Los Angeles herald., 1910-05-11
GIVE MEN CHANCE
SAYS CHIEF KOHLER
Cleveland Official Delivers Radi-
cal Address at Convention
of International Society
OPPOSES Definite TERMS
Considers State ForgetS Claims
of individuals While En-
phasizing Its Rights

Fred Kohler, whose work as chief OF
police at Cleveland, O., has been no
ticed repe; tediy in Tne Herald, deiiV-
erd remarkable address yesterday at
the convention of the international AS
sociation Of Chiefs of Police held at
Birmingham, Ala. Dealing with GRIM
inology from the most radical stand
point, and pointing to his own actual
achievement during the last three
years as proof, he produced an effect
that may well give rise to national if
not international discussion.
Prefacing his address with statistics
previously furnished The Herald by
the Prison Reform league, Chief Koh-
Ter showed that when he took office
in 1907 no less than eighty per cent of
the arrests were as he defined them,
useless" That is to say, eighty per
cent of the prisoners subjected to the
indignity and loss of reputation incl
dental to Imprisonment were on trial
discharged or received suspended SEN
tences, the offenses being deemed too
trivial for punishment. He then ex-
plained in detail the golden rule"
policy he had introduced, and declared
himself convinced that the business OF
the police is to lessen crime and aVold
the forcing of petty offenders INTO
criminal careers by prematurely narsh
Tnaasnres Rv persistent adherence to
this policy, he declared, he had not
only instilled into offenders respect for
instead of hatred of the law, but mad
been able also to raise incalculably the
morale of his own police force.
DEFINITE SENTENCES USELESS
Apart from these general considera-
tions Mr.. Kohler pronounced hlmsel1
a convinced opponent of definite SEN
tences. stating that he considered II eS-
tahlished that they are worse tnan
useless. Asserting that "our prisons
are largely peopled by the very poor,
the very ignorant, the physlcal anu
mental weaklings, the unemployaoIe
and the unskilled," he maintained that
the definite sentence, at present IN al
most universal vogue, neither protects
society nor benefits the criminal. AS
we'll he said, might we sentence tne
lunatic to one month In the asylum
or the victim of typhoid to fifteen DAYS
in a hospital"
The criminal court, in the speaker
judgement. should determine but one
tthi,egNthe guilt or innocence of the ac-
cused. If it find him guilty II shoulu
he empowered to pass but one sen.
tence-banishm and the length OF
seouestration from society Snoulu ue-
nend mainly on future conduct, as as
certained by a "court OF renaplilea-
tion." Such court should Juage ene
prisoner strictly according TO ms pas
record and subsequent deeos' a ueeei mn, IN
ing thereby when and under Wnat con
ait;ons he can be restored to liberty
T1nder the existing system, 1t was
,,roed nothing the prisoner may 90 OF
abstain from doing can affect materlal- li,-
iw the length of incarceration. Ihe
sta+e offers him no inducement TO menu
I3is wavs. and Gin serious truth, prisons
are universities wherein are given poss-
graduate courses in crime. NOW II Is
the DUTY of the state to mt a man IoI
liberty and the man himself has right
80 demand that If the state shuts him
IN for the public good 1t shall endeaVor
70 reform him for that same pupllc
good. "Prison life should be one, not
0f suffering, but of reparation-prep-
aration for liberty independence
courage. right thinking, mental dis
cinline-these are the qualities he Will
need if he is not again to fall. Inc
criminal law should not be for society,
but devote itself to the reformation OF
the criminal. Clarity the thoughts of
the criminal and he ceases to be
criminal, Imprisonment will always be
useless unless it makes man desire
to reform and gives him the means to
do So"
SHOULD BE PAID IN FULL
Mr.. Kohler pleaded strongly for the
employment of the convict in occupa-
tions that should enable him to be
self-sustaining after release, and in
sisted that it was ridiculous for the
state to punish men for theft and then
steal their earnings during incarcera-
ton. He urged the teaching of trades
and full paymwent for work done,
that the wrongdoer might be able to
make restitution from his earnings to
those he had robbed; pointing out that
such restitution and the record made
by the prisoner as an industrious and
competent worker would be among the
leading facts on which the court of
rehabilitation would grant release.
incidentally it may be said that
Cleveland's chief of police is opposed
to the death penalty and that he asks
this pregnant question: I'm other
words, has not the state, so clear in
defining the duties of the individual to
itself, failed in it's duties to the indi-
vidual?"