Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-07-12

them, he did only what the court would
expect. The result was that In pro-
nouncing Judgment the court was COM
PEELED to rely on its supposed knowledge
Of human nature. and pronounce such
judgment az It deemed proper.
Prevents Variable Punishment
"If court was sympathetic or
emotional In dealing with culprits,
there was chance that q defendant
might escape too easily. and after
trifling punishment be released to prey
upon the citizens of an adjoining town.
II the court on tho other hand was
stern there was possibility that In
Justice might be done by pronouncing
too extreme penalties. A situation IL
Illustrative Of my idea Is presented In
pronounctng judgment In cases for
assaults upon women. There are some
pretty good men who would never con-
cede that it was possible for man to
ravish an unwilling woman. The next
man would meet such a charge upon
the evidence presented and reach
proper conclusion in each particular
case; while to charge man with such
a crime. before third judge would re-
move all possibility Of reasoning upon
the facts. Now in case conviction Is
had, and court such as referred to In
the first instance should be called upon
to pronounce Judgment, a nominal pun
ishmenr would be reluctantly imposed.
The third case could not be sufficiently
punished to subserve the ends of justice
in the idea Of that court; while in the
second case alone could reasonable
punishment be expected. In the three
cases just referred to, where vastly
different judgments were pronounced.
the defendants had, however, COM
mitted the same crime under practically
tn same circumstances.
System Equalizes Judgments.
1.-The theory of the indeterminate
sentence is that exactly the same judg-
ment shall be pronounced in all like
cases. A body is appointed to inquire
into every case, ascertain the full facts,
the anteceden,s, former habits. envir-
onments, and peculiarities of the de-
PENDANT, the hopes for reformation, etc,
and then release defendants under sim
liar circumstances at the same time.
IT am, after my experience, of the
opinion the system affords method of
equalizing judgments and prevents in
justice which otherwise might result
from inequality in punishments.
acquaintance with human nature and
is of the proper temperament, less
reason exists for the indeterminate
sentence law where the defendant is
well known and particularly where a
trial is had. Another thought is that a
board having these cases in hand and
devoring sufficient time to the investi-
cations ought to be able to select the
wheat from the chat. the sheep from
the goats, and it certainly is in theory
a wholesome law. and I believe it
answers all reasonable purposes for
which 1t was created"
More Severe on "Repeaters."
After reciting something of the de-
tail procedure of the parole board in
operating under the indeterminate SEN
1ence law Mr.. Reed said:
The history Of sentences under the
indeterminate sentence act Of this state
and of other states, shows that Of the
young men and first offenders the aver
age length Of sentence is less under the
indeterrntnate sentence law than it is
under determinate sentence law; bur
that, in the case Of the old Offenders or
4repeaters', as they are sometimes
called. the average length of the SEN
tence Is materially longer under this
system than under the determinate or
| fixed sentence system. The total aver
age because of the increased length OF
sentence served by the repeaters is
! longer than under the old system. This
In a measure explains the claims that
our prison population is increasing,
that is, this increase is to some extent
anyway due to the longer average term
served by the repeater, whose criminal
history is known and who therefore is
not able to get off with a light sentence
TO resume his criminal life.
The writers upon prison reform all
Scam to agree, so far as / have been
able to find, that the confirmed GRIM
NAL is bitterly opposed to the inde-
terminate sentence law. When he goes
TO prison under such a sentence, he
knows that the crime Of which he was
convicted is not the only thing that
determines the length of his sentence:
ne knows that his whole history and
his official criminal record viii be taken
into consideration in determining the
length of his confinement, and that by