The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-01-02
Indeterminate Sentences.

Indeterminate Sentences.
Secretary Taft s remarks on the nom
enforcement of law have provoked dis
cussion, as they naturally would, and
have been the cause of more or less in
quiry into the statistics Of law enforce
ment. The criminal convictions in this
country are nearly all state convictions,
those obtained in the federal courts
forming but a small percentage of the
whole number Of convictions. It fol-
lows that state statutes must be con
suited to learn whether there is diff
ference Of policy and Of attitude to-
ward crime. It is found that there is
a decided difference, and the results
obtained under these differing laws are
instructive. Some states prescribe Sc
verer penalties than others for the
same class of offenses. There is not
space to 80 into the statistics at length,
but this general inference is drawn by
experts who have analysed the figures,
that the states prescribing the slighter
penalties show about the some number
of convictions per thousand of popula-
ton, but they show lower percentage
Of second or third convictions. This
fairly suggests that i'm the treatment
Of crime not so much is gained as might
be believed or hoped from long SEN
fences. It appears also that mere
length Of sentence is not the governing
factor in the repression Of crime. More
depends upon the attitude of society to-
ward the convicted man, both during
and after his term of imprisonment.
The long sentence implies the adher-
ence Of society to the notion that the
criminal may be made to pay the pen
atty Of his wrongdoing in the form Of
an equation. Thus, the criminal plus
his crime equals the criminal plus his
punishment This theory leaves out
Of account the fact. that the man must
live in and have relations to society
after his emergence from prison. It
assumes that when he committed an Of
Tense against society and was caught
he was made to pay for his dereliction
and the account is squared. If this
were true society would make no diff
ference between the man who had
emerged from prison and the one who
had never gone there. This is so far
from being the case that many man
does not really feel the blight Of i'm
prisonment until he has come out of jail
and met the stony glare Of a society
which does not recognize him.
The retributive theory may be logical
in cases Of capital punishment, but it
has broken down in all others, and hap
PLY has been succeeded by the reform
atory idea This is the most modern
and the most reasonable mode of deal
ing with criminals. It involves a some
what revised theory Of the duty of the
court. ,'';. go, *>:..2
In many states the indeterminate
sentence has been adopted, and the bur.
den Of reform is placed upon the au.
liberties Of the prison. Encouraging
results have been obtained under this
form Of sentence when coupled with in.
telligent- attempts at reformation in
prison. re- 4
| Of course, this does not entirely
answer Judge Taft's criticism of the
laxity Of law enforcement, which ap
| pears so startlingly black in the long
list Of crimes which are never pun
ished at all. Judge Taft attributed
this to certain easiness Of morality
on the part of the public. But IT. is
| Just possible that juries weaken in thei,
| duty from a conviction that their yer
dict Of guilty dooms the accused to 8
punishment out Of proportion to thei1
own sense Of justice in the case 81
long as iuries are confirmed in their be
lief that the only alternatives are &C
quittal or accomplishment under drasti,
statutes, they will continue to err OF
the side Of mercy. With general in
PRODUCTION Of the indeterminate sen
tence, under whose terms man,'s in
generation would depend largely on hi
own capacity for self-reformation, con
victions would be more certain in case
where guilt is certain. Fl.