The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-11-25

intent to kill has sent sixty-six to the re-
formatory and thirty-seven to the State
Prison. There are two bunko steerers ana
0rs in fo ne tb
ploding of dynamite. One man is confined
in the reformatory for placing explosives
on a railroad track and one for placing .ex-
polsives on another mans premises Other
crimes are well represented by the re-
mainder Of prisoners in each institution;
In his report on the statistics of the
prison Mr.. Johnson says:
"In the State Prison at Michigan City
there are confined Isl prisoners, and In the
Reformatory at Jeffersonville 919, making
a total of 1,670. Life convicts, and all over
thirty years of age, are sent 10 the prison,
and others to the Reformatory. The sta
tistics we give are of absorbing interest TO
the student of sociology, and ought TO De or
equal interest to others, especially to the
lawmakers. The table of residence at the
time of conviction Is of importance in this
direction. In the prison IN were from other
States, or their residence unknown, and IN
the Reformatory. seventy. OF the others,
1.212 were from the cities and towns, and 400
from the country districts. Less than one
half of the States population is in the
cities and towns, yet they furnish nearly
two-thirds of the convicts.
IDLENEss BREEDS CRIME.
Another item of interest is that of the
1,s7O convicts, sss were idle at the time of
their arrest Four hundred and thirty
number, knew no trade. When it is con-
sidered that the vast majority of the peo-
pie of this State work, the number of con-
victs who were idle at the time of their
arrest, compared with the number who
were working, shows that idleness is the
parent of vice and crime. 1t would look as
IL a compulsory labor law was needed.
THE compulsory education law finds its
most startling argument in the statistics as
to the degree of education the eonvicts
have. Two hundred and one, or nearly one
eighth of the whole number, are wholly il
lterate; 1882 of the others only had very
limited education. and 1129 ended their
school days before the sixth year of the
common schools. Ten had passed four
years in college, and twelve had passed
through the four years course at high
school. OF the thousands in Indiana who
have taken a partial course in the high
schools of the State, only sixty-fve are
among the convicts.
THE statistics of age are also of the
greatest interest. OF the convicts in the
prison at Michigan City, 342. or nearly one
half, were between the ages of thirty and
forty years at the time OF their conviction,
and in the Reformatory, GAP, or more than
two-thirds OF the whole number, were be-
tween the ages Of eighteen and twenty-five
years In the prison there are twnty-one
who were over sixty years of age at the
been more than seventy. Under thirty years
of age appears to be the dangerous time, as
after passing that age without starting on a
criminal career few become criminals.
"A very large majority, especially of
those in the Reformatory. are serving their
first sentences, but there are some hard
ened criminals.
Every county in the state Is represented
shall, Newton, Ohio and Union are not rep
raSantQ1 In the RPfOrmatOrV