The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-12-25

One of the most important of the end of
the century conventions is one that is to
be held early next summer, for on that oc-
casion the greatest criminologists of the
world will meet together to discuss the les
sons that the criminals of the country have
taught. It is held by experts on this sub
ject that no century has been more prolific
in the production of past masters in the
art of crime and that unless something is
done to stay the tide of criminaaty men
and women will become more and more ex-
pert in the science of law breaking the
years pass.
The fault, they claim, lies with the laws
that are now the statute books of the
various countries, and they believe that II
new laws should be devised laws based on
actual criminal conditions and expert
knowledge of crime, it would not Zoe long
before there would be a remarkable de-
crease in the number of offenses commit
ted. This, then, is the object of the con-
vention. The criminologists of all nations
will come together and will inaugurate a
scientific system of legislation which they
will afterwards present to their various
countries for adoption In urging the adop-
tion of such laws they will make use of the
information brought before the convention
and they believe that it will thus be posSi-
Bile to effect many necessary reforms in the
statute books.
While the preliminaries for the conven-
tion have been arranged, 1t has not yet
been decided whether it shall be held in
London or in Paris The general idea is
that Paris would be the best place for the
meeting, as many of the leading officials
of every country of the world would be
present at the time attending the Paris ex
position If they could be persuaded to be
present at the sessions of the convention
they could listen to the discussions and
would then have a much better idea of the
subject when the matter should be brought
before them In their official capacity.
While it is not positively decided, there
fore, 1t is more than probable that the con-
vention of criminologists will be one of the
gatherings that will make the great EXPOSE
ton conspicuous.
The problem of the proper methods of
punishment to be inflicted upon criminals
is one of the important questions of the
day and upon no subject has there been
such a wide diversity of opinion. Lom-
broso, for instance, believes that it is pos
sfble to discover the hereditary criminal by
means of his distinguishing marks and he
holds that such person should not be
trea ted in the same manner as a deliberate
offender against the law. At the same time
there are many criminologists who believe
that crime is only the result of early train
ing and education. These two opinions rep
resent the optimism and pessmism of ex-
of the most interesting subjects of discus
sion.
Such theoretical subjects, however, are
not the only matters that will be consid-
cred. The delegates to the convention will
bury their individual opinions upon such
debatable subjects to attend to questions
upon which there is more possibility of an
agreement For instance, there are host
of matters that have long been discussed
by penalogsts that will come in for consid-
Grafton. There is the matter of tobacco,
the deprivation of which has been found to
be one of the best methods of bringing a
prisoner under subsection to prison author
ity, and there is the question of interme-
date sentence and the parole law, which
has been found to be SO effective in the
prisons of various states in this country.
The intermediat sentence law means
that when a prisoner is sentenced he goes
| to prison for a minimum or maximum term
| which is determined by law in accordance
with the offense committed. 1t may be
| from one to three years, two to fourteen
| years, two to twenty-one, or any arrange
ment that may seem best to the legislature.
| On entering a prison the convict is placed
! in the second grade, which means that he
| will wear checkered clothing and will be
permitted to write one letter a month and
| receive one vista month from friends. At
| the end of the third month, if his conduct