The record-union., 1897-01-06
large number of convicts are indorsed

ldISc uuulDcI ol cOlVlCtS are lDuOTSeu,
namely:
First, our statutes create large
number of State Prison offenses; Sec
ond, because the Judges of the State, in
their discretion, impose excessive SEN
tences, as compared with other States
for like offenses. Hundreds of men are
sentenced to our prisons, for the first Of
fense, to terms of from five to ten years,
who, in the Eastern States, would have
been sent to Jail, or to the penitentiary,
not exceeding one year. 1t can thus
readily be seen that criminal in this
State who serves a term of ten years is
equal to ten prisoners in another State
sentenced for one year for the same Of
fense.. / believe the hardened and con-
firmed criminals should be given the full
extent Of the law, but that first-termers,
and those not of the criminal classes,
should be dealt with as leniently as pub
lie safety Will permit, and that the re-
formation of those not yet wholly de-
based should at all times receive care
full consideration"
Governor Budd inveighs against ex-
cessive sentences and thinks that they
frequently increase crime, through the
law of suggestion. He quotes at length
on this subject from the United States
Bureau of Education, circular No. 4, of
1895. This supports the statement con-
corning the law of suggestion and the
publicity and prominence given to Grim
inal cases, and that the extent of pun
lshment for first offenders of previous
good record be limited by law. That
Judges be required to inquire into the
habits and previous lives of offenders.
and into all facts tending to influence
the guilty ones to commit crime which
could not be in evidence at trial and
that a record of such inquiry be kept
and transmitted to the prison.
REFORM SCHOOLS.
Transmitting a record Of all pardons
and communications, with reasons there
for, he passes to the subject of reform
schools:
THE reformatory at Whittier, cost
ing, according to the Secretary of State,
for lands. improvements and other mat
| ters, S419, 435 IA, has, during the past
two years, maintained, on an average,
399 and a fraction of pupils, at a cost,
during the past fiscal year, Of a little
| over $3.50 for each pupil.
| THE institution at lone, costing, ac-
cording to the same authority, S316,-
| 591 20 up to August, 1895, had for the
| same period an average attendance of
S2O2; costing s. for each pupil, and
! this did not include the farm produce.
These institutions are crowded with
inmates who should be under the tender
care of their parents, or, If orphans, in
the orphan asylums of the State. The
very foundation of our laws, and of all
laws, presupposes that child under the
tender age Of ID years cannot distin-
guish right and wrong and Section &c
| of our Penal Code declares: All per-
| sons are capable of committing crimes
except: % children under the age of IA,
| in the absence of clear proof that at the
time Of committing the act charged
against them they knew of tbs wrongful
ness
These reformatories contain many
| children whom the law itself declares
incapable of crime, except under spe-
cif1c proof Of their culpability, and
d
| chastisement might have reformed.
| we have in these reformatories the
Vagrant of ten, the burglar of eight,
| and, in some case the child who is In
danger of being brought up to lead an
idle or immoral life:' as also those
| guilty of malicious michief; and these
| in an institution containing the young
man guilty of arson, robbery and man
slaughter Many Of our boys have
been tramps, and have spent years
wandering from place to place with
older and depraved companions. ac-
| quiring habits and vices the most de-
graded known to man. says Superfn-
| terdent Coffin's last report He also
says elsewhere: 'Twenty-four hours or
less in Jail breaks down whatever bar
| rier may exist between the child and a
| criminal. However innocent he may
be, once in Jail, he is placed, in his own
mind ait least, in the criminal class.
How needful, then, that some remed V
be found to prevent a sentence of from
six to eight years of an infant of s,
10 or II, to a reforma tory for young
criminals.
mo child should be sent to a State
| refornatory with this criminal class
until he has reached the age of Is, un-
less the facts of each case be laid be-
fore the Superintendent of the fnstitu-
CONTINUED on Fifth Page)