The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-08-17
BENEFITS OF PAROLE FOR
 WORTHY LIFE PRISONERS
Thomas Dudley Wells, Secretary of the State
 Board of Prison Directors, Makes Notable
 Address Before American Prison Congress

VI A~%A AOVA S0N ed of murder in the second degree
 had no previous criminal record and have none of the traits of the habitual delinquent. In frequent cases theiI offense was prompted by gust o1 passion, which had, perhaps been stimulated by whisky and which caus- ed self-control to break away fort the moment, as vessels are swept from their moorings by sudden tempest Criminals by accident and circum- stance rather than by design, they are a smaller social menace than the pro- fessional offenders who regard the
 world as a pocket to be picked or a safe to be cracked.
 l EFFECT OF LIFE PENALTIES. Still another element that looms large in survey of the question is
 the influence of life Imprisonment on the victim. Upon person of sensi-
 tive and nervous temperament the eff feet of life sentence that has no variableness, neither shadow of turn ing, and that is starless and unefd- ing night is crushing and whitening. Although it is, indeed, true that hope it is also true that hope deferred Inak- eth the heart sick and that hope dead ened makes the reason rickety. It is not surprising, although it is signif- cant, to find that in some states in which the life sentence is rigidly en- forced, with pardons rarely granted, the ratio of insanity among life con victs is nearly three times as great as the dictates of social safety justify the state in putting a prisoners reason in peril. The hopeless man is not only an inefficient man, but he is the raw material from which much of the hn- ished product of lunacy is manufac- tured.
 These general considerations, based upon observation and experience, i'm r><,1 r. 4 ', rT~kl< s<f, e. the parole of worthy life prisoners is scientific in theory, humane in prin- ciple and helpful in practice The sys- tenn substitutes hexibility for rigidity. motives for the cultivation of orderly conduct and self-control, offers facili- ties for the better discrimination be- tween the sheep and the goats; and delinquents may climb back, rung by rung, to useful citizenship, without weakening any of the social defenses against crime.
 TWO OBJECTIONS
 | Two hostile criticisms which have would tend to blur the det erreht eff fects of life Imprisonment and that
 the power of parole might be exer- cised unwisely. These objections, nat
 urally raised and honestly pressed. seem to the committee to mist take fears for facts. and shadow for sub stance. After a period ranging from ten to thirty years. and after the de- tails of the crime have faded from
 the public memory, the deterrent infiu- ence which condemnation for life ex- erts upon others becomes exhausted. It may, in truth. be questioned whether the value of life penalties is not rated too high in the popular in ventory of preventive forces.
 To ,the suggestion that the parole power might be abused the answer is that every consideration by which re- sponsible authorities are moved would encourage the avoidance of rashness and the exercise Of caution and dis crimination in granting conditional releases to life prisoners, and would operate against any. reckless breaking of eggs to make liberty omelets. No crime Is less likely to be repeated by a sane person than homicide; and after a life. convict has performed the trivial round, the common task" of prison requirements for perhaps score of years. his habits and charac- ter become so firmly fixed that no gift of prophecy, but only the gift of common sense, is needed to tell with tolerable accuracy whether he is it to walk as a free man among free men.
 CONCLUSIONS.
 The conclusion which the commit tee ventures to affirm are these:
 1. The extension of parole to life prisoners who, according to expert Judgment, are safe to be at large, whose offense was born of an over mastering impulse and whose previous record was not vicious, puts in their hands the tools of social rehabilia- ton, interprets penalties in terms of humanity and of hope, fosters a more even distribution of justice and is a sound public policy.
 ?. No parole that would offend pub lie opinion in the state should be granted. Conditional releases that af- front popular sentiment would tend to- discredit the whole parole system and would be a tragedy of administration.
 8. No life prisoner should be pa rolled until he has served long enough to satisfy the reasonable requirements of justice, as construed by the en- frightened sentiment of the, common wealth. and until the immediate pre- judices growing out of the crime dis appear and suitable employment for, the convict has been procured.
 A. A parole should not be based on any arbitrary compliance with prison rules, but the question should be de- teImined by broad consideration of all the facts bearing on the case, such as the nature and circumstances of the crime, the mans record in prison and out of prison, his general char acter, and the Helihood of his leading. an honorable life. Emphatically no political or personal pressure should be permitted to influence the calm judgment of the paroling authority.
 5. The wisdom of discarding the. definite life penalty for an indeter- minate sentence, whose minimum term shall be fixed by law or by the court and whose maximum term shall be the offenders natural life, is com mended to the attention of state leg islatures.
 A SYMPOSIUM OF VIEWS
 An appendix to the committees re- port contains a symposium of expert views on the question of the parole of life prisoners. Expressions of opin- ion were obtained by the committee from various prominent prison war dens and from eminent students of criminal problems. All parts of the country are represented in the sym posium- Two Connecticut experts Chief Justice Baldwin of the supreme court, who is opposed to the parole of life prisoners and Warden Garvin of the state prison, who favors the parole of worthy life convicts who