The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-05-11


teal way, that the plan has been in har-
mony with the principle now coming to
be generally accepted, that the great aim
of the law is not to punish and disgrace,
but prevention. correction. reformation.
Our policy is substantially founded on
| all laws of arrest, and as the real intent
of the law is not to punish and disgrace,
but to prevent violations our aim has
been to arrest persons only who should
| under these laws be arrested Knowing
full well that arrest and Imprisonment of
petty and first offenders has been too gen.
orally the cause of confirming them in a
criminal career, our plan has avoided ar
rests for offenses SO trivial that the in
| generation OF the offender would be a
greater wrong than he had himself COM
mitted. and at the same time we have
| 1nstlled In these offenders a respect
rather than hatred for the law, and a
resolution to be good citizens rather than
get square with society for their disgrace
we are daily divertng into channels of
worthy and useful citizenship the stream
OF youthful and first offenders, that foN.
merly has been so steadily flowing in the
direction of the jail and penitentiary
| through this common sense plan we
have opened newer and better field in
| which a policeman can do good work
and 1t makes better officers and better
men; provides for the policeman every en-
enlargement for the faithful performance
Of his duty; adds to his sef-respect: ele-
Yates the police standard and improves
| efficiency
| Now however. we are confronted with
| facts showing us that owing to present
laws this system which we have adopted
and carried successfully forward is but a
progressive step in the science of advance
Ing the improving police work. 1t has
taken the police many years to make a
IN 1inu
than vengeance, and the criminal problem
looms before us one of national-yes, uni
versal propensity.
After successful treatment of youth
full and first offenders, what Is to be
Gone to help tn ose VINO, through IN
fortunate circumstances, perhaps, may
have fallen and stand before court
OF Justice, convicted of crime? We know
our prisons are largely peopled by
the very poor. the very ignorant, the
physical and mental weaklings by the
| unemployable and the unskilled. These
conditions show the urgent necessity
| of added opportunity for the convicted
criminal. What reform then should we
strive for in the police world?
After many years of absorbing study
| of this great criminal problem I am
thoroughly convinced that no human
being, whatsoever his crime, should
be sentenced to a definite term in
prison. For this there are many rea-
sons. Imprisonment, s inflicted to-
day has proven worse than useless
In almost every case it releases the
criminal more dangerous menace than
before his Incarceration. Our Grim
inal laws aim to benefit society In this
1t falls. 1t should aim to benefit the
criminal. In this 1t could succeed As
well might We sentence the lunatic to
one month In the asylum. or the VIC
tim of typhoid to Is days in a hos
pital, at the end of these periods to
turn them loose whether mad or sane
cured or still diseased.
THE criminal court should determine
but one thing. Has he or has he not
committed the crime of which he ts
accused? If guilty, the one and un-
varying sentence should be Danish
ment; no m oney fines. The criminal
code should be striped to a bare list
or the acute constituting crimes and
misdemeanors and provision made for
a UNIFORM treatment of all those con-
victed. Danish ment. which should be
spent In prison. should be absolutely
indeterminate. By his own deed man
has proven himself unworthy to dwell
among his fellow men. He must re-
main apart from them until restored by
citizenship by a court of rehabiltta.
ton 1t has required a Judge and Jury
10 deprive him of his liberty only by
a judge and jury shiuld he be restored.
The second Judge and jury should form
the court of rehabilitation. 1t must
be free from sentiment having moth
ing to do with pardon, remain unin-
fuenced by political power or the pris-
onerbs friends, be actuated only by abb
solute Justice and every evil of the
criminal law will disappear
Prevention is better than a cure. The
ideal method should be to prevent crime
and make the criminal impossible.
AT the trial which deprived him of his
liberty the reasonable doubt was in the
defendants favor; the burden of proof
was upon tAe state. At the second trial,
in the court of rehabilitation, this Is re-
versed the burden of proof being upon
the man. Hypocrtical religious protes-
tations will not avail nor promise of
future good behavior. He must give
proof of reform accomplished. In the
criminal court he is every moment on the
defensive He tells nothing, admits moth
ing gives no clew to the past. In the
court of rehabilitation this is also re-
versed. Perjury may save a man from
prison; only truth can get him out In
the first trial it may have been impos-
sible to verify or disprove his claims
In the second his prison conduct is a
matter of record, and his only hope rests
in telling the truth as to birth. parentage
and training; his social, business and
criminal career. A lie-which disproves
reform-means a continuation of Danish |
ment, and he knows 1t.
Easy to Get Out of Prison
1.-THE objection may be raised that this
system makes 1t comparatively easy to
get out of prison. Possibly 1t does, but it
also makes 1t hard to get back into pris
on. Is not a greater good accomplished?
AND that is exactly what 1t does, for the
liberated man fully realizes how terribly
a second offense and conviction would
count against him; how difficult it would
be to convince the court of rehabilitation,
where only the truth is possible and where
the burden of proof is on HIMSELF that
there has been a second and permanent
reformation.
II believe that nearly all rehabilitated
men would become good citizens. because
the state has made them want to be such
and given them the means to carry out
their wish believe that in time society
would be as free of crime and the GRIM
inal as 1t Is possible to any human
Institution. Instead of the damning char
acter today given a man by prison rec
cd. 1t is not beyond hope that it may
become In itself a recommendation, a
proof of difficulties overcome, a guar
aptee of present ability and of future
faithfulness Today improvement Is
known to be futile hence the restitution
of liberty carries not the slightest SUBJ
gestion that the man Is In any sense more
trustworthy than before. Under the pro-
posed system the mere fact that he ha:
been set free would be proof of reforma-
ton.
Punishment inficts none of the stigma
of IMPRISONMENT. Why should he re-
turning from it, feel ashamed? Educa-