Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1902-08-13
PROPER REFORMATORIES
FOR ERRING. WOMEN

The idea Is becoming more firmly
fixed in the minds Of the students Of
criminology that crime is on the in
crease among women. The frequent
arrests of women for theft drunken.
ness and immortality seem to suustaH'
tiate the correctness OF this opinion.
How to properly restrain these de.
linquent members of society from re-
peated offenses against law and de-
cency and protect the innocent from
their communicating influences is a
sociological question that Is difficult
TO solve.
Sentiment Is not needed so much as
common sense. Charles Dickens In one
of his novels asserts most elOquently
that. however low woman has fallen.
she still grasps in her hand some tufts
and shreds of the unfenCcd precipice
from which she fell from good. and that
not to pity her Is to do wrong to
heaven and man. to time and to eter-
nifty. The sentiment Is a noble one,
but pity should not interfere 20 save
woman any more than man. \ de-
Ceitful. crafty. malicious lewd woman
should be brought to justice as sternly
as desperately wicked man. II the
laws of a state require capital punish
ment, a woman who has committed a
cOld-bloodcd murder should be hung
or electrOcuted, just as a man would
be.
But the proportion Of vicious women
criminals Of this class to that Of men
is, fortunately, very small. The Grim
inal records OF state penltentiaries
show the names Of but few women
compared with the long lists Of male
offenders.
But in the petty crimes that tend TO
demoralize society and which entail
heavy criminal costs upon mun!cipali.
ties and counties, women are frequent
and persistent offenders. That they
do not always receive the severe con
domination their acts deserve Is due to
the leniency of the Judge, who hates
to send a woman to prison"
The truth is that the placing OF law
upon the statute books, the policy of
repression and the system of punish
ments established do not provide the
remedy for which society is seeking.
Punishment does not cure or prevent
criminal acts. The solution OF the
must be found along the line
Of prevention. the corrective rather
than the punitive system. Social re-
forms and economic laws, where test
ed, have more effectually prevented or
crime than the severest
penal codes.
Under statutes the most inhuman
and savage punishments such phenom-
ena as magic and withcraft fiourished,
but before the light of popular educa-
ton they disappeared.
Much progress has been made, but
proper reformatorles for delinquent
women and children are still the dream
Of the future for the earnest student of
sociology
To institute and conduct such re-
.ormatories requires great executive
power, discrimination and a humane
disposition. 1t is the work OF the hui
rather than the politician
Who receives the SUPPLEMENTARY as a
'eward for votes.
The first step then toward securing
more ideal conditions are to divorce
he management of penal and reforma-
DRY institutions from politics. The
,attle will be a hard one, but ii Is !
worth the struggle.
Then build up reformatories whose
Underlying thought is the idea OF de-
elopment and improvement. The con-
itions of home life which resemble |
hose in a refined, cultured family, |
hoUld be approached as nearly as cir |
will permit. To this end /.
he cottage plan adopted by many in
seems nearest to the ideal, ,
aying a family group witha mother" |
Or a moderator. Even the most vicious |
nd hardened criminals are susceptible |
D the influence of a good, mOtherly |
oice or prison matron, There should !