Omaha daily bee., 1903-04-27
PRESENT SYSTEM is VAIN
Police Judge Berka Says Criminals Are Not
Helped to Reform.
DESIRES WORK HOUSE AND BETTER JAitS
Believes that Detectives should he
Lawyers and Drunkards and
Drug Fiends Put Away
in Hospitals.

Drug Fiends Put Away
in Hospitals.
Police Judge Louis Berka declared the
present system Of dealing with criminals
to be a failure in a paper on
read before the Philosophical society yes
terday afternoon. He said that there
should be more hospital treatment and less
Jail treatment and that the jails should
be rebuilt and each cell made comfortable
and pleasant. Detectives, he asserted,
should be lawyers and men Of great ability
and character, so that the reputation for
falsehood which they so long have held be-
fore courts would be destroyed and their
work more often crowned with success.
A workhouse in Omaha and a childrens'
home near the city we're strongly advocated
by the Judge. who said:
ut is evident that the system now In
use is a failure, so far as r~eformatory work
is concerned. II we expect to cope with
the criminal classes we must recognize
their abnormal conditions-that there is
something to correct. That our actions
towards them will be to reform and ele-
vate them.
ut is the certainty Of punishment and
~ tue bbNtISllg u puhibhihchI bhhN uONSAS
criminals from committing crime, provid-
ing punishment has a terror for them. Most
Of them belive they will not be discovered.
If discovered they expect to be acquitted;
and II convicted tc be pardoned. So they
continually nurse the avenues OF escape.
Wants Better Detectives.
ITO ferret out crimes and bring guilty
parties to trial every detective ought to be
a lawyer. He should have a thorough
knowledge Of the law Of evidence and be
equipped on that branch Of the law as we'll
as the prosecuting attorney or the attorney
for the defendant. The state should be
more successful in the trial Of defendants.
There should be less trials and a larger
percentage of convictions Of the cases
tried.
There would be economy in employing
men with legal knowledge even II the state
or city had to pay larger salaries to the
detectives. They should be men Of high
character in every way, especially for truth
and veracity, and be above the average run
of witnesses, so that people could depend
upon them and have confidence that they
are actuated in their line Of duty purely
and solely by a sense OF Justice to do
everything right between the state and the
defendant charged with the crime and not
merely to add laurels to their fame Of
prosecuting some unfortunate person.
I'm treating the criminals they should
be classified. The chronic drunk and CO.
caine hends and those suffering from dis
eases should be placed In hospitals where
they would receive mental and physical
treatment; kept there long enough to re-
cover from their condition and restored to
| a0ciafU Az uroaanf m ALARMING nnnnhaF
of criminals are using cocaine, which Is
undermining their whole constitutions.
What sense of right they may have had is
stolen from them or subordinated by their
desire to get cocaine and keep themselves
in a stupid condition. Such persons lose
all regard Of right and their ambition is
only to get more fuel to feed the flame
Of destruction. Insanity follows and death
comes to relieve them. Hospital treatment
is the only way to help them. .
Need of Work House.
1.-THE workhouse is something that we
need. In fact IT is almost indispensable to
handle that class of criminals that will not
work. To supply their wants they must beg
or steal wherever they go. OF course
they have a transitory habit and do not
stay long in one place, as they would be-
com too we'll known and would be more
severely dealt with. They do not care for
a few days sentence in jail.
under the present system they cannot
reform. But no city can afford from a
financial standpoint to go into reform
ing tramps. Taxpayers would register a
protest against such a practice. The only
way it can be lone successfully is for all
cities to adopt a system that will take care
| ~ that c1auo and aftanopt 10 raforn1 tho
members without driving them into adja-
cent territory. We are in no shape to han
die these criminals. II one is convicted
under the state law he Is sent to the county
Jail. There they have no work for him to
do.
Just think OF II q Moment. You charge
a man with being an idle person and not
having visible means OF support and he
is convicted under the law and is given
thirty days in Jail to do nothing-the same
as he is charged with doing. When he is
discharged he has no more visible means
Of support than when he was sent to Jail.
I'VE need a workhouse. Then there would
be a chance to reform the chronically idle.
II they have a habit Of being idle substitute
It with an Industrious habit. Keep them
until they acquire a desire for work. II
seems that a person is so constituted that
when he is not occupied with something
good he is occupied with something not
good. Man is active in some direction-that
is the manifestation Of life. 1t is a ques-
tion which way his energy is directed.
No Expense to City.
"If we had a workhouse It could be made
self-sustaining. It would beneht the pris-
oners and the city would be at no ex-
pense. 1t is certainly not economy to lock
up energy that can be turned to produce
something that would benefit humanity.
When the prisoners finally are discharged
they should be given a little money 80 that
they would not be obliged to beg or steal
until they found something to do.
Children ought to receive better atten-
ton. A home should be provided for them
outside the city limits where they could re-
ceive an education and be taught how to
work and some could be adopted by parties
who would give them good homes and
proper training.
IF we recognize that environment has a
great deal to do with cur condition; that