The Omaha guide., 1946-07-06
FATHER
FLANAGAN
SAYS
Reformatory-
A Prep School to
the Penitentiary

A Judge with whom / am acquainted recently sentenced
two teen-agers to the reformatory for three years each for a
SIS theft. When he gave the sentence, he explained he had
tried to find a reason for leniency, but that lit just wasn't
there
wonder! We often go through the motions Of being
generous and even sympathetic in dealing with hapless juv-
eniles, but how seldom we show any real generosity or sym
pathy, except specifically for our own mental appease-
meht.
Was this judge trying to find a cause for Ieniency? Or
was he trying to whitewash his own conscience! Both
youths, it is true, had been in trouble before. One had
served a reforrnatory sentence for car theft, and the other
had been paroled on a burglary charge by the Juvenile
court. They were "repeaters.' But why? Was it., as
the Judge said. because these boys we're hopeless criminals?
Every boy deserves "a chance 10 become a good and use-
full citizen. Many boys are denied this chance, however, be
cause of bad parents, bad environment, and bad example.
Childrcn arc not born TO be bad. They come unspoiled
from The hand Of God. Ii is through neglect tllai they fal
'nto bay ways.
Parents n5-le@t ID explain TO their children what life
.oauv means. ~r,ov fg~ors Inc first essential for all mr.
,oseful l:r.,g-s:n ,ho bo~n-:nn Ccd"~-and 50 rcd-ca
life TO z rneaning,1ar na1c rera "a desire and frustrahon.
Witho-f Co1 at - heriun:n~ there es1 BE only conf-s.
ion at the end. A boy who is in doubt about the meaning
fife cannot know what TO do with his own life, and if he
annOt know what to do with his o@n lie, il is certain he
I'LL not make the best use of it. 7.
We can do no greater injustice to any boy than TO put a
riminars brand upon him because he has made a mistake.
md yet, as a matter of ract, this is just what we do, and
What we have been doing for centuries. The reformatory
lOes not reform. 1t was never meant to, actually. 1t was
meant to be a penal institution. And that is exactly what
it is-a prep school to the penftentiary. j
Take the case of these two boys. Their offense was not
that they took IS that wasn't theirs, it was that they had
made similar mistakes before. This is what the Judge
meant when he said he could find no reason for leniency.
One of the two had been in the reformatory before. And
now he is on his way back because became out no. better.
and probably much worse, than when he went in. The
blame is put on theyouth. No voice is raised in protest a.
gainst the institution. No criticism is directed against the
kind of thinking which still accepts the lash and the cell as
the only way to deal with young people who get into trouble.
People may believe, in a half-hearted sort of way, that
the boy who commits a crime is a morally sick boy, but
they continue to act as if he we're simply a bad boy.
Punishment may be the practice, but it is not the answ-
er. Punishment goes no further than the mistake for
which i is invoked. If we are to help the youth, if we
really want to help him become a useful member Of society
instead of a misfi, then we need to get down to the cause
of his mistakes.
We need to change his ideas about life and its meaning.
We need to teach him to apply himself constructively. We
him with respect, instead Of allowing him to be pushed a.
round.
Instead of ushreing him off to the reform school as al
hopeless criminal, he should be treated as a spiritually sick
child who, through want and neglect, has been deprived of
his rightfas heritage. Such are the social havenots. They
need to be understood, loved and helped, not blamed and
punished.