Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1906-06-28
LEGISLATURE ADVOCATES
OPPENHEIMER TREATMENT
Special comt.aittSs Of New York AS.
sembly Recommends Its Adoption
by the State For the Reclama-
tion Of the Drunkard.

by the State For the Reclama-
tion Of the Drunkard.
The relation of alcoholism to crime
received serious consideration by the
senate and assembly in the state Of
New York during the session of the
present year, 1905, the result being the
appointment of special committee by
the judiciary committee of the assem-.
bly to investigate and report what they
considered to be the best methods of
dealing with the treatment of criminal
inebrates. The report of the commit
tee will interest all classes.
About so per cent of the convictions
In the criminal courts of New York
state are for intoXication. the punish
ment in many cases being term in
prison, where the offenders are treated
as criminals On the expiration of
their sentences they are sent back to
the community with the stigma Of
'convicts'' or Jail BIRDS to seek a
livelihood as best they may.
This treatment Of inebriatcs is inhu
man from humanitarian point Of
view and I'm enormous exl~ase to the
state in the maintenance of jails and
pententiaries as well as by the sup
port of offenders while imprisoned. 1t
| has been recommended for several
years past in various official reports
! that some action should be taken by
! the state to better the condition of thf
! criminal inebriate and that he should
| be furnished with some means by
which he could lf he so wished, be
come temperate and law abiding
| citizen.
| The special committee made care
| frl and exhaustive investigation into
| the various methods for the cure of al
coholsm brought to their notice and
reported as follows, in part:
.'In Re Criminal Inebriates.-The
| official report of the state commission
| Of prisons for 1903 states:
1.-THE taxpayers of the state are an
/ nualIy subjected to large expense in the
| arrest and rearrest of persons charged
! with drunkenness, and much of the time
/ of our criminal courts is occupied in their
| trial and about one-half of the expense
\ of maintaining our jailS and peniten-
| tiaries is caused by the maintenance of
| this class of offenders during their term
! of commitment. When a man Is intox-
| icated his reason is dethroned for the time
| being. 1t Is often necessary for the pre-
| lection of the public that he be taken into
| custody and receive treatment at the
| hands of the state. This offense drunk
! ennessj should not be treated strictly as
| a crime. Drunkenness has in it no ele-
| ment of nalioe. The law should recognize
! this distinction. The present practice of
sending him to the Jail or to the peniten-
| tiary brande as criminal to consort
with thieves only degrades and discour-
ages linn and at the same time inf1icta
| punishment nd privaton upon his FAM
| iv. Some wiser method OF dealing with
| this offense should obtain.
Pursuant to the above recomInen-
| cations, the committee have carefully
the relief of these dependent and de-
! linquent classes and also variouG meth
o.s of treatment Of persons suffering
from alcoholism. Recognizing that
many of these persons are suffering
! from disease. some form of med
ical treatment should be given.
ain the Judgment of this committee
/ tilc pcSt thS'SiS' - ei'ce "
the Oppenhsimel Institute, as it is
/ strongly indorsed and advocated hy
large numbers of physicians and busi-
/ ness ana professional men of high
| standing, national repnte and unques'
toned authority, the treatment Itself
being reported as prompt. effective and
| free from certain objections inherent
! IN other systems. a further reason
for the selection of this treatment Is
It's especial adaptability to those
classes specified by the state commits
sion of prisons and the Charity O.
aanization society on account of its
simplicity of operation, no residence at
an institute being required, ard also
because of its easy administration if
each city and county Of the state.
Furthermore, carefully compiled re-
ports show that the Oppenheimer In
stitute has already treated with
marked success considerable mum.
bar of this lass of inebriates, many OF
them ut the instance of courts and pro
batioL officers, both in New York state
and elsewhere"
The solution of the problem had IN
mind by the committee us being at once
more economical, more scientific ana
more humane may be shown by sin