Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1915-11-27
Kansas Problem of
Delinquency

Continued from page 81 according to
theorists, but in actual life they are
neither fools nor children. A COM
posite picture of the male inmates of
penitentiary would show a sharp-eyed,
shrewd, calculating individual usually
imbued with the idea that the world
has not treated him right, and often
with a long history of violations of
civilized conventions. He began with
fighting, was pinched for petty thiev-
cry, was loose in his relations to wom-
en-, freQuented saloons and Joints"
perhaps used drugs, often has served
terms in reform school and reforma-
tory, and at last is behind bars. To
be sure, there are exceptions, where
some flush of passion or anger brought
the first crime of a mans life, but for
the most part the beginning was far
back in youth, and the trail of the
saloon and the gang is over 1t all.
What can the state do for him? How
can 1t in the term for which he has
been sentenced remake his moral ma
ture, rebuild his broken physical stat
ure and start him again in life with
entire safety to society? Kansas sees to
it that he is wellfed, that he is we'll
clothed, that he tolls regularly. The
weakness in its treatment is in the
surroundings of his sleeping. Its pris-
on cell houses are unSanitary, facfH-
ties for separating the diseased and the
healthy are inadequate. The trustwor
thy-and there is a large proportion
that can be placed on honor and will
keep faith-cannot be given a real
chance to strengthen their moral fibre.
The penitentiary system fails If 1T ap-
plies the same measure to all men in
stead of building up character by vary
ing conditions according to the needs
and qualifications of the inmates. That
is an abnormal state of living, one that
would be considered wrong from every
point of view in the outside world.
The correctional institution should as
sort its methods to fit the character of
the persons with which it has to deal.
The ideal management would make
every inmate look back on his expe-
rience as 1.-THE best thing that ever
happened to him." but even then it is
a question whether or not the require
ments of society demanded punish
ment. If it were possible to reform
the individual by giving him per
fectly delightful time" the question
still would remain whether this would
deter others from crime in the degree
that is demanded by public welfare.
The assumption often made that so
ciety is altogether to blame for every
criminal or delinquent is based on an
ideal condition of affairs which the
world has never reached Whatever
may be possible in some distant time,
society must live in the meanwhile.
1t cannot make life decent and toler-
able for the great mass of its members
otherwise than through supporting
such means as it has actually at hand
4 for sustaining the fundamental insti-
tutions of morality and civilization. OF
these means the most vital is the en-
forcement of the idea of personal re-
sponsibility for personal action. That
is the one great lesson that the de1in-
Quent must learn before he is fit to
go out into the world again. If he does
not learn it, he is always a menace to
society. With some the shock of iron
bars transforms the mental attitude of
the Individual; with others it takes
long period of discipline; with yet 9TH
ers the character has been so warped
either through environment or inner
tied weakness that little less than a
miracle can make the remnant of their
lives acceptable to society.