The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-05-10
CURE OF CRIMINALS
Mr.. CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER
RECOMMENDS A HEROIC REMEDY.
Prisons for First Offenders should BE
Heformafories-Lffe Term for
Second Felony-Other Views.
New York Mail and Express.

New York Mail and Express.
The gradual and continuous increase
in the number OF criminals in the State
of New York has reached point which
thoughtful students in sociology regard
as a grave menace TO the peace and
safety OF communities. and the seeking
of remedy is beginning to awaken gen.
eral attention.
The annual report of Secretary of State
Palmer shows that there were II, 491 con-
victions in this State last year. against
81, 146 in 1894, an increase of 3,345 in one
year. The classifications of the convic-
tons in the courts of record are as fol-
lows: For crimes against the person
1.0s6, increase 543; against property with
violence 376, increase AZ: against prop
erty 1913, increase 66s; against the cur
under these heads Gil, increase 27S. No
crime of any description shows de-
crease. AS a matter of public i'm
portance and interest the Mail and Ex-
press has sought the opinion Of several
gentlemen qualified to speak from study
and experience on the subject, and to
secure from them suggestions as to how
the alarming growth of the criminal pop
ulation may be diminished or at least
retarded. They do not all agree as to
the means, but they are unanimous as to
the necessity for the introduction of re-
formatory methods superior to those now
In practice.
&c for fo1Ir a M
author. has given the subject of crimi-
nology careful and patient study in all
it's aspects He believes in heroic treat
ment of the incorrigible and reformatory
discipline for the reclaimable.
"Sentimentality has no place in seek
ing to devise the best system to treat
the criminal population of communities,
said Mr. Warner. 1--WE must go at 1t
practically and deal with it as we would
with any important social problem. Our
present penal laws and institutions are
admittedly absurd and ineffective. We
have prisons in every State in the Union,
all filled, all filling, and all emptying and
all refilling with the same material. 1t
is a sort OF rascally rotation. The num-
Der of criminals, instead of growing
smaller, grows larger, and the law-abid-
ing citizens of all towns and cities are
instead of feeling that sense of security
which the knowledge of tire existence OF
such a number of correctional institu-
lions should give.
1.-The records of our courts speak for
themselves. They show that felons are
captured, indicted, tried, convicted and
sentenced and sent to Jail to serve a
specified term, and then liberated to re-
sumo their unlawful occupation and con-
tinue 1t until again captured, again con-
victed and again sentenced The people
pay for the SUPPORT of their enemies,
and without any guarantee of immunity
from depreciation The average States
prison releases convict in a worse con-
dition physiologically and psychological
ly than when he entered it's door. He is.
in nine cases out of ten, not as good a
man morally when he comes out as when
he goes in, simply because he has been
kept in confinement as one Of the lower
animals might be kept, without any at
tempt TO reach his better nature, If he
has any, and to expand and change his
warped and distorted ideas Of the duty
he owes his fellow man.
TO JAIL FOR LIFE.
at do not believe that the habitual
criminal-the man who refuses to live
except by preying upon his fellows
should have any interval Of liberty at
ALL He should be kept permanently con-
fined, and when say permanently l
mean it in the fullest sense of the word.
second offense of an aggravated nature
should be sufficient to indicate that the
offender had deliberately chosen to de-
this declaration should be sufficient to
restrain him of his liberty forever there
after. There is no halfway ground in
my opinion.
THE idea may not commend itself to
knd-hearted but credulous old ladies,
who would feed criminsfs on a choice
diet, give them soft beds to sleep on and
make their stay in Jail pleasure instead
of punishment. That sort Of treatment,
instead of depressing crime, encourages
IL. The thief, the thug. the burglar who
knows that he Is to be treated with ten
der care instead of with firm but humane
severity, has nothing to deter him from
continuing on In his course. When he
knows positively that there is no posi-
BILE loophole by which he can escape a
life Imprisonment in event of his appre-
hension he is likely to seek a method of
livelihood that will not make him amen
able to the law. That is the hard. prac-
teal view of it and not the sentimental.
What would you substitute for the
present SYSTEM"
I'm the first place." replied Mr.. War
| ner, II would change all places of con-
| finement of criminals to places of reform
of criminals. The idea is not chimerical
| 1t is not theoretical. 1t is based upon
| tried and successful application. The
| Elmira reformatory has demonstrated
| that ii Is possible to actually reform
The records of that institution show that
| so per cent. of its inmates abandon a
criminal career upon their release. This
is due to the awakened and cultivated
| faculty of self-respect, which. in the
ordinary States prison, is permitted tc
| lie dormant. and is never reused into
activity. In Elmira the theory-which
| has been found to be most excellent
practice-is that the inmates should be
convinced that they can work out their
own temporal salvation. They are giver
TO understand that they are there to pay
a certain debt which they owe the pub.
| lie. and that after it IS l1quidated they
will be reasonably assisted to keep out
OF further debt thereafter.
IAN endeavor Is made to stimulate
| them into an appreciation of what II
means to be honest, straightforward and
manly. Genuine effort to advance Is re-
warded. Dogged refusal is punished
The mental activity that competition