ho vr31l h1hnvn
will earn time by good conduct, and
greatly shorten the term of his sem
tence. He will in time be discharged
and go back to his occupation of burg
larry. He will rob several houses and
bank or two, he will terrorize the whole
community, and some day he will be
caught again, and the whole farce will
be repeated.
Society prefers this method; it must
prefer it, in government by the peo-
pie. or it would try some other 1t Is
evidently willing to stand the loss of
his repeated robberies, tho expense of
increased police to watch him, the cost
of his successive trials, which make q
heavy bill for the State, and finally is
willing to support him during the peri
DDS OF his Incarceration. There is no
common sense in the method; it is the
most uneconomical that could be de-
vised; but We have a notion that it
saves US the trouble of any intelligent
and vigorous action. We let the GRIM
inal class prey upon US. knowing all
the time what they are doing. We
have gradually learned to act differ
emily in other social dangers. If man
las 5n j.. md him to pest
lou Uj n there till he is
cutrf q dangerous lunatic,
We put -: rlum and keep him
tNart 49, 'ronounced sane by
M H'v. 49,. =.
Il >"2. &c rperely passive suf-
IT,. ARE on society. Our
=. r. 49," l. increases and repro
u class. This cracks
r.. > of a dozen varieties
" .sl... ogues, thieves, swim
dlo.o. ~ A4s ..-mpA, vagabonds with no
occupation except getting living by
dishonesty. Our system of dealing
with criminals and those with strong
criminal tendencies is calculated to
recruit the ranks of the professionals.
1t is an old story, the life of young Of
tenders, boys and girls, through the
city lockups, the usually foul county
jails, the houses of thirty days. deten-
ton, the reform schools, the peni-
Observation-Disclosures with associations
tending to destroy self-respect and in
crease liking for vileness-to the
full-blown professional condition. It
is needless to repeat the details. From
the moment society pays attention to
wrong-doer. its machinery is ever
making him worse. Our main effort is
to punish crime, not to prevent it
Charles Dudley Warner, ~ Forum.