The daily sentinel., 1914-02-02

] NCfskf -fHtu from rage ~
progress along certain lines should
make US anxious to have a we'll
rounded development.
Need Jail Improvement.
/ As | have studied our city in
my eighteen months of residence
here, the one thing that contrasts
most with our splendid progress
along many lines is our jail system,
and the general lack of provision for
dealing with alleged criminals ac-
cording to the newly recognized prin-
ciples OF the science of penology. The
/ dealings of society with criminals
have been marked by four successive
stages-retribution repression. ref
ormation and prevention. For thou
sands of years. retribution was the
keynote: An eye for an eye and
tooth for a tooth is even quoted as
divine authority for this idea so alb
horrent to the teachings of Jesus.
Under the old English law, hundreds
of crimes We're punishable by death.
and mutilation of the body was the
usual penalty for lesser evils.
The other three steps have all
come within the last century, and
America has been leader in their
development. Repression. with its
idea of confinement rather than
death or mutilation, was accompan-
led with such horrors and brutality
until the latter part of the eighteenth
century. when the reforms of Howard
began to be effective. that IL was lit
tie better than retribution. The idea
OF reformation was being groped af-
ter when the state penitentiary at
Auburn, n. Y, introduced the idea of
useful labor for convicts. This idea
was carried into splendid develop
ment in the state reformatory for
youthful criminals at Elmira, N. Y,
and in dozens of other reformatories
and reform schools modelled after II.
Then came the parole Law and the in
Gcterminate sentence. the very acme
of the reform ideal Under these
the work of our Colorado penitenti-
airy and of Warden Tom lyman are
notable in the annals of penology.
The records of the Elmira reforma-
tory show that nearly so per cent of
the discharged prisoners reform and
lead useful lives.
But the acme of penological pro-
gress is the idea of the prevention of
crime. Here the community comes to
recognize its responsibility for the
social welfare of its people. Commu-
nifty play grounds and bath houses.
free concerts and entertainments. the
regulation of all public amusements.
the Father and Son movement, all
plans for constructive use of the ac-
tive expression of play and social ac-
tivities, are part of the prevention
idea. The taking up of this work by
the community is made necessary by
the changed social and industrial life
of today. The power of the home
p.. 90. -. IL. a
even over the parents, has been bro
ken down largely by the complex con-
ditions of our so-called civilization.
Unless community steps into the
breach, we are to see in the next few
decades a decay of American social
ideals that may mean the destruction
of the nation In this work the
church and the public school with its
vast and expensive equipment must
play large part.
In the work of prevention Grand
Junction should pass an ordinance
regulating all places of public
amusement and resort, providing a
censorship that will effectively rule
out all that is detrimental to the well
fare of our youth. This does not
mean a regime of blue laws, nor espe-
cially of Sunday observance. What
is wrong on one day of the week can
hardly be right on the other six. if we
take seriously the dictum of Jesus
that the Sabbath was made for man.
Though question of propriety and
eXpediency enters here that we may
well consider, if we are not ruthlessly
to violate all the best traditions of
our Christian civilization. The eX-
ample of the city of indianapolis in
compelling the licensing of all public
dances, and the presence of an Off
cial chaperone with full police power,
is one that we might well follow.
Wants Reform.
"As we try to apply the principle
of prevention in dealing with the life
of the youth who are community's
JOY and pride, our only hope for the
future, shall we not at least use the
idea of reform with the few criminals
we have. rather than that of repres-
sion or even retribution? Why
should able-bodied men lie rotting
mentally and physically in our jails
for weeks or months at a time? To
those who are hopeless criminals this
is only pastime, sort of rest be-
tween seasons of crime. Such men
should be made to work, so that they
Will not regard so complacently a
Jail sentence. But the men we
should most consider are the acciden-
tai criminals, those who through i'm
pulse yield to some passion that lands
them behind the bars. What of the
case of the man who ordinarily works
for living, when he comes out of
prison after six months sentence,
with the Jail pallor on his face and his
muscles soft from long disuse? Is it
any wonder that he usually falls into
criminal ways? Our officers state
that we do not have enough prison
ers to make it pay to hire a guard to
keep them at work. Possibly this is
true, though if the city and county
prisoners were handled together, it
might be otherwise"