Part 50 (2/2)

The voluntary organizations of your community that give ”poor relief.” The kind of charitable work done by each.

Charity organization in your community. Its results and the need for it.

The causes of dependence in your community.

The extent to which voluntary charitable work in your community is directed to removing the causes of dependency.

The organization of your county or town government for the care of dependents and defectives.

Employers' liability laws, workmen's compensation laws, mothers'

pension laws, in your state.

THE CRIMINAL CLa.s.s

It is said that there are at least 250,000 people in the United States who make their living by crime, and there are many more who commit crime on occasion. It is said, also, that to support and control this criminal cla.s.s costs the people of the United States not less than $600,000,000 per annum, or as much as is expended for the entire educational system of the country.

WHAT CRIME IS

Crime is the violation of law. The criminal is a member of the community who refuses to cooperate with others in accordance with the law. The conduct of an individual may be wrong and harmful to the community without being criminal; it becomes criminal only when the law actually forbids it. A given act may be a crime in one state and not in another state, because the laws of the states differ in their definition of crimes. They also differ in the penalties imposed for the same crime.

EARLY METHODS OF TREATING CRIMINALS

The methods of dealing with criminals have changed greatly with the progress of civilization, and especially in recent years since the causes of crime have become better understood. In the earlier methods two ideas were prominent: the infliction of punishment, and the deterrence of others from committing the same offense. The penalties inflicted were therefore very severe. The death penalty was inflicted not only for taking human life but also for minor offenses, such as stealing. Even in our own country in colonial times bodily mutilation was not uncommon, such as branding with a hot iron, or cutting off the ears. Prisons were vile and loathsome places.

REHABILITATION OF CRIMINALS

Humane feelings have caused the abandonment of such treatment. The death penalty still remains for the worst of crimes; but even it has become more humane in its methods. Many believe that it should be entirely abandoned. The eighth amendment to the Const.i.tution of the United States says that ”excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” Moreover, a new idea has entered into the matter. It is the same idea that controls the modern treatment of dependents, namely, that of REHABILITATING the criminal. It is now recognized that crime results in most cases from diseased conditions either in the individual or in the community. Some individuals commit crime merely because it seems to them the easiest way to make a living or to gain some other end; but even such individuals are MORALLY diseased. Much crime is due to temporary mental disturbance, as from the use of intoxicants or other drugs.

Sometimes it is the act of persons who are actually insane or feeble-minded. Very often it is committed under pressure of poverty.

In view of these facts, while the deliberate violator of law should doubtless be punished, it is even more important that the causes of crime should be removed, and that the criminal should, in as many cases as possible, be restored to a useful and an honest manner of life. The proper treatment of dependents and defectives, and the removal of causes of dependency and defectiveness, are essential steps toward the lessening of crime.

THE LOCAL JAIL

The county jail and the town ”lock-up” are the usual local inst.i.tutions where persons suspected of having violated the law are detained while awaiting trial in the courts, and also where those convicted of petty misdemeanors are imprisoned for punishment. The jail and the ”lock-up” are as notorious as the almshouse for unwholesome conditions and mismanagement, though conditions have greatly improved under the influence of an awakened public opinion. They have often, been unsanitary in the extreme. Prisoners have often been treated more like cattle than like human beings. Young and old are thrown together, the hardened criminal with the youthful ”first offender,” and with those merely suspected of crime, many of whom will be proved to be innocent.

The result is demoralizing. Our jails have sometimes been said to be ”schools of vice and crime.”

NEEDED REFORM OF THE JAIL

Two reforms, at least, are needed in local jails. First, they should be made as wholesome as possible, both physically and morally. They should be perfectly sanitary, and the food should at least be clean and nouris.h.i.+ng. Arrangements should be made to keep the different cla.s.ses of inmates separate, especially the hardened and vicious criminals from youthful transgressors and suspects. In the second place, the local jail should be merely a place of detention for those awaiting trial or, after trial, transfer to other inst.i.tutions. Those found guilty by the courts should be transferred as quickly as possible to inst.i.tutions where they may receive treatment fitted to their needs.

FITTING THE TREATMENT TO THE OFFENDER

Of three persons who steal ten dollars, one may be a deliberate thief who prefers to make his living this way; another may be driven by hunger; and the third may be mentally unbalanced. It is obvious that the treatment accorded to each should be determined by these facts rather than by the mere amount of the theft. The first doubtless needs punishment; but he should also have treatment designed to change his att.i.tude toward the community and to fit him to make an honest living. The second needs to be relieved of his want and to be given an opportunity for self- support. The third needs hospital treatment. We are only beginning to see that punishment is only a part of the treatment necessary, and that the treatment should be made to fit the criminal fully as much as to fit the crime.

STATE INSt.i.tUTIONS FOR DELINQUENTS

Proper treatment for all the various cla.s.ses of cases cannot well be given in the county jail; nor can the local community as a rule afford to maintain separate inst.i.tutions for them, as the number in each cla.s.s is very small in a given community. Hence the necessity for state inst.i.tutions to which those convicted in the local courts may be sent. Such inst.i.tutions exist, although not always adequate to the needs of the state. They include state penitentiaries, reform and industrial schools, hospitals for the insane, special schools for the feeble-minded, and others. These inst.i.tutions have been steadily improving in their efficiency. The greater difficulty seems to be in the local communities, in securing the a.s.signment of offenders to the proper inst.i.tutions.

<script>