Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1906-05-04
The Record of Habitual Offenders.
Rutland News. |

The News commented in a recent issue on
the fact that the evidence brought out dur
ing the inquiry into the house Of correction
| by the special state investigating commits
sion tended to show that a very large per-
centage of the prisoners in that institution
were habitual criminals. The opinion was
expressed by several officers that If habituai
offenders could be colonized or deported very
small quarters would be necessary for the
rest OF the law breaking class. The blame
for the crowded conditions Of the house OF
correction was placed entirely upon these
/ habitual criminals-those who come back re-
peatedly.
The records OF the house Of correction, as
kept by Supt d. L. Morgan, entirely dis.
proye this view. These records furnish in.
disputable proof that by far the greatest per-
| centage of commitments are for first ofense.
This will cause no little surprise even to
| those familiar with criminal affairs. The
notion that the large part of the inmates of
penitentiaries not only in Vermont but in
other states, are of the habitual criminal
class receives decided setback from the
official records.
/ The total number Of commitments TO the
Rutland house of correction since its estab-
nshment in December, 1873, TO March l3,
1906, was 9,Os9. 1t is interesting to note
that Of this number 5,346 were first offenders.
| Thus il will be seen that SO per cent. oil
all the prisoners ever sent to the Rutland in
stitution were one-termers. The number OF
commitments for second offense was l,432
/ GIG different prisoners) or 10 per cent. of
the total The number of prisoners sent up
! for the third time was 252 Ia total of 756
COMMITMENTS or per cent. Of the total.
From the foregoing il is observed that SO
| per cent OF all of the commitments TO the
house of correction have been of prisoners
sentenced once twice, or thrice. These are
not ordinarily classed as habitual criminals.
The wide gap between single'term prisoners
and those who have been committed more
than once is especially noticeable.
The balance of the total number OF com
mitments--l7 per cent.--were as follows:
Fourth offense, per cent; fifth ofense, y
per cent; sixth offense, per cent; seventh
and eighth offense, l per cent. each; and
the balance each a fraction of / per cent.
/ of the total.
In this connection it is interesting to note
that since the house of correction was es-
tabIished one prisoner has come back Al
times, another IS times, two rs times each,
one 90 times. and so on down the list. The
total number Of commitments to the county
iail during the % years has been 3,0S7, but
| these are not considered in the foregoing fig
ures.
Taking the number of commitments during
| the FIVE years ending Jan. /, l906-which is
the period during which the Rutland instr
tuition has been most crowded-the figures
are even more significant. Prisoners COM
mitted only once are sc per cent. of the to-
tai; those committed twice are Is per cent.
of the total those committed three times
are per cent. or the total Thus it is seen
that 81 per cent. of the total number of
commitments during the last five years can
not properly be classed as habitual criminals.
Counting, then, those offenders as habitual
who have been sentenced more than three
times to the house of correction, they repre-
sent only about 10 to II per cent. OF the
aggregate. These statistics will occasion con-
siderable change of opinion among large
number of Vermonters.