The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-10-01
MISSOURI JUDGES WAY.
His Method of Dealing With Offenders
 Praised.

From the Washington Post.
 of the views of Police Justice Kyle of of cases that come under the Jurisdiction of these courts in municipalities could be nIaced in operation here" said detective Kansas City Mo, on the administration sergeant to a Star reporter, and there was closer cooperation between the po- lice and Judges of these courts along cer- tain lines the district would be better off in revenues, an undesirable class or our population would get what they deserve, and the police would have freer hand.
 "Of course, all parties concerned here, including the magistrates and the police. do their duty conscientiously from their point of view, and Judge Kyle's idea of improvement in our methods relates to our policies and not to the individuals. It is the question of policy to which l refer.
 What is the use, for instance, of our patrolmen attempting to break up gangs of corner loafers when, if the officer didn't happen to identify any one of the gang who used profanity, they are released without even their personal bonds being taken, when they might have been held on other charges, and if not fined-or, bet ter. sent to jail--had their personal bonds taken? None whatever and the corner loafer knows it. and so do the police.
 ""The policy of sending vagrant to jail for a long term, or other offenders along these lines, especially of the poorer color- ed class of offenders. which constitutes such a large majority of criminal cases in these courts in the district. favors the culprit in eight cases out of ten by giving him better food, and ofttimes accommoda- tions than he gets when at large, and for which he does not have to work, while the deprivation of liberty so importans an element with others. is viewed with indf- t6ar xpit faction.
 ",Then take the question of revenue, which in Kansas City amounts to the very large sum of S7000 month. What is the use of fining automobilists any amount except the maximum fixed by law-and that is less than half what 1t should be- when they go out and do the same thing over again? Then take the defrauding milk dealers. the short-weight storekeep- CTS, the impure food sellers. and the doz- ems of different offenders In this and par allel instances. These law-breakers should be given the limit of the law every time without mercy, for food adulteration- ists are the most contemptible of all the swinders.
 "The revenues of the police courts here could be more than doubled In the first three months were uch policies adopted and maintained The statute law and the law of compensation is little short of far cical where food adulterationist gets off with anything less than the limit of the law while a man convicted of some petty offense is sent to the workhouse to be supported at public expense for the statu- tory limit of his offense; the two positions as to sentences should be reversed.
 And where man Is shown to be a working man and has committed some mil nor offense, the ends of justice are de- feated in sending him to jail for long period. depriving his family of the bene- fit of his earnings and to throw his sup port upon the public revenues. where a short sentence would suffice to teach him his lesson or a fine would serve as we'll
 Experienced opponents of the modern theory of criminology agree that most of the old practices of the courts in dealing with certain elements of the law-breaking population are wrong, and that Judge Kyles practices are correct and serve as deterrents to crime on the part of offend CTS who are usually the most leniently dealt with In the one instance and the most severely in the other. If the maxi mum penalty for selling short-weight loaf of bread Is $500. the baker convicted of this offense should be given the maxi mum fine on the first conviction. If the maximum sentence for its theft is six months. a minimum sentence should be imposed rather than the longer if the ba- ker can get out of the court on d small fine.
 Taken all in all. the magistrates and the police try to work in harmony in this city and to do the best their judgment dictates. but Judge Kyle's dealings with the criminal element in Kansas City in giving working men and others along these lines a chance and of fining the big fish and the food adulterationists the | maximum every time has worked such a revolution in the hilly city on the muddy Missouri that the principles for which he stands could well be emulated elsewhere '