Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-11
VIRGINIA DEFEATS
CRIME IN NEW WAY
Public Institute Told by Wei
fare Head of Study
Made of Offenders.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY,
Stan Correspondent Of The Star.

gust 1O.-Vng1nla Is approaching lIn
crime problem in a new way. This Is
through the study of the criminal
rather than of the law. The expert
Ynent was described before the tnsti-
tute of Public Affairs today by Frank
Bane, State commissioner OF puphc
welfare, who Is a leader. In this pio-
neering effort to find out how to pre-
vent anti-social behavior rather than
how to punish 1t.
For seven years, Mr.. Bane told the
institute, the State has conducted a
laboratory of crime and delinquency.
The LEGISLATURE in 1922 passed an act
BY which juvenile offenders are not
sentenced to any institution, but given
over until they are 81 years old to the
department of public welfare as "labo-
ratory specimens" for scientific obser-
walton. The act provided that study
be made In the case of each child OF
its social history. heredity, environ
nent and individual problems, together
with a thorough physical and mental
examination, and that then the de-
partment deal with the offender &C.
cording to It's best Judgment.
approximately 1000 children, Mr..
Bane said, have passed through this
laboratory. Such factors as broken
families, housing conditions, labor and
industrial conditions, physical and men
tai defects and lack of recreation have
been studied in their relation to the
offenses.
Because of the activities Of this labo-
ratory, Bane said. the industrial schools
and reformatories are the only State
institutions that have not had to in
crease their capacities and demand
greater appropriations. He expressed
confidence that the plan which seems
to have succeeded with the juvenile de-
linquent will work just as we'll with
the adult criminal. He urged indcter-
inmate sentences with wide limits, with
competent personnel to consider each
criminal as an individual.
Viewpoint Of Physician.
The intent of the commission. Mr..
| Bane said, Is to approach the Peob-
lem Of crime rather from the viewpoint
Of the physician than the lawyer. Pay
ing his compliments to State and ma
that they have studied everything ex-
cept the criminal, who causes the
trouble, and the public, which suffers
thereby. They seem to have studied
the police apart from the criminal and
the courts apart from the people. Crime
commissions have been made up largely
of lawyers, and lawyers and courts
have not been interested in the causes
of crime but In crime as a fact. in
according to many Of the reports,
largely because of loopholes in the
administration of justice through which
the criminal escapes.
The legal profession as a group Is
found almost always advocating in
crease in the certainty and especially
the severity Of punishment, Baumes
1ar Ia pAefAeafinVA ~ NH
ping posts, etc, while individually they
plead for mitigation of penalties, par
dons and paroles.
In our fight against disease. ex-
tensive laboratories have been set up
where earnest and learned men, without
preconceived notions, have spent years
of patient research and effort to find
causes. The problems incident to
human nature and conduct are Of equal
importance and require the same
Meanwhile the State crime commits
sion Is studying criminal justice in
Virginia through the Institute Of Social
Sciences Of the State University. This
work was described by Prof. Hugh N.
Fuller. An investigation of how the
courts handle criminal cases has been
conducted in "A counties and cities.
Plan for Hospitals.
A plan for the Joint establishment
and support OF county hospitals by all
the churches In the separate counties
was urged by DR.. W. S. Rankin of the
Duke Endowment Of Charlotte, N. c.,
and Rev. Dr. Jesse c. Rowan, Presby-
terrain minister of Concord. N. c., in
the round table on the rural church.
Healing the sick" it was pointed
out IS one of the prime missions of
all Christian churches. yet in many
rural sections this mission is neglected
altogether. In some parts of the South,
said DR.. E. G. BranSon Of the Uni
versity of North Carolina. the clergy
are actively hostile to health measures,
believing them scientific and hence. 1r-
religious.
Dr.. Branson was a member of COM
mission which conducted typhoid
fever elimination campaign in one
South Carolina county. The work in
cluded demonstration meetings to be
held In the cross-road churches. They
were refused admittance to IL of these,
he said, and in one case they found
a church door locked and the people
hiding in the sasSafras bushes nearby
to see what the scientists looked like.
., DR.: BrsnS sS who who Is a devoted
prominent Southern bishop, who pro-
ceeded to Admonish him for teaching
Socialism" at the State University
He protested that he had done nothing
sociology"
What's the difference?" asked the
bishop.
DR.. Branson explained that there
was no relation whatsoever between
the political doctrine and the science.
Just the same" said the bishop,
~it's not religious"
The gradual disappearance of the
general practitioner, 1t was pointed out,
has left many rural districts without
medical attention. The church hos
pital plan calls for the active support
and management of a single hospital
In given area by all the churches.
There are approximately 100 times
rs many hospitals in the average large
city as In the average small city or
endowment. he pointed out. is appro-
priating more than $1,000.000 a year
to bring about more even distribu-
ton Of hospital facilities in the Caro-
linas
Progressive vulgarization of news
papers" was attacked by Louis T.
Jaffe. editor of the Virginian- Pilot of
and public affairs.
The result" he said: must inevitably
Be loss Of standing. The three principal
custodians Of civilization are the
church, the universities and the press.
THE third member of this trium.
vtrate OF enlightment cannot afford to
become the dispensary Of commodities
that the other two regard with proper
contempt. No lawyer or doctor seeking
TO establish o reputation would stock
his waiting room table with libidinous
periodicals or brighten its walls with
the art Of the axtinct barroom. In the
long run the newspaper cannot exempt
itself from this association of IDEAS"