It is stated by Hon. S. J. Barrows, commissioner for the United States on the International Prison Commission, in Senate Document No. 159, Fifty-fifth Congress (p. 6), bearing date February 28, 1899, that twenty States have adopted the parole system, seven the indeterminate sentence, and four a system of conditional pardons. The laws of these States are widely various as to the classes of persons, offenses, and institutions to which their provisions are made applicable and the methods by which they are carried into effect; but each of the systems named may be defined in general terms. What is known as the parole contemplates the conditional liberation of prisoners before the expiration of their terms when such action is justified by their good conduct in prison and satisfactory evidence of their reformation. Under the indeterminate sentence no term of confinement is fixed by the court, and the convict may be released by the managers of the prison on the recommendation of the warden or other officer in immediate charge of the institution at any time or after a period prescribed by the law. Conditional pardons are granted by the pardoning power of the States where laws for that purpose have been adopted, and when the prisoner violates any of the conditions upon which he was released he is rearrested and required to serve the balance of the term for which he was originally sentenced. Each of these systems antagonizes in a greater or less degree the vindictive or retributive principle that seems to have been fundamental to earlier methods of punishment. They accept rather the view that if the first object of criminal laws is the protection of society, second only to that is the reformation of the offender, and that the means to these two ends are happily coincident, as society is abundantly protected if the prisoner is thoroughly purged of criminal tendencies before he is enlarged. They further hold that the object of reformation can not be subserved by a term of confinement fixed by law in advance with little reference to the circumstances of the particular transgression, and with no reference whatever to the training, environment, or characteristics of the individual. The attempt which has characterized the legislation of past times to adjust the penalty to the crime is universally deprecated by modern penologists, and the more enlightened practice is deemed to be to fit the punishment to the criminal. As to the parole and the indeterminate sentence there is an obstacle in limine to their adoption by the United States. This is found in the fact that their execution must be devolved upon the officers of the institutions in which the prisoners are confined, and that for the most part Federal convicts are committed to State prisons. The condition mentioned raises questions of a practical and possibly some of a legal character that must be solved before the adoption of either system. The suggestion has been made that, in harmony with an existing statute applying to Federal prisoners the laws of the States that make deductions from terms of imprisonment for good conduct, the United States should adopt the indeterminate sentence and parole as to prisoners confined in State prisons where such systems obtain. In this connection the following extract from the annual report of AttorneyGeneral Olney for 1894 is deserving of attention: Pending positive action looking to the building of Government prisons and reformatories the present laws on the subject of prisoners and their treatment should, I think, be revised and amended. Since their enactment conditions have greatly changed, and provisions which were once satisfactory are no longer suited to accomplish the ends in view. This is notably true with regard to United States prisoners sentenced to reformatories. These institutions, some of them models of their kind, are generally so managed under the State laws that the treatment of the inmates and the terms of their sentence depend upon their own conduct and efforts. As a rule only criminals under the age of 21 years and committed on indeterminate sentences are sent there; they are classified into grades, and allowed privileges and advancement according to merits earned, and upon perfect record for a prescribed length of time are entitled to conditional release or parole, and upon further satisfactory trial to absolute discharge. In these benefits and privileges juvenile convicts who are sent from United States courts have no share. Their sentences are fixed, and no matter how perfect their conduct, they can receive only such commutation of sentence as is prescribed for prisoners sentenced to prisons or penitentiaries. They are thus deprived, in large measure, of those incentives which induce others to work for parole, and the discrimination thus necessarily made results not infrequently to the absolute prejudice of the Federal prisoner, causing him to regard his treatment as a species of injustice, and encouraging him in insubordination and discontent. To remedy this condition Federal prisoners should be placed on the same footing in these institutions as the other inmates, and the statutes should be so modified as to make applicable to Federal prisoners sentenced to reformatories the indeterminate sentence and parole laws which govern the State prisoners therein confined. An objection that will suggest itself to the legislation here proposed is that it would remove one discrimination at the expense of creating another; that is to say, it would reform the inequality between Federal and State prisoners confined in the same institutions, but would establish an inequality between Federal prisoners confined in different penitentiaries or reformatories. We submit the considerations thus briefly outlined without recommendation, but in the confidence that the completion of the United States penitentiary at Atlanta will afford an occasion for legislation that will embody all the reforms in the treatment of offenders that have the sanction of reason, experience, and humanity. Very respectfully, ALEX. C. BOTKIN, Commissioners. Hon. P. C. Knox, Attorney-General of the United States. 11313-01-3 PENAL CODE OF THE UNITED STATES. Chapter I. Offenses against the existence of the Government. Chapter II. Offenses against neutrality. Chapter III. Offenses against the elective franchise and civil rights of citizens. Chapter IV. Offenses against the operations of the Government. Chapter V. Offenses against official duties. Chapter VI. Offenses against public justice. Chapter VII. Offenses against the currency and coinage. Chapter VIII. Offenses against the postal service. Chapter IX. Offenses against foreign and interstate commerce. Chapter X. The slave trade and peonage. Chapter XI. Offenses within the territorial and maritime jurisdiction of the United States. Subchapter A. Offenses against the person. Subchapter B. Offenses against property. Subchapter C. Offenses against the public peace. Subchapter D. Offenses against chastity, decency, and morality. Subchapter E. Offenses against public policy. Subchapter F. Offenses against public health and safety. Chapter XII. Piracy and other offenses upon the seas. Chapter XIII. Certain offenses in the Territories. Chapter XIV. General provisions. Chapter XV. Repealing provisions. Treason. SEC. 1. Whoever owing allegiance to the United States levies war against them, or adheres to their enemies, giv- ... Vilato, 2 ing them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason. R. S., s. 5331. Dall.,370; The Insurgents, 2 Dall., 385; Ex Parte Bolman & Swart out, 4 Cranch, 75; U.S. v. Burr, 4 Cranch, 469; Hanauer v. Doane, 12 Wall., 342; Carlisle v. U.S., 16 Wall., 147; Case of Fries, Wharton St. Tr., 458, 610, 9 Fed. Cas., 826, 924; Shortridge v. Macon, Chase, 136, 22 Fed. Cas., 20; U. S. v. Burr, 1 Burr's Trial, 14, 16, 2 Burr's Trial, 402, 405, 417, 25 Fed. Cas., 2, 52, 55, 210; U.S. v. Cathcart, 1 Bond, 556, 25 Fed. Cas., 344; U.S. v. Greathouse, 2 Ab. C. C., 364, 26 Fed. Cas., 18; U. S. v. Hodges, Brun. Col. Cas., 465, 26 Fed. Cas., 332; U.S. v. Hoxie, 1 Paine, 265, 26 Fed. Cas., 397; U. S. v. Mitchell, 2 Dall., 348, 26 Fed. Cas., 1277; U.S. v. Vigol, 2 Dall., 346, 28 Fed. Cas., 376; U. S. v. Pryor, 3 Wash., 234, 27 Fed. Cas., 628; Charges to Grand Jury, 2 Curt., 630, 30 Fed. Cas., 1024; 4 Blatch., 518, 30 Fed. Cas., 1032; 5 Blatch., 549, 30 Fed. Cas., 1034; 1 Bond, 609, 30 Fed. Cas., 1036; 1 Spr., 602, 30 Fed. Cas., 1039; 2 Spr., 292, 30 Fed. Cas., 1042; 1 Story, 614, 30 Fed. Cas., 1046; 2 Wall., jr., 134, 30 Fed. Cas., 1047; 2 Spr., 285, 30 Fed. Cas., 1049. 1 treason. Punishment of SEC. 2. Whoever is convicted of treason shall suffer death; or, at the discretion of the court, shall be imprisConfiscation oned at hard labor not less than five years and fined not R. S., s. 5332. Cases, 20 Wall., 92; al. v. Van Ris Windsor v. Mc 274. Wallack et less than ten thousand dollars, to be levied on and colwick, 92 U.S., 202; lected out of any or all of his property, real and personal, Veigh, 93 U. S., of which he was the owner at the time of committing such treason, any sale or conveyance to the contrary notwithstanding; and every person so convicted of treason shall, moreover, be incapable of holding any office under the United States. Misprision of treason. R. S., s. 5333. ger, 5 Wheat., 97; Cases, 1 Woods, SEC. 3. Whoever owing allegiance to the United States, and having knowledge of the commission of any treason U.S. v. Wiltber against them, conceals, and does not, as soon as may be, Confiscation disclose and make known the same to the President or to 221, 6 Fed. Cas.. some judge of the United States, or to the governor or to of Land,1 Woods, some judge or justice of a particular State, is guilty of misprision of treason, and shall be imprisoned not more than seven years and fined not more than one thousand dollars. 270; U. S. v. Tract 475, 28 Fed. Cas., 203. Inciting or en gaging in rebel tion. R. S., s. 5334. SEC. 4. Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages lion or insurrec- in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States, or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be punished by imprisonment not more than ten years, or by a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars, or by both of such punishments; and shall, moreover, be incapable of holding any office under the United States. Criminal correspondence ernments. R. S., s. 5335. SEC. 5. Whoever, being a citizen of the United States, with foreign gov- whether actually resident or abiding within the same, or in any foreign country, without the permission or authority of the Government, directly or indirectly, commences or carries on any verbal or written correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government, or any officer or agent thereof, with an intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government, or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the Government of the United States; and whoever, being a citizen of, or resident within, the United States, and not duly authorized, counsels, advises, or assists in any such correspondence with such intent, shall be punished by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars and by imprisonment during a term not less than six months nor more than three years; but nothing in this section shall be construed to abridge the right of a citizen to apply, himself or his agent, to any foreign government or the agents thereof |