The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1889-01-03
NEEDED LEGISLATION.

making and unmaking laws for the sun
preston of crime, there has been practically
no effort made to restore the law-violators
to life of honesty. and only the barest on
pOrtunitieS offered them to restore them
| selves 1t is an easy matter to arrest, con-
vict and sentence the criminal. but is an
entirely different matter to restore him to
| the honest walks of life. Society tears the
criminal but only tries to cure him by the
| old principle of punishment. The idea oc-
cupying the public mind is, and has every
been, Punish the criminal in proportion to
the wrong done society. thereby teach him
that he must not repeat the wrong and
also teach other members of society who
may have the inclination to follow in his
footsteps that they will receive like pun
ishment if they are convicted of like acts"
This, we say, is the idea lying at the foun-
datiOn of all Imprisonment and it is only
within the past few years that the principle
has been considered at all faulty. Now we
find a respectable minority who discard en-
tire the principle of curing criminality by
punishment. and a still larger number who
blend the old idea with reformat0ry meas
ures and say: "ImprsOn the law violatOr.
subject him to the most lenient discipline,
teach him morality and religion, and when
he has proved his fitness to enter society as
a law-abiding citizen, release him; but SUBJ
ject him to conditions which will allew the
officers of the law to return him to prison
at any time he violates the conditions of
his release"
These prison retOrmerS have done much
toward lettering the condition of society
by lesSening the number of criminals and
they are the fOre-runners of a system of i'm.
prisonment that will eventually imprison
only those who are criminals, and will rec
Ognize the difference between a single act
coming within the wording of statute de-
timing crime. and criminal act as evinced
by the life. motives and intentions of the
wrong doer; his knowledge of crime, his
capabilities of earning an honest livelihood
and the probabilities of his 50 doing from
all ascertainable facts surrounding.
The power given the judges of our our
courts to give one man ten years or twenty
years in prison and another who chances
to have some one to intercede for him,
thirty days in Jail for the same offense. is a
eXaggeratiOn when we say that those least de-
serving of long sentences receive the longest
sentences, and those most deserving of long
sentences receive the shortest The pro-
fessonal tramp-thief who drifts from pris-
on to prison, spending at least half his time
behlng the bars, receives an average sen
tence of from one to two years, while the
law-viOlatOr, guilty of a single act coming
within the wording of criminal statute re-
ceives an average sentence from three to
five years. This is not only true in Min
nesOta but throughout the United States.
There is regular patent process of demea-
nor pursued by the professional criminal
when arrested and throughout his jail con-
finement which usually results in COM
promise with the prosecuting attorney and
he gets off with from thirty days in Jail or
in The workhOuse, to three years, rarely
more than this in the penitentiary
There is a remedy for this condition of
injustice and we hope aud have reason to
believe, that the legislature of this state
will create board of pardons and thus pro-
vide means of counteracting the injustice
OF our courts of law. and in measure at
least, remedy the great wrongs inflicted
upon those least deserving of punishment.
THE ROGUE'S BANQUET.
The annual banquet of the thieves OF London