The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1890-09-18
MAKING or CRIMINALS.


a Permanent Reform Can BE Euecteu VnV
~ Education.
The law measures all crime with the
same rod, gauged from the marks OF
iextenuating circam stances To habit
taf commissions. The nature OF the
criminal and the habits Of the criminal
have been stud ed, bit not the innate
or the nodded character ~ the criminal
himself The influence Of the Il tetnal
organic world. the influence of the tenn
perature on crime, the increase OF crimes
Of violence in hot weather, the perkoo-
lefty Of certain crimes which can b.
traced 10 climate and crimes which csn
be traced to diet, the social factor which
has led to the maxim that every So
ciety has the crimes 1t deserves tho
relation between crime and alcohol, boz
tween crime and the price Of fpod--aH
these are too subtle for the iron hand OF
the CT minal law. but they form one OF
the hiUst interest ng studies OF the soci-
ologist Ono of the most thorough Of
these studies is to be found In = book
written by IIavelock Ellis and just pub
ffshcd in this country. Hnder the title
of 1.-The Criminal" 1t talsos up the Grim
inal as he 10 and what he becomes in
contact with his environment. One OF
the most profitable lines of thought In
this criminal afithropology is tho way
in which criminals are made. For all
these are cases in which IAN ounce Of
prevention is worth more than aspeand
Of cure A criminal once made IS very
hard to anmake. Repentance is apt to
be only the hope OF reward. Those es-
pecially who premeditate and commit
crime in cold blood never experience
moral remorse. Their conscience, in
nearly all cases, is dead. Every society
contains component parts which can, by
very slight cause and by long neglect,
become the finished product which Ais
our jails. Society, properly awake to
its duty toward these weak and abnor-
NAL specimens Of their race, can do
much to prevent their tendencies taking
a raalign direction. Among the most
I instructive results Of this story Of rim-
inal anthropology is the recognition Of
disposition in crime to diffuse itself
in q community from generation to
generation, premeating it like spread
ing ulcer throwing off shoots in differ
emit directions, where they strike root
and propagate their kind. Such were
the Jukes families in New England-=a
type of their classroom single pair
broadening out into an overwhelming
circle of crime breeders. Such, Also
was the family in Ohio, the careers OF
| whose members were so wildly traced
before the Society Of Charities and Cor
rection at its recent meeting in Balti-
more. The tendency OF crime is to en-
gender crime. Here our prisons and our
theory Of imprisonment for slight causes
| come in for condemnation. The wisest
countries are now more and more stiff
| ing the damaged wheat from the chat
the man, youth or child just Begin
ming a5course of crime from the habit
ual criminal 1t is leaning on q reed
for society to consider education, as
commonly conducted, preventive Of
/ crime. THE only education" writes
Mr.. Ellis, (which can avail in any
substantial degree must be education
in the true sense; an educa-
! ton that is as much phys
! ical and moral as intellectual-an edu-
cation which enables the man who has
it to play fair part in social life. The
proportion of criminals with some intel
| lectual education is now very large.
The proportion of criminals who are ac-
quainted with any trade still remains
very small. The proportion of crimi-
nails engaged in their trade at the time
OF the crime is smaller still. Education
must begin with the child. His future
destiny is not only in him at birth, but
fate is against him before he is born,
for heredity is prime factor in crime.
| 1t is important also, to recognize the
| fact that criminals are made or are con-
firmed in crime by publicity. No CEN
sorship of the press, or private execu-
tons, can prevent this. A permanent
change in this respect can only be eff
| fected by the slow influences OF educa-
ton eradicating that morbid state OF the
public mind which is eager for details,
haunts places where crime has been
committed, writes letters proposing
marriage to women in prison charged
with numbering their husbands and
sends flowers to hardened offenders
| Baltimore Sun.