The Elbert County tribune., 1910-04-15

Whether crime is caused by -
heredity. environment or Just
happens" is a muchmooted uues-
ton The potency of heredty as
a causal factor of crime is doubt
fui to the casual observer who is
of the opinion that all depends on
environment But 'atavism" or
the tendency of nature ito return
TO type, has come to be recog-
nized generally by scientists and
historical and anthropologica re-
search undoubtedly prove its ex-
atence
As the criminal stands at the
bar and receives his sentence. i'm
muring him behind the prison
Walls. little is known OF his past
even less Is learned of his future
by the world at large The aver
age or mankind may know one or
Two or possibly three criminals
but In all probability does not
Know the pedigree" of even one
of them. Looking backward we
find that we have outgrown the
friends OF our youth whose "pedi-
gree or ancestry we did know
and SO cannot trace them further ~
Thus 1t follows that whether he ,(yI(
redfty tends to criminality cannot G1%S.
be ascertained by everyday or s8[E7
common experience. There seems Es
no doubt. however that 1t can he Ht
determined by statistical research. H
Formerly the theory of the M;
criminal law was retribution-an NJ
eye for an eye, tooth for tooth; a.
ne VINO has sinned must be pun IL
lshed But the advancement of HS
scientific knowledge has fur HS
nished the foundation for new Il
system of penology. which has at
least upon the statute books taken
nj thn oil
the law for many years has been E
toward the amelioration of punish -
ment and largely because the ma .
ture OF the criminal is better un-
derstood and 1t is felt that he Is
one who needs not much pun
fshment as proper instruction; and
moreover. because it is now believed that
purpose and intent of our criminal law shouI
to cure the criminal of his criminal tende,
and to restore him to righteous living.
Under the old theory of responsibility"
ever or whatever sinned was deemed respon
for 1t and subject to punishment and in the
die ages even animals were tried and puni,
Invertebrates. also. were not exempt from D
cution. Havelock Ellis tells us in "The Grim
that in 1454 the bishop of Lauzanne init
legal proceedings against the leeches whicl
tested the water at Berne. The AFFAIR" I
before the judges at Berne, the bishop /
properly represented. leech was obtained
brought into the presence of the judges an
ieeches. present and absent, were warned to
don the spots they had the temerity to ocs
three full days being allowed them to evac
and guardian was appointed to watch over
interests and take means for their defens
court. The bishop gained his cause, but
leeches having successfully resisted the dc
of the court the bishop finally lost all patti
and mathematical them
Formerly insanity even with its apparer
responsibility. was no defense to crime B,
1889 insanity seems to have been unknown
the French law. although the seventeenth-cer
rule prescribed that no one in the state of "iI
safe fury" should be punished. The rule,
ever. proved of little avail. Responsibility
since received close attention and study
through the persistent efforts of men Of scis
its field has steadily enlarged Schopenh
says Responsibility supposes that an indivi
could have acted differently from the way h,
tually did act" In sense responsibility m
that man suffers the consequences of his
Man becomes responsible because he lives Ii
ciety. Society has the right to defend and
serve itself. 1t recognizes the need of supp
ing the criminal and preventing his unlawful
and 1t exercises Its right to do.
The progressive feature of the age in peno
has been to determine not only whether c.
was committed, but whether he who commit,
was of such an understanding as to be proI
punishable therefor and amenabe to discipli
treatment Many of the worlds greatest m
have studied this problem, but the first benefi
attempt to minister to the criminal as one
sessed Of a devil" mind diseased" was u
in the state of New York, when the New J
State Reformatory at Elmira was created. T
the inmates kept under the strictest of
tai and physical discipline; mental arithmetic
Turkish baths are applied together to crea
sane mind in a sound body. They are taught
honesty is the best policy" the only policy
pays from the practical. worldly point Of v
The results have been surprisingly crafty
only about 20 per cent, the friends of that 4
tuition claim. of the felons therein incarcer
having returned to ways of crime.
Punishment for crime had its origin in
innate savagery Of the human race and is