The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1911-06-16

lnatlon, according to Superintendent
Moore, 1T has been discovered tina
the mental age of almost one-hal
the prisoners was below twelve year:
while i'll one case it was less rnar
five. In other words forty-six pei
cent, OF those received had minds
which in knowledge and ability were
| only equal to the mind of child
from five to twelve years old
Boston, June S.-Life sentences O,
permanent guardianship by the state
: was urged for a certain class of Of
tenders against law by DR.. William
Healy, Director of the Juvenile
Psychopathic Institute of Chicago
before the National Conference OF
Charities and Correction here today
; The institute is Il part of the n.u.
chlnery of the juvenile court of Chi
cago and DR. Healv as it's director
has had wide opportunity to anal
we the causes which bring children
into that court. He made certain
comparisons between the manifesto
tons of delinquency in children
and criminality In adults and and
pointed out that children who came.
back to the Juvenile coturt again
and again are usually of the same
type as older offenders who have
become habiuual criminals and who
are committed to prison repeatedly.
While DIR. Healy did not subscribe
to the theory that all criminality is
disease or due to a diseased con-
| altlon, he stated most emphatically
that in his judgement very man,
cases OF recidivism or the recurrence
of unlawful acts is due to some dis
eoverable mental defect in the of
fender "But," said he. mental de-
feet is to be considered simply as
one of the causes of crime, but it
is cause so obvious, so readily de-
termlnable in most cases and SO GER
talnly lrremediable and provocative
of recidivism and moral contagion
that one of the first steps of reform
in dealing with criminals ought to
be directed toward this. The men,
tai defective Is suitable neither for
reformatory education
nor punitive measures; custodial
care alone is of service and in the
case of the enthusiastically inclined
defective, the courts should directly S
and the state protect itself !
~ permanent guardianship {
Boston, June 8.-Ernest K. Coul- $
,er, Clerk of the Children's Court of ]
New York, il an address before the 9
section on, Law Breakers" of the /
National Conference of Charities and G
Correction in session here said that 6
he most important step to be tax.
IN by the state in its slow aband-
'nment of antiquated methods of
reatlng child offenders and victims
II bad environment and neglect must
'r the establishment of institutions G
or the special treatment of the men t
al defective of this class. {
The speaker, VINO has seen a, t
lose range more than $4,000 child t
'en pass through the largest child i
ems court in the world, denounced I
IS sentimentalists those who claim T
hat most juvenile delinuuents are
mentally defective, but concluded S
hat the most conservative observers
must agree that there are certain
'e~is-dstsAed aesaS - @scaptiOnAl|
children, victims OF envlromental or
causes which irresrisribly
pTe-dispose mem 20 crime. s.5ome
Of these children" said Mr.. Coulter,
i have seen come back to the1
court five or six times after they
had spent years in the ordinary re-
formatories all before they have
reached the age of sixteen. In fore
Ing the commitment of the defective
child In the ordinary reforma,ory. Z
the state Is blind to It's cruelty to
the children, the injustice to the in
stitution, and the menace to the
community