The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1927-02-24
SENATE COMMITTEE JUNK MANY
CRIME COMMISSION RECON-
ENDATIONS

The lax criminal laws of Minnesota and
a sympathetic Parole Board has made Min
nesota haven of refuge for the criminal
at least that is the opinion of many good
citizens of the state.
Conditions became so bad that several
months ago Gov. Christensen appointed
number of representative citizens, headed by
former Justice of the Supreme Court, Oscar
Hallam, to investigate every angle of the
needed legislation to the end at least that
Mr.. Average Citizen should have an even
break with the convict.
The Crime Commission who, by the
way, are men and women of ability whose
sole interest is to protect society, reported
their findings to the Governor and the At
torney Generals office of the State, prepared
the necessary legislation to recodify the
criminal laws of the State
At hearing short time ago the War
denS of the Penal institutions of the state
made determined fight, particularly against
the Punishment Board recommended by the
Commission. Chairman Swendsen, of the
Board of Control, went so far at this hearing
to pronounce the recommendations of the
Crime Commission as ''nonsensical," or
words to that effect
The Senate Committee evidently agreed
with the contentious of the Wardens and Mr.
Swendsen and the latter part of last week
many of the Bills recommended by the Crime
Commission were rejected.
The action of the Senate Committee
called for the following communication from
Chairman of the Crime Commission, Judge
Oscar Hallam, which the Herald believes
will be generally Endorsed by the citizens of
the State:
St. Paul, February 21, 1927
Hon. Sherman w. Child,
State Capitol,
st. Paul, Minnesota.
My dear Senator Child:
The attention of the Minnesota Crime
Commission has been called to the recent
action OF the Senate Committee crime
prevention, rejecting many of the bills
prepared by the Attorney General to
carry out major recommendations of the
report of the Commission. It is not the
purpose of the Crime Commission to en-
gage lobby for any of these bills, but
we do want the Senate Committee and
the Legislature and the public to thor
oughly understand the situation, and to
have all the facts on which these recon-
mendations were based. With that as
sured, we are content to rest the respon-
slblllty for action with the members of
the Legislature.
The creation of the Commission was
prompted by idle fancy. The Com
mission was appointed January 6, 1926,
by Hon. Theodore Christensen, Governor
of the State.
pointment of the Commission was the
cold-blooded murder of a Minneapolis
policeman and the attempted murder of
Others The crimes were committed by
a man named Schban, alias Wilson, alias
Kob, recently discharged prisoner from
the State Penitentiary at Saltwater. In
1915, Schiban, then alias Wilson, was
convicted of first degree robbery and was
sentenced to the penitentiary. He was
discharged in 1919 to go to Canada but
was refused admission. In 1920, as alias
t John Kob he was again found guilty of
first degree robbery and was again sent
enced to the penitentiary. His case is
described by the Board of Parole as
belonging to class called Medical"
Both times he served in prison he was sent
e to an insane hospital and both times re-
turned to prison as cured. At the time
of his release the board said "the strain
of prison discipline was breaking his
health again" and under ga policy of the
Board of Parole to send prisoners
who have history of recurring mental
!: trouble and give evidence of break
ing down permanently, to the place of
the domicile to the care of relatives,