The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-05-26
Law Will Permit Scientific
Attitude on Sentences,
Prof. White Says.
FAIR TEST is ASSURED
Address Is Heard by $50
Delegates Present From
40 States.
BY SAM TYNDALL

B1 SAM I1NDALL
Through the newly created
Division of Corrections in the
Indiana State Department of
Public Welfare, it will be pos
sible, for the first time, to
give scientific determination
of sentences a fair trial, DIR.
R. Clyde White, Indiana Uni
versity Social Research direc-
tor, said today.
DR.. White, who has supervised
numerous surveys and studies on
crime and penal reform, was men,
Der of the Governors committee Of
experts who assisted in the drafting
of the new Public Welfare Act.
He spoke at the opening session
of the third annual four-day con-
vention of the Central States Pro-
baton and Parole Conference in the
Claypool
More than $50 delegates repre-
senting 40 states are in attendance.
The conference, to continue for
four days in the Claypool, is ex-
pected to bring more than $50 dele
gates here to create cooperation
between states in probation, insti-
tutional care. parole supervision,
and rehabilitation of probationers
and PAROLES in general.
The program. in charge of Philip
Lutz Jr., Indiana Attorney General,
is to be composed of addresses and
discussions on nearly every phase
of parole and probation.
Scully Opens Conference
George T. Scully, conference
president, and superintendent of
Illinois PAROLES, delivered the OPEN
ing address at 10.
Mrs. Sarah Schaar's Legal Aid De-
partment Supervisor of the Chicago
Jewish Welfare, also addressed the
conference.
Through the new Public Welfare
Act" DR.. White said, Indiana now
also has the machinery for a thor
oughly modern administration Of
penal and correctional institutions
and agencies"
He said that the new act makes
possible the employment of tech
nical staff to determine the fitness
of a prisoner for parole and gives
the state department full power to
obtain good supervision.
Clemency Law to Be Used
Emphasizing the difficulties of
good parole work, he said that, IF
parole can be granted according to
scientific principles, as we now be-
lieve it can, and if the object of cor
rectional treatment is to restore the
offender to society and make good
citizen of him, then there should not
be any arbitrary obstacles to the
application of scientific treatment,
such as fixed sentences.
Under the Welfare Act there
seems to be a way of overcoming
this obstacle sufficiently to give
scientific determination of sentence
fair trial. This can be ac-
complished through the law relating
to clemency," he said.
1.-THE Governor has the power to
commute any sentence. The Divi-
sion of Corrections is required by
the law to initiate proceedings look
ing toward Communication of sem
fences, after which the Commission
on Clemency examines the case and
makes recommendations to the
Governor.
Treated as Patient
What is proposed here is that
the State Department take as its
major premise regarding the Offend
er, the proposition that he is a pa
tient and should be treated with
the same scientific acumen as an
insane person would be treated.
When the offender is ready for
parole, he is released as a conyal-
eSclng patient and is supervised by
battery of experts, with the parole
officer of the county acting as the
family physician"
Prisons are necessary evils and
they should play as small part as
possible in the life of any person
who is expected to return to society.
Mrs. Schaar told the conference. She
SAID that, as at present constituted.
the prison has only negative place
in the treatment of crime.
Mrs. Scharr stated that the train
ing OF probation and parole off,
Ger should include an ability to ana
lyze personality and to use such
analysis in treatment.
1T should include a thorough
knowledge Of community resources,
educational, vocational, religious.
recreational, medical and the like,
and should include skill in integral
Ing these resources in the service OF
the probationer," she said.
In his address Mr.. Scully con-
graduated Indiana on being the
first state to recognize the value and
necessity OF compacts between states
for reciprocal supervision and after
care of probationers.
He urged that the convention
adopt a resolution urging the CO.
ordination and Standardization
among the states of the many and
various state systems. He said only
IA states have adopted interstatc