The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-07-09

imagine anythgng more Downright fool
tsh than set an age limit for response
nifty. send him 20 q reform school for
term OF years and then let him loose again
in society with his diseased physical frame
and low instincts?
Yet this boy y an unfortunate seins.
ne Is lacking in a physical Characteristic.
Is incapable of satisfying physical neeass
ana this morbid condition lands him IN
Jail and not In an asyium.
Again take the case OF Thomas Green.
the wife murderer. q hopeless pnyslcAA
and psychical epIleptic. who : now
awaiting his removal to the peniientiary.
He Is the victim Of that legal faliacy re-
coSnized In our state as the right ana
wrong sort" Of insanity; BY which =
meant that when the insane person was
capable OF understanding the dtnerence
between right and wrong at the time OF
his offense. ne Is guilty. Most insane
persons are capable Of this understanding.
but they are not capable Of controlling the
will and especially Is this true Of cpl
lepties. Those afiiicted with II become
sad and norose without any cause IN ex-
ternal circumstances. are profoundly dis
tressed, and exhibit much Irritation
against those who are about them; suf-
fer from loss OF memory and duincss OF
intelligence 80 that they can not collect
and ix their thoughts; feel that they are
no longer themselves. that they are in
relied TO strange or violent acts by
power which they cannot resist; oppressed
by a vague anxSsty or dread. they leave
their homes: all the painful ideas which
they have conceived at different periods
Of their lives come back and fasten upon
their minds; they are overwhelmed with
a vague horror. In this confusion and
distress they accuse their friends OF hos
tiiity and imagine prosecutions. and they
do unlawful deeds; some relieving them
selves h. destroying inanimate objects.
others killing themselves and others at
lacking in a blind fury persons near them.
when their terror and distress have rem
dered their impulse uncomfortable.
Our criminal law is the fateful legacy Of
the part with its religious tenets and &C.
clesiastical dogma and especially the doc
trine OF free will. The defects OF this
asylum are numerous. but they may be
briefly summed up. They are faliacious
scale OF moral responsibility; absolute ig-
norance and neglect OF the physIo-psycho-
logical types OF criminals; disastrous
practical effects Of corruption and OF
criminal association in prisons; millions OF
persons condemned 20 short terms OF i'm
prisonment. which are foolish and absurd;
a continuous and memorable Increase OF
recidlvism or relapse into crime. and nm
ally a total neglect OF the protection OF
society against the born criminal
Penal justice at the present m0mSn. 5
sort Of machine. devouring ard cart.ng
up again an enormous number Of iadlvid-
uals. who lose among IL wheels Of their
life. their honor. their moral sense, and
their health. leaving thenoe;l-:h the Ia
effaceab;e scars. and falling into the over
growing ranks OF professional aEi hatIi-
uIl CRIME.
:: - impossible to deny the rrger. ne
cessity OF Substitution for our present
penal organization a better system cor
Of crime. more effectual for soc al defense
and at the same time less gratuitously
disastrous for the individuals with whom
II deals.