New-York tribune., 1896-02-07
CrvrLiTIyE SENTENCES.
States.

Sevoral proDositions for the amendment of the
Cumulative Sentences law, or III" NildS act,
which provided for the committing If GrunkardS'
vagrants and disordcriy persons 10 the work
house for terms depending upon the number IL
convictions, have been brought forward. lhai
law in the main has had excellent results, ana
ONLY one serious objection has been urged against
II Some of the CRY Magistrates have com
plaincd that after committing wiicbcalcrs ana
other persons guilty of serious offences upon IN"
charge Of disordery conduct the law has como
70 their rescue and secured for them premature
discharges TO remedy this defect II has been
proposed 10 amend the law making the cumu-
laiivc sentence Discretionary with ihc commit
ting magistrate The State Charities AID Asso-
ciation which led in securing the enactment "f
the original law, in the belief that such change
would practically destroy the good effects or the
act has prepared an amendment OF somewhat
different character 1t provides that the Mlg.s-
trate in his discretion may commit for longer
but not for q shorter, term than the Cumulative
sentence law now provides for IA first second
or third offence. This VIII enable Magistrates
in their discretion TO innct severcr penalties
without interfering with the working Of the law
In ordinary eases.
| The good effect Of the Wilds law Is so ap-
| parent upon examination that the wisdom OF
| retaining its essential features on the statute
hooks cannot be doubted. Intll last April the
| large majority Of sentences TO the workhnuse
were for five or ten days or the 20,oNl com
| mitmcnts during 1894 1o.JJ7 were for ten days
| ONLY Many Of the persons sent 10 prison were
| committed ten. twenty, or even eighty. times,
! and made The workhousc their habitual resi-
| dence Under the old system many sentences
were shortened after being imposed by the com
mitting magistrates through the influence OF
| friends Of the prisoners. and II was the regular
custom as election approached for large numbers
| of persons TO be released in this way 10 do the
| work Of the politicians who secured their free
| dom This was a constantly growing evil. In
| 1893 AD3 male prisoners were thus discharged
| in October. while the average number so dis
| charged during the other eleven months Of the
wear was 173 and In 1891 the discharges for
| October had grown 10 40. against about 900
in other months The WildS act did away with
all this 1t fixed The punishment for the first
offence AT five days for the second at twenty
| days, and for other offences double that inflicted
| In the preceding case w to maximum soncnr"
Of six months As Il result the ''roundcr has be-
gun to disappear from our city. The men TO
seriously object 10 spending forty or eighty days
at hard work under close discipline This IL III
dicatcd by the comparatively small number Of
! rerommitmcnts 10 the wOrkhousc since the pIs-
| sage of the law. In all .529 different persons
| have been committed for vagrancy. public in
! toxcation disordcrly conduct from the time
| when the law went into effect to the end Of the
| year. only 100 returned for Il twenty days
sentence. only 1.,,25 for the forty days sen
| tcncc: So for eighty DAYS: 245 for one hun'lrcd
and sixty days. and only for six months.
| Those who do return are coming 10 he more and
| more the habiual Offenders Others begin 10
| take warning.
Not only has the law done away with the dis
charge Of prisoners through fav0riilsm or for
election purposes and had Il deterrent effect
upon vagrants and dsordcrly persons but II has
also cleared the courts from being infested every
few days by the same persons. When they come
into court now they are sent 10 the WOrkhOuse
for longer terms each time. and cannot come
back soon 10 trouble the Magistrates. 1t was
not TO he expected that this law could 20 into
effect without causing some friction, or that its
valuable features would all be nj once apparent.
The results of cumulative sentences. marked as
they have been already, are yet 10 come In their
funcss. The habtual offenders will cease to
| trouble the courts but until disposed or VIII