definite method for coöperation with the community has been developed. Provision is made by law in a number of states for the establishment of county or other local boards which serve the court in an advisory and auxiliary capacity. . . . In other states coöperating boards have been established without special statutory provision. Often state boards of charities or child welfare bureaus actively coöperate. A number of private societies doing protective work or child-placing give the courts valuable assistance. As the work of the juvenile court develops, some of the under- Conclusion. lying causes and conditions of child delinquency and neglect become more evident. The results of intensive studies of individual children have indicated the varieties of provision which must be made. The need for the early recognition and treatment of abnormalities in the child's physical, mental, or moral development has been conclusively demonstrated, In this field the responsibility reverts to the home, the school, and the other social forces of the community. The adequate fulfillment of these obligations will result in the prevention of a considerable amount of juvenile delinquency. and in the consequent reduction of the number of children who come before the courts. 124. Substitutes for imprisonment attitude toward the When the individual has been convicted of wrong-doing, there Changing arises the question of what is to be done with him. Formerly, imprisonment was looked upon as the common, if not the only, method of offender. disposing of the criminal. With the development of the modern spirit in penology, however, penologists are more and more asking the question, Is imprisonment necessary in this case, or might the reformation of the prisoner be effected more surely and more quickly by some other method of treatment? To-day we are making a considerable use of substitutes for imprisonment, especially in the case of children, petty criminals, first offenders, and the mentally defective. The various types of treatment which may be substituted for imprisonment are discussed by the late Professor Henderson in the following passage: 1 From Charles Richmond Henderson, Introduction to the Study of the Dependent, Defective, and Delinquent Classes. D. C. Heath & Co., 1901; pp. 303-306. Limitations of the prison. How the probation system operates. Use of the fine. Experience proves that, for many of the criminal class, the prison fails in both its main objects: it does not deter and it does not reform; . . . the prison does not touch the permanent causes of crime which inhere in the economic conditions, the bad housing, the neglect of education, and the hideous squalor, filth, and misery of cities. The prison comes too late to touch these factors. Without going into general social reforms at this point, we may consider some of the proposed substitutes for the prison and its deprivation of liberty and suspension of normal habits of industrial and domestic life. The probation system. - The main features of this method are ordinary arrest, detention, investigation, and probation. Persons charged with drunkenness, for example, or some other offense of a relatively mild nature, and who are presumably not dangerous or habitual offenders, are temporarily placed in a house of detention. An officer of the court is appointed to investigate their character and history by inquiries in the cell and among associates and neighbors. The purpose of this investigation is to discover the environments, influences, capacity for work, and tendencies of life, and to report to the court. If the court finds it unsafe to give the person freedom, the regular course of law is followed. But if there is hope of reformation without deprivation of liberty, the judge grants a "continuance" of the case pending probation; the offender is released on promise to maintain good conduct, and the probation officer visits him or her once each week and makes certain that the advice of the judge is followed. Industrial occupation is secured at home, or with an employer, or in a private institution; and a relation of friendly guidance and assistance is maintained. Thus an offender may be reformed, or prevented from becoming a habitual criminal, by personal influence and help, without losing time from employment, without being cut off from family and friends, and without incurring the reputation of a "jail-bird." Fines. - It has been found possible to substitute fines for imprisonment in many cases, where the offense is not serious and the security for payment is ample. Judges in states which give the option generally prefer to inflict fines, if this way is open to them. In cities there are great abuses, but this is no objection to the principle. . . . Professional and dangerous criminals should always be imprisoned without giving their comrades the power to set them free by paying a fine. ... The use of colonies for certain Colonies. For vagrant, feeble-minded, futile, mendicant, and semi-criminal persons, it seems desirable to establish voluntary and also compulsory agricultural colonies. Where men are willing to classes. submit themselves to control voluntarily and to accept discipline and training for industry, it may be sufficient to provide colonies on the German plan, without restrictions as to coming and going. But for those who are lawless and criminal such colonies of training must be compulsory, since such men will neither accept discipline which is good for them nor continue under it. Drunkards should be provided for in special hospital asylums, under long sentences of three or four years, and kept at work in the open air as much as the climate will permit. . . . 125. The functions of the psychopathic expert1 The recent development of medicine and psychology has exerted a marked influence upon our treatment of the so-called criminal classes. The application of psychological and pathological tests to certain types of offenders has encouraged the belief that a large proportion of offenders are mentally or physically defective, and that nothing is to be gained by treating such individuals as normal and responsible persons. Criminal psychopathology is still in its infancy, but it has progressed sufficiently to demonstrate the value of subjecting offenders to thorough mental and physical tests. On the basis of these tests, an intelligent and constructive disposal of each individual may be made. Some of the functions of the psychopathic expert are described in the following extract from a bulletin of the Psychopathic Department of the Chicago House of Correction: All of those between the ages of 17 and 21 who are sentenced to House of Correction are subject to call for psychological diagnosis. Of these there are a number who are recommended to the Psychopathic Department by the Boys' Court. To this group special attention is paid. Whenever the above list is exhausted, older inmates, particularly recidivists, are interviewed. . . . 1 From the Chicago House of Correction, Research Department, Bulletin No. 1. Chicago, July, 1915; pp. 4-7. Effect of medicine and psychol ogy upon penology. Psychological diagChicago nosis in the House of Correction. Attitude of [In coming into the psychopathic laboratory,] the inmate knows the inmates. he has nothing to lose and everything to gain. We have consequently had no difficulty at all; in fact, men have come entirely of their own volition to see what we could do for them after having realized that they were somewhere out of gear. Many have anxiously come to see what we could do to help them keep out of further difficulty. . Type of questions asked the inmate. Mental tests are next employed. Acting upon the results. ... The interview is begun with questions regarding his school and trade training, his industrial history, the positions he has held, etc. . . . We then obtain a full and detailed account of the criminal career of the individual from the day he first found himself in difficulty. Any past sicknesses, accidents and diseases are noted. Inquiry is made of any past examinations, mental, physical or both. The subject is then questioned regarding his father, mother, siblings and other relatives, the same information being elicited regarding them as was obtained from him personally. We often uncover a neuropathic family, of which this member is but one out of a number of others who are not only potentially a danger and menace to the community, but have already made society pay dearly for their having been at large. With this personal-industrial-sociological-family history, more or less complete, we pass on to our mental tests. [We use a number of tests, including a] test for audition (watch); a test with the dynamometer for obtaining the fatigue index described in Whipple's Manual, supplemented by our formula for an index of the subject's ability to perform purely physical labor; the tests for height, standing and sitting, weight, strength of grip and vital capacity, besides some of our own tests for ethical development. These are gradually being supplemented, and in the near future we plan to add tests of ability to learn in relation to forgetting and to re-adaptation, among others. On the basis of the information obtained a report on each individual case is made and the record placed in the hands of the Superintendent, who acts upon the recommendations. As a result of the examination, any of these three courses may be followed, depending upon general conditions: (a) the inmate may be placed in a special class for mental defectives; or, (b) he may be placed at work that will benefit him most, work that will give him the training and experience necessary to gain him entry into that industry after his release; or (c) he may be merely placed at ordinary labor on the grounds. ... 126. Principles of reformation 1 The development of modern penology in the United States has been due, not so much to a widespread recognition of constructive principles, as to the talent and energy of a few men. Of these none is better known, and none more generally recognized as a sound and progressive student of prison administration, than Dr. Frederick Howard Wines. In 1870 a National Prison Congress met at Cincinnati, Ohio, and adopted a declaration of principles of reformation which had been formulated by Dr. Wines. These principles, though adopted a half century ago, are still the foundation for prison work in this country, and as such are generally recognized. Some of the more significant of these principles follow: The influence of Frederick Howard Wines. I. Crime is an intentional violation of duties imposed by law, Crime dewhich inflicts an injury upon others. . . fined. crime. II. The treatment of criminals by society is for the protection of Object in society. But since such treatment is directed to the criminal rather treating than to the crime, its great object should be his moral regeneration. Hence the supreme aim of prison discipline is the reformation of criminals, not the infliction of vindictive suffering. III. The progressive classification of prisoners, based on character The mark and worked on some well-adjusted mark system, should be established system dein all prisons above the common jail. sirable. rewards. IV. Since hope is a more potent agent than fear, it should be The use of made an ever-present force in the minds of prisoners, by a well-devised and skilfully applied system of rewards for good conduct, industry and attention to learning. Rewards, more than punishments, are essential to every good prison system. V. The prisoner's destiny should be placed, measurably, in his The rôle of own hands; he must be put into circumstances where he will be of selfable, through his own exertions, to better continually his own con 1 From the National Prison Congress, Declaration of Principles Promulgated at Cincinnati. 1870. interest. |