Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-05-28
Judge Reflects
on State Prison

"No judges who has not spent
some time behind the bars himself
is qualified to send other men there.
Only such a judge is able to esti-
mate the punishment he is called on
to inf1ict upon his fellows"
OF course. Judge Paul j. McCor-
mick, of Los Angeles, Cal, doesn't
mean the magistrate should be SEN
fenced to jail himself, but he should
practise what he breaches by visit
ing San Quentin every year. sleeping
there, eating there, staying there.
Judge Mccormick witnesses hang
ings, and talks with-not at-the
prisoners he has %entenced, so he can
appreciate their viewpoint and put
himself in their place."
mo young man should ever be
sent to the penitentiary," asserts
Judge Mccormick. ION my last
visit to San Quentin penitentiary l
met a man not more than %, who
was serving ten years for forgery.
He was sent there by a judge who
never had been in the penitentiary
and knew nothing about it.
"That young man was hardened
against society. 1t was his first
offense. He had yielded to "a sud-
den impulse and passed bad check
in a saloon. He was not yet a
criminal, but his feet were turned in
that direction.
1.-THE young man might have been
saved had he been put on proba-
ton. But instead he was sent to
the very place where he would
learn to be a crook-to a finishing
school of crime. He probably will
leave San Quentin a hardened rebel
against law and order, because he
never had a chance.
THE judge who sentenced him
knew nothing of the temptations of
Pity the unfortunate fellow who
goes before such judge whose
breakfast does not happen to be
sitting right For small crime he
may get a blasting sentence. Then
the judge will forget the episode.
"But does the offender forget?
For weary weeks and months and
years he will do the lockstep, and
toll in stripes, until long after the
effects of his crime cease to be
felt. The judge never will see him
again.
"But it, long years afterward, he
could visit the man in his cell and
look back land remember from time
to time that the man he sentenced
is still serving his time in the pen
itentiary, that jurist would have a
different outlook"
Mccormick has the outlook he re-
fers to. BY using discretion on the
bench he has earned the profound
respect even of the offenders he is
called upon to judge, so that pris-
oners often step forward and shake
his hand after receiving their
Jolt" as it is known in courtroom
parlance.
| McCormick's knowledge of pc
nology has enabled him to use great
discretion in singing out malefac-
tors worthy of probation, and re-
| jecting the applications of vicious
and deliberate lawbreakers. Con-
sequently he is given credit for
much of the great success of the
proba tionary system in California,
where nearly 100 per cent. of Of
I6nueIS IcledSeu Oi lhCii t5oou w
havior are making good"
Mccormick has put a stop to the
practise of rushing ignorant pris'
oners to jail by having them plead
guilty whether they are guilty oil
not, as he will under no circum-
stances pass sentence until he IL
thoroughly familiar with every fac
in the case.
When fully informed and con
WINGED that the accused is guilty
Mccormick will sentence the rea
criminal to a tenn he deems Ions
enough to thoroughly punish with
out embittering the offender agains
society, and Judge Mccormick
knows through personal experience
and observation just about hoy
long that term should be.