The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1900-01-22
.''EDUCAT|ON
AND CRIME"
Paper Read at Memphis by
Prof. Bronson of Geor-
Z .gia Normal School

Among the able papers presented at the
| recent meeting of the Southern Educational
| Association In Memphis was one by Prof.
| e. C. Branson of the Georgia State Normal
| School on Education and Crime" Prof.
Branson said:
! 1.-THE relations of education to crime is
/ manifestly a question of great perplexity
| and difficulty, because 1t Is impossible TO
measure with utmost exactitude the Vari=
| Gus forces formative of civilization and TO
| assign to each its precise influence; yet all
| these forces must be reckoned with, the
| school among them: just approximates
must be fairly reached and the question OF
| this paper answered upon the basis of pre-
| ponderant possibilities.
| This question. like all really great ques-
| lions, is not one to be settled by mere dis
cussion. For good or i'll, the civilized world
| has steadily moved forward toward uniVer-
| sal education, in accord with the profound
belief of the great masses of men In mod
ern times, that ignorance and not educa-
| ton, is the mother of vice; tina virtue Is
grounded In the reason; that enlightened
| intelligences are necessary to enlightened
| conscienees; that illiteracy is a menace to
| the individual and to the community. ana
| that education by the state Is not char
| ity of the state but defense for the state.
when ancestry, the home, the school,
| the community, the state and the church
are all concerned in determining the quail
| ties of civilization it is folly to charge up
| on the school alone all the good or all the
| evil of civilization, for which all these
| forces are proportionately responsible, or
| for which all the others are mainly re-
spqnsible.
"Our contention is that individual charac-
| ter. whose aggregate is the complex result
called civiiza ton, is formed more in the
| free comprehensive of youths than by
| the formal relations of teacher and pupil;
| more outside the schooroom than in it;
more in homes than in schools; more by
parents than by teachers: more by all the
otf1er schools of life than by the school
| technically so called.
"In order to come closer to the share of
| the school in the production of crime let
us ask what crime is and what in the
opinion of oriminologists, its sources are.
Briefly crime is conduct violative of an
authorized formal expression of public
taste, conscience. or judgment concerning
matters of propriety. safety, justice, moral
ity or policy. 1t is the will of one in active
|, conflict with the wills of all, to the immc-
date or remote danger of community well
fare. Crimes the diseases of the social
body, freely created by the will of one and
the wills of all under the conditions affect
ing the actions of will.
Thus civilization produces its own
crimes, and so, in sense not usually con-
sidered. Among primitive peoples, widely
scattered and loosely compacted, with large
range for the qualification of personal de-
ty, conscience and conduct, laws would be
/ few. Few laws, few violations of law, few
crimes, In consequence. But as civilization
advances, community life becomes more
closely federated and more complex. 1t
calls for surrender of personal rights and
properties in fair proportion for the COM
mon, good. Cooperative endeayor becomes
a marked feature of community life? STAN
dards of taste, propriety, conscience and
conduct are elevated, and laws become
more numerous. More laws, more crimes
more criminals are the consequence. Con-
duct once lawful now becomes criminal.
'"Thus, the multiplicity of laws and the
increase of cases upon prison records indi-
cate an increase of crime less than an in
crease of public constituencies about crime
They are an evidence not of rotting but of
ripening civilization, inaSmuch as conduct
not before considered criminal has now be-
come so at the bar of public conscience,
public opinion, and public taste. l dare say
that the police records of Atlanta will show
an increase of offenders this year over last;
not because her public schools are failing
to decrease crime, but because 1t is now
misdemeanor in that city to spit on the
sidewalk.
'It seems to be uniformly true that in
all countries where educational facilities
have increased, serious crimes have de-
eased, while the court records show more
and more misdemeanor cases. 1t indicates
/ repeat not an increase of bad conduct
so much an increase of public distaste
against disorder and indecency. The law
is merely taking cognizance of wide range
of offenses
''If, now we look straight at the sources
of crime, we shall see, think, that public
education is not one of them or only insig-
nificantly so; but on the contrary, that it
is one of the chief defenses of society
against crime, and so by the common con-
sent of criminologists
Enthusiastically iS largely resnoncihJo fo,-
the physical manias, the defective intelli-
gences, the abnormal sensiblities and the
weakling will out of which issue large
per cent of crime, pauperism and insanity
Both Mario and Rossi found that 81 pei
cent of the criminal detectives studied by
them were the children of alcohoized pa
rents.
Secondly the common consent of
criminolcgists the two greatest sources of
crime are drunkenness and poverty. Now,
crimihologists assign a great variety of
causes for alcoholism and poverty but ed
ucation is not to be found in the list of any
one of them.
''Third-Again. lying, disobedence, dis
honesty and idleness are rooted in the home
and the harvest at last is crime Saws
Warden Bush, of Sing Sing: "A large num-
Der in our prisons are there because of lack
of proper discipline in the family because
of the free indulgence of parents Major
McClaughry. at one time chief of the Chi
CaRO ponce, says tfdI cTlm1nal DarentaRe,
criminal associates and criminal neglect of
children are the chief sources of crime in
our country
"F'ourth-Another source of criminality,
emphasized by Holder and DIR. Harris is
the accelerated growth of cities in the pres
ent century. In 1890 one-tihirtieth of the
population of the United States lived in
cities; in 1890, one-half. And the greatest
source of poverty, suffering and crimes in
our cities, says General Booth, is the fierce
competition for work among the very poor.
"Fifth-Other prominent sources of crime
emphasized by students of crimnology are
newspaper prominence given to it: cheap,
sensational literature, idleness and loafing,
ignorance of trade, greed for gold and the
haste to become rich. love of display, I'M
wise charities. the lack of reformatve in
fluences in prison life, unjust discrimina-
lions in criminal laws, the discomfort of
oppressed wage earners, unschupulous par
tisan politics. sympathy for criminals de-
layed justice, unwise pardons and numer-
Gus other causes which Jolly consumes 43f
pages in listing. without once charging the