Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-04-04
THE YOUTHFUL OFFENDER
OPERATION OF LAW PROVIDING FOR
THEIR RECLAMATION.
Views of N Police Chief I'm Regard to
ReformatOries-The Mark
system.

Local police authorities, as well as the
Judges of the courts. are deeply interested
In the operation of tho law providing for
the reclamation of juvenile offenders, as
published In yesterdays Star. The plan
being formulated by Agent Douglass of the
board Of chiIdren's guardians will be sub
mitted to the judges in few days. The
reform in the method of dealing with chill
dren has been agitated for several years
and Major Sylvester made the first prac-
teal move in the matter, it is stated, when
he put stop to the practice of hauling
them in the prison vans with old offenders,
and subsequently by the establishment OF
the house of detention. People interested
IN the question think the present plan of
dealing with the youthful classes will be
productive of much good.
Chief Richards of the Memphis CTenn.)
police department, during a session of the
Police Chiefs Association. presented a pa
per on Juvenile Criminals" which Is APP
plicable to local conditions, and was in part
as follows:
Scientists may wrangle over theories as
to origin of crime aud write learned and
profoundly technical papers as to It's
growth and development They may spec
ulate as to whether it is on the wane or
increase, and whether or not crime Will
ever disappear from the human race Inc
policeman and the peace officer have noth-
irg to do with these clements of the ques-
tion further than to carry out the letter
and spirit of legislation based upon an In
telligent understanding of criminal condi-
tions and report the results of his observa-
tion and experience
Facts, Not Dreams.
while / would not deprecate intelligent
study and close investigations by policemen
into the scientific data relating to crime, L
would emphasize upon his mind that we
deal with facts more ban the excursions of
dreamers into the realms of speculation;
that our business is with conditions and
not with theories. We are confronted by
effects. Primarily it IS the duty of law
makers to deal wI-h the causes. and
enact laws looking 10 remedies that are
based upon the undisputed results of sclen-
tific thought and action. Whatever may
be the cause of crime IN the human fam
lily. whether IL was handed down from
Ewes first impulse to disobedience. or
whether il is an accident In the heart OF
the individual. we know that 1t is here |
fail to see how 1t can profit us very much
in our relation with criminals to know
whether they are criminals by heredity or
BY the accident of environment The ten
dency toward evil which manifests itself
In Offenses against the written and unwrit-
ten laws of society. must be removed from
the heart that harbors 1t before a remedy
can be effected. AMI so all speculation
and all legislation is directed to this end
at last
be attached to hereditary conditions. but l
am just firm in my convictions that
early environment is responsible for more
crime than the sins of the parents. How
ever this may be. we are confronted by
the fact that Offenses against the laws are
increasing among the youth of this land
II is more the remedy than the cause
which demands our attention.
Believes in Reformatories.
II am a believer in reformatory schools
and have been a consistent advocate of
this system, basing my opinion of the eff
cacy of these institutions upon observation
no less than research. l believe in the kim
dergarten and in the theory that we be-
come accustomed to doing good by con-
slant contact and association with those
VINO practice doing good. There is philoso-
ply In the ancient maxim that the tree is
inclined in the direction the twig is bent
No child ever improved under the prison
lash. Workhouse, penitentiary and rock
pile. with their associations breed crime
IN the heart swamp breeds malaria
in the physical system. II is the duty of
parents to arrest the immoral bent of their
children When they neglect it and the
child In consequence commits a crime. they
are more guilty than the child Where the
domestic environments are conducive to
crime and no efforts are made to arrest
the evil bent, the state should provide
remedy.
'"rhe social system Of prison treatment
known as the Mark system is probably
the best method of dealing with the youth
full Offenders This system was established
in British colony In Norfolk in 1910. but
later was improved upon and modified by
Walter Crofton, who provided, first, for a
penal stage of separate imprisonment: sec
ond, reformatory stage. in which the
principle of classification and progression
comes into play; and third. "a testing stage
designed to verify the Teformatory power
of discipline Tennessee spends annually
about S300.U0 in Furnishing criminals, and
about $4,000 year In attempting to re-
claim them. About the same proportion is
observed IN other states"