Evening star., 1926-09-20

ency. The prison committee of the
Association of Grand Jurors has OBJ
served that the law does not define
in practical terms the resourceful and
merciless underworld character who
is representative of a dangerous Grim
inal class. 1t Isl he who willingly as
saults and kills in order to gain pos
session of valuables with which to
crafty his tastes for an indolent, un-
, productive and fast life.
"The sentencing laws of New York
recognize the repeated felon and re-
quire that when he is committed to
State prison a definite sentence shall
be imposed. The fourth conviction
| for a felony, for example, permits
| life sentence. Guesswork as to a
| mans past lrecord can be eliminated
only by gathering proper records un-
der fingerprint classification.
"If the record of an individual
| charged with serious crime shows a
series of previous convictions for rob-
| berry, burglary, arson. dope peddllng
or other felonies, the law should
clearly define such an individual as a
confirmed criminal. Infiexible and
| standardized sentences should be pro-
vided for such men and should not be
subject to modification by financial in
| fiuence or political pressure.
I'm the case of confirmed criminals
all bail, probation or parole should be
| denied. While the probation system
had merits when applied to casual
first offenders. it should not extend to
professional lawbreakers.
THE records show that certain
judges do release confirmed criminals
on probation. The fact that identifl-
cation by fingerprints has not been
permitted until after conviction and
because there is no central bureau of
fingerprint records in the greater
city gives the judge a good alibi. He
can always say he did not see the
mans record until action had been
taken.
IF the criminal records are prop
erly orga niZed so that a certified copy
of mans record is always available
the bondsman and the tricky criminal
lawyer would lose the most lucrative
part of their business and society
would then be protected. The profess
sional plunderer would have to face
his trial and be sentenced as a profess
sional without benefit Of mercy in
tended for the hapless casual offender.
Welfare Work Wasted.
Release on bail while awaiting
trial, release on parole under sus-
pended sentence, and early release
from prison under an indterminate
sentence were intended for the casual
offender. He is entitled to their bene-
| fits. Many confirmed criminals have
been sentenced to State prisons under
| indeterminate sentences. The discOv-
cry of the past records occurs after
| the prisoner reaches the prison. The
new law allowing for resentencing in
such cases is a great step forward.
Social and charitable agencies en-
gagged in the work of salvaging re-
| leased prisoners have long been over
loaded with released definite-sentence
| prisoners who are obviously bad pa
role risks. The workers must devote
their time to these men, who generally
break their parole and eventually are
| reincarcerated. The casual offender
who has been released on parole after
serving part of an indeterminate SEN
| tence is consequently neglected, when
it is just that type of man who most
| needs and will most benefit by the
work Of the welfare organizations
| Copyright. 1926
| Continued tomorrow.