The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1903-10-31
PREVENTION OF CRIME.
SERMON BIZ REV. III. III. KELsEl
oNPRISoE REFORM.


With-Ths Progress That Has Bee,
Made In connsetieut Tow.ra. Re
forming the Criminal.
Rev H. H. Kelsey, of the Fourt,
church, Hartford. delivered a strikin,
sermon Sunday on Progress in Con
necticut in Respect to the Care. tn,
Cure and the Prevention of Criminals,
taking his text from Luke xix, 10, sFo
the Son of Man is come to seek to saw
that which was lost" Mr.. Kelsey spoh
as follows:
During the last quarter century Their
has been q new and thorough study b
crime and criminals. One result Of thin
study has been a great Improvement il /.
method in respect Of the care and cur,
of criminals, and now a serious en-,
deavor is beginning to discover how Ii
prevent crime. The great result o.
this study is the general adoption of
new system of penology based upon thu
principle that the reformation of thu
criminal, the moral welfare of the man
rather than the infection of punishment
upon him, shall have first consideration
The old system was purely punitive
whose purpose was to cause a man Il
suffer in order that he may expiati
his crime. For given offense a giver
amount of punishment was inflicted
In its crude forms this punishment wal
sanguinary In many cases life wal
/ taken for what seem to ue small Of.
lenses. Later incarceration in prison,
took the place Of the gallows ana thu
lash, but these prisons were places 81
nameless horror Then the prisons
We're reformed and life in them nads
possible for human beings. Then. ID
later years, when the prison was re.
i formed, men began to consider the pos
sible reformation of the prisoner. This
has led to the adoption by all students
of penology, by most practical prison
men and in some degree by most states
of our Union of new principle in the
whole treatment of criminals, as we
| have above Indicated Experience has
taught us that the old system did not
protect society except while some GRIM
finals were some of the time in prison.
lit did almost nothing for the reforms
ton of the man. Instead, as rule, ii
made men worse, perpetrated crime and
produced criminals. 1t has been dem
onstrated in experience that the new
lprinciple applied does protect society.
does help men to better manhood does
/ save boys and girls to lives Of fl s5ii5ssTg7
and industry
AS further introduc DRY word I want
to report to you the most cheering fact
that at the last National Prison Con-
gress held this last September in Louis
Vile, Ky, the dominant idea in the dis
cussions of this assembly of prison ex-
perts was the idea of prevention. Pris-
ON wardens and workers and students
of this subject have got far beyond the
reformation of prisons They are adept
| ing prisons to their purpose, but they
know how to do it. They no longer de-
bate the reformation of prisoners as ii
| is were question Of debate It is done.
Prisoners have been reformed and be-
ling reformed in character and life ana
Isent back into the world better men.
They know how to do it. Now they are
| saying we must find out how so to care
i for all the boys and girls Of our commu-
mites as to prevent the beginnings OF
criminality. This. too, can be done, and
Iif the public will yield UP some OF its
/ Individual selfishness and permit some
change in present customs under the
direction of wise leaders 1t will be done,
PROGRESS IN CONNECTICUT.
Now, as to progress in Connecticut.
Recently progress has been made of
which it is great pleasure to speak.
It has been both in the line of reforma-
ton Of the criminal and the prevention
i of him.
First of things done / mention the
/ improvement of our state prison. Such
changes have been made In the prison
i itself and in its discipline, under the
splendid administration Of Warden
Garvin, that now the most is done fora
the moral welfare Of prisoners that
can well be done in punishment pris-
on. Second, mention the indeterminata
sentence which has been adopted as
/ principle, for all felons, although the
law IS defective and is being nullified iii
i the courts as shall hereafter explain
But the people have unanimously
adopted the principle Third, four new
i laws We're passed by the last legisIa-
i ture which were four long steps for
Il
move up towards the line of progress
already attained in other states. Her
habits are steady, but this very stead
mess of habit means steady move
ment forward when once she moves.
These four new laws are: The law de-
filming prizefight. In this new law any
contest in which blows are struck
which are intended or calculated to
stun, disable or knock out either Of
the contestants, or in which either con-
testant is counted out or otherwise de-
i clared defeated because Of failure to
resume the contest within certain
time, shall be deemed prizefght,' q
and "prizefghts" are prohibited by law.
4 The difficulty has been to determine
between fight and a boxing match.
Now we know, and these disgraceful
exhibitions have ceased in Connecticut.
Second the law establishing state POI
j lice department. This detective force.
Operating wherever there is occasion to
secure the detecting of law breaking
and arrest of criminals. WILL we hope,
restrain from law breaking, stimulate
the activity of local police, and in other
ways accomplish more for the morals of
{ the state than was or could be done by
the Law and Order league. Third, the