Evening star., 1939-04-18
Text of Roosevelt Speech
Methods of Releasing Prisoners
BungIed, He Tells Conference

nearly up to date. Archaic form.
of civil procedure have been cas-
aside for a uniform and simple sci
of rules which will help to speed thu
wheels of justice. A way of avoid
ing long delays in determining the
constitutionality of Federal laws has
been opened by permitting appea
directly from the lower courts to the
Supreme Court.
Handling Juvenile Offenders.
With the authorization of Con.
gress, we have also instituted an
important change of method in the
handling of juvenile offenders
against Federal laws. The courts
and the Attorney General are now
given wide latitude in determin-
ing how best to protect the safety
of society by trying to prevent q
young delinquent from becoming an
habitual criminal. Charges against
an offender under the age of l9
may now be heard informally, and
If probation is not desirable. the
Attorney General is authorized to
place him in any suitable public or
private educational or correctional
institution.
Another important part of our
program has been the improve
ment OF the Federal penal and cor
rectional system in all of its
branches. We have built different
kinds OF institutions for different
kinds of prisoners, ranging from
the now famous penitentiary for
the most hardened offenders, on
Alcatraz Island, to unwalled re-
formatories and camps for the Of
tenders who are less dangerous and
who seem to offer real hope of be-
coming laW-abiding citizens.
In the administration of our Fed
eral penal institutions we use every
known aid to rehabilitation ac-
cording to the needs of the pris-
oner. After all, the primary pur-
pose of the prison is to protect
the public by releasing men at the
end OF their sentences better and
not worse than when they were re-
ceived. For that reason we have
enlarged and improved the oppor-
tunities for education and voca-
tlonal training in the Federal prison
system. Moreover. We have pro-
vided useful work for those who
need to learn how to earn an hon
est Iving-and we have done it
without selling a dollars worth of
goods on the open market in COM
petition with private industry or
free labor. We can. I think, look
for still further improvement in
the administration of the Federal
prisons as the years go by because
we have put the personnel of the
prison service on a merit basis with
training courses for employees of all
grades.
Number of Officers Increased.
Each year for several years we
have Increased the number of Fed
eral probation and parole officers,
| and last year we raised the stand
ards governing their appointment.
Today the field staff of the Bureau
Of Prisons is supervising nearly 30
600 men and women on probation
or on parole. No finer tribute could
be paid to the work of those officials
and to the United States Board
OF Parole than to mention the fact
that about 95 per cent of those un-
der their control complete their SEN
tences without further violations of
the law.
But our efforts to suppress wrong
doing have not been confined to the
field of violent crimes. Through the
securities and exchange legislation
we have sought to protect the av-
erage investor from the depreda-
tlons OF unprincipled financial ma
nipulators. In the administration
of this legislation we have struck
hard at those gangsters in high
places who differ from the ordinar,
robbers only in the fact that they
use the tricky weapons of high
finance instead of saWed-off shot
guns.
And let us not forget the repea
of the eighteenth amendment. You
know anG know what toll thai
took from this country through the
f1outing of law by thousands OF
otherwise respectable people as vel
as through the activities of boot.
leggers and racketeers, who flour.
ished during the prohibition years
1t was undoubtedly the greatest
source of revenue for organized
crime that this Nation has evel
known.
While we have been tightening uI
on Federal law enforcement we have
also been making headway towarC
the second of our broad objectives-
the development of closer co-opera.
ton between the agencies of thu
several States and those of the Fed.
eral Government. The Federal Blu.
reau of Investigation in the Depart.
ment OF Justice has organized thu
National Police Academy, wher.
carefully chosen local peace officer!
are given training in modern polio.
work. Expert and technical servic,
has been made available to Stat,
prison and parole authorities by
the Bureau of Prisons. The Work!
Progress Administration, in addition
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