The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-01-08

1 :
X-ray process by which we could ex-
famine their physical organs, and could
know with certainty that these two
specific purposes had been subserved
| without penalty in any given case,
| none would be inflicted. Prof F. W.
Blackmar. dean of the graduate school
of the state university, an eminent au-
thOrity on such subjects, in q recent
private letter says:
| For a thousand years there has
| been developing system Of courts and
| judges and policemen and sheriffs and
| constables and jails and prisons with
| the main object of catching the weak
and the offending and placing them be-
hind bars. The machinery has be-
| come very perfect. During the last If
teen or twenty years a new line OF
work has been established, with the
purpose OF keeping men out OF jail
and out of the penitentiary and of
making Independent men and citizena
| of them, and to prevent children from
entering the highways of crime.''
The new Juvenile court law passed
| by the last legislature was in line with
this new movement referred to by
PROFESSOR Blaokmar. / now beg to sug-
gest to you a further advance along
| the line of modern and humane Leg
\ islatfon. / recommend that the trial
judges have the power to issue parole
| Immediately after sentence has been
! imposed, in cases in which they may
/ think 1t wise to do so. Every trial
judge of much experience on the bench
l
of the law to send men to the peniten-
| tiary when the ends of Justice and the
\ two primary. purposes of penalty al
| luded to above would have been betS
ter subserved by the suspension of
prison sentence herein recommended.
The youthfulness of the offender, the
\ fact that 1t was his first offense, the
| prcvocation or temptation to commits
mitigating circumstances-shou be
| considered not only by the Jury but
also by the judge before the
prison brand is stamped upon an
| individual. 1t is an awful thing to put
that brand on human being. It
won't rub out, and society should not
put this indelible stain upon any one
except as last resort. Let the parole
power now possessed by the governor
and the prison board, and which Is
working so admirably In both our
penal institutions, be extended to thu
Judges, to be exercised as their d1scre-
ton before the prisoner is finally
doomed to penitentiary stigma. This
will put some additional responsibility
on the judges-responsibilit of dis
elimination and decision-but IT, will
| work wonders in the reclamation of
| offenders and in the ultimate good OF
society. There is no reason why a
prisoner worthy of parole should not
| be paroled before as we'll as after the
penitentiary brand it put upon him,
Let him be subject to all the present
conditions of the parole law, compelled
to reportvto the present parole officer.
and be subject to Incarceration When-
ever he violates his parole. but give
deserving. and hopeful offenders an
other chance.
Penitentiary
"A day recently spent at this institu-
4 ton revealed wonderful external and
| internal Improvement Mr. Haskell Is
| a great warden and commend his
recommendations to your favorabie
consideration Among the other Inn
provements, the capacity OF the hind
| ing-twine plant has been greatly in
| creased and the quality of the product
| greatly improved. This enterprise is
worthy of your fostering care and OF
the patronage and support .of the
| farmers of the state. 1t has controlled
| and saved hundreds of thousands of
| dollars to the farmers. If the farmers
would all use its product it could be
made to pay ali the expenses of the
penitentiary, and thus lift this burden
of taxation from the people.
The Reformatory
1 recently spent two days at the
| state reformatory, at Hutchinson.
have long regarded this as one of the
most hopeful institutions in the state.
In it are incarcerated offenders be-
tween the ages of sixteen and twenty
five years, sent there at the discretion
of the district judges. The Institution
now has S57 a. inmates. Nearly as
naDy-35U In rOunQ mum DerS-ar0 out
on parole, It Is a gratifying fact that
the number of inmates is much less
than two years ago, the result, be-
lieve, of many creditable causes in
Guiding the better enforcement of the
prohibitory law, the wise management
of the Boys Industrial school, and the
awakened interest In youthful Offend
ers inaugurated by the new juvenile
court law. The results of the paroia
system are also apparent and gratlfy-
ing in this institution. Seventy-eight
per cent of the young men who go out
on parole attest in the correctness OF
their afterHves the wisdom OF this hui
name system. OF the remaining TWEEN
ty-two per cent, five per cent only nm
ally Land in the penitentiary. eight and
one-half per cent disappear from the
records In various ways, creditable and
discreditable, while only eight and one
half per cent are returned to the In
stitution, and of these eighty per cent.
go out a second time, reformed of
showing. But this great institution,
good as 1t is, is by no means as good
as it should be. Much is yet to be
done to make it ideal, and these ef-
specific UNCONSTITUTIONAL, industrial
and moral or spiritual. The day school
should be greatly improved. Surely
there is a great need of this, for over
fifty-five per cent of the boys who are
sent to this institution must enter the
first or second reader class. Many OF
them cannot read or write. I believe
women teachers should be provided
for these young men. Over seventy
five per cent of the teachers. in our
common schools are women. and in
the lower grades perhaps ninety per
cent are women. II this is wise poll
lev on the outside of a reformatory,
why is it not inside? These boys need
the refining influence of womanhood
more than the boys on the outside.
And this educational process should
not be confined to the recitation room.