The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-10-15
PROTECT
THE; YOUNG
CRIMINALS

indianapolis, Oct. Is. Youthful
criminals should not be confined in
prisons. where contact with the
vicious will impel them to life of
crime, but should be given work in the
open, work of the kind to which they
are naturally inclined, is the opinioll
F., of r. b. Chadwick superintendent Of
dependent and neglected ctdidten for
| Alberta, Canada Z..,. 49, "a. r.. '7
Mr.. ChadWicks views. were voiced
before the American Prison associa-
ton, at it's annual meeting here, in an
address, today entitled Outside Work
as a Preventive Measure and as a Re
forfnatory Method. The growth of
outside work in prisons, Mr.. Chadwick
asserted, is productive Of justice to-
! ward boys and men which cannot be
overestimated. the basis of such a
system, he continued, should be COM
mon sense. On the one hand, he said,
a system founded purely on sentiment
will prove unsatisfactory and in
effectual; on the other hand, practical,
sound administration has brought out
that too close Incarceration has often
fostered a spirit of rebellion. In part,
Mr.. Chadwick said:
| probation has done more work as
a preventive agent in dealing with
young offenders a. than any other
scheme yet devised. Probation in
dealing with the hardened type of
criminal is futile and useless, as
through the probation system the
criminal succeeds in getting lenient
treatment without proper supervision
of his surroundings.
| There Is a group of offenders who
are not hardened criminals, but who
have to be taken care of. This group
forms the largest of any of the various
clo hat hau To hn wit
under criminal law. They are not
sufficiently hardened to. be considered
as criminals, but they have gone be-
yond the stage when they can be con-
sidered as possible of correction under
the system of probation. When a boy
or young man has fallen down under
probation, and has become an occas-
ional offender, and it has been deemed
advisable to deal with him by some
more rigid form of correction than
probation offers, the reformatory
method has been used with great sue
cess. ,
| THE boy is brought before the
| juvenile. or district court in Canada,
and handed over to the department of
neglected children, as a neglected
child, and placed out to work under
the supervision OF an agent or inspec-
| tor of the department. His earning
capacity must be, guarded, as he is liza
BILE to be exploited by unprincipled
| employers Of child labor, unless an
agreement lis entered into and ar
rangements made as to the particular
amount of money he is to receive in
addition to board and clothing. The
money is placed to the account of the
officer who has charge of the boy, and
a receipt given for each sum deposited
or expended, in order that the amount
may be justly accounted for in the
| final settlement with the lad"
| Mr.. Chadwick outlined the work in
Alberta which is being done under his
supervision. 1t was just as important.
work for which a youthful criminal is
naturally fitted as it was to find work
at all. The farm had solved the ques-
tion in many instances, but not in ALL
The work at the prison farm, he add
ed, was watched by the provincial
copied by the provincial jails in the
near future. In conclusion, he said:
THE basis Of such a system should
be common sense. A theory which
takes only sentiment as basis will
fall down and prove unsatisfactory
and most ineffeetual; on the other
hand, practical, sound administration
has often proved that too close incar-
ceration has brought out a certain
spirit of rebellion, and outside work
has developed the principles which go
, to make a right man, and results in
the recognition of the sense of human
weakness. in many instances dormant,
but in the case Of almost all boys cas-
lily get-at-able. no help the boy or
the man it Is as necessary to know his
weakness as 1t is to know his strength
The cost of such scheme is COM
parativeIy small. as both boys and
adults can be handled with great
deal less money under this system than
any other. Outside work In easy form
crime, particularly In incipient stages,
and properly handed will likely prove
the solution to the problem of the vag-l
abonds and first Offenders, both OF juv-,
emile and adult type"