The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1930-01-31

O0co20Or0Ce0l
Formerly q. Logan Payne %.
CHICAGO NEW YORK BOSTON
Reaction Of Crime to Penalty
one Of the persistng psychological mysteries Of society
= how to unmake q criminal. Prisons have been pro-
yided On the theory that deprivation Of liberty by in
overwhelmingly ~inflicting punishment distasteful to
the offender against his fellows and the law-wil have
. sescemative influence. That. Of course. remains a
theory, In the light Of experience. The habitual GRIM
inal goes on repeating his crimes. And there are inter-
mittent violatoes who can not pass up temptation, it
seesnA. There remains, then, Of the original intent OF
Imprisonment only the element Of punishment as a real
iy.
on this subject Of punishment minds are divided. One
ct Of thinkers Is impressed more by the failure OF pun
ish1ueut to deter crime and holds to a theory that kind.
ness u q far more effective influence toward leading Of
tenders out Of the paths and ways of crime. The other
discards the theory Of regenerative reaction to tncar-
ceration and regards penalizing as a sort of revenge to
which society is entitled against those who prey on it
and violats its laws. And then there is a class which
stfl persists In the old faith that punishment will deter
offenders.
Judge Edwin o. Lewis, Of Philadelphia, is Of the latter
class, He revived this subject Of Furnishing to deter
crime In delivering q charge to the January grand jury,
admouishing the jurors not to be too sentimental when
they paid their regular visit to the county's penal insti-
tutious. A prison. he said. must be strict and hard In
order to cure robbers and murderers Of their criminal
leaninsy.
"A prison sentence Of even 80 days is intended to teach
= man . lesson 50 that he will not commit crime again"
said the Judge.
I'VE do not send men to prison to have a happy holt
day. So many Of those who have been recently released
have been committing crimes OF violence that we arc
more than ever disposed not to relax in our duty or to
show sentimental tolerance and sympathy for criminals"
This Is all very well, and certainly no one will deny
that we want to protect ourselves against robbers and
murderers In any way we can. The only trouble is that our
present regime, which is at least fairly harsh. isn't doing
it very well.
Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck of Harvard recently stu
died the careers of 500 criminals in Massachusetts, penal
institutions. They made some interesting discoveries;
among them, the discovery that 30 per cent Of $40 men
discharged from the Massachusetts, refornatory went
right on committing crimes after their release. And DR..
Richard g. Cabot Of Harvard commends on that fact as
follows:
"Why should this regime reform anybody? In my ex-
perience there are few tougher and more ~unyielding
structures in the world than a bad habit. It does not
change as the result Of q few months of forced, unpaid
and unpalatable labor"
The one essential condition to reformation of a GRIM
inal, he says, is:
'That someone should come to know and to under
stand the man ii, so intimate and friendly a way that
he comes to a better understanding OF himself and to q
truer comprehension of the world he lives in"
For the criminal; says Dr.. Cabot, must have a new in
terest In an honest Job, and a new affection for some
one for whose sake it seems worth while to behave more
decently.
All Of this is q long way from the severity advocated
by Judge Lewis. But there is at least an even chance
that these Harvard Investigators know quite as much
about the problem as the Philadelphia jurist. Certainly
our present system isn't getting us any results. Might it
not be worth our while to give the other a trial?
OF course, it would be complicated and expensive. We
would have to spend much more thought and money on
our prisons than we do now. It is not as easy to put un-
derstanding and affection into a thugs soul as it is to
lock him up and feed him bread and water.
Victor Hugos powerful character, Jean Vatican, was
one Of those misleading fictions which lead some per-
sous to apply the portrait to criminals in general. How
ever. Vatican was not q criminal at heart. but a philan-
thrupist in nature. He persisted in being what he was.
despite the law. because he was what he was. Besides,
he Is . fiction, . character in q story. In real life In
stances sometime crop out in which an actual Vatican
seems 70 step out in the drama Of daily life. Some years
aso tho story bobbed up Of q foreigner who spent q
pears In the Western penitentiary Of Pennsylvania for
. murder he had not committed. before the proof Of his
innocence was revealed. But that was all the drama
there vas to the case. He himself was not q dramatic
figtre, ana the remainder Of his life. when set free, was
Inst u~neveutful drabness.
% you can't convince the advocates Of punishment by
eitlng Hugo's hero Of fiction as an example pointing the
Nay 70 Kindness g the proper course Of dealing with the
criminal. They win stin believe that. At the utmost.
Tint policy can 10 nothing else than foolish coddlins.
JudCe Iewds would vary likely greet the idea Vith ,
cynical Bahl
pEa6ctions being such . relative thing. how did the re-
cMmatS know vhsn they had reached it,
TyAH# :
Another Airplane Disaster
III Most recent ahplane disaster ct Kansas City.
EanooA ms : dreadful thing. truly: yet there Is no rea-
- 1orsJsHing + frghtep u into Snppoking that COM
1900 ~ sanpcstation i too risky to be useful.
aa1rs = alxsvs TIL y 5smamba about aviation: #
r ~ mihacs that ct a tlas front pages. The thou
9 thouaands 4 re u~nsyentful flights that 50 On
= - yeer ont - seldon mentionsd. But nobody
~1o ~ - - traosdiek
- = kep1mte1lea - e undasso :