CRIME AND ITS CURE
259. =The Problem of Crime.=--Habitual self-indulgence is at odds with
the idea of social control. The man who resents interference with his
diversions and pleasures is disposed to defy law, and if he feels that
society is not treating him properly he is liable to become a
lawbreaker. This is one of the reasons for the prevalence of crime,
which on the whole increases rather than diminishes, and is a factor
of disturbance in city life. Statistics in the United States show that
in thirty years, from 1880 to 1910, the criminal population increased
relative to population by one-third. This is only partly due to
immigration, nor is it mainly because a large majority of criminals
escape punishment. Two facts are to be kept constantly in mind: (1)
Crime depends upon certain subjective and objective elements, and
tends to increase or decrease without much regard to police
protection. (2) As long as there are persons whose habits and
character predispose them to crime, as long as there are social
inequalities and wants that provoke to criminal acts, and as long as
there are attractive or easy victims, so long will thieving and arson,
rape and murder take place.
The problem of crime is not a simple one. The individual and his
family and his social environment are all involved and changes in
economic conditions affect the amount of crime. The task of the social
reformer is to determine the causes of crime and to apply measures of
reform and prevention. The science of the phenomena of crime is called
criminology, that of punishment is named penology.
260. =Its Causes.=--If there is to be any effective prevention of
crime there is needed a clearer understanding of its causes.
Criminologists are not agreed about these; one school emphasizes
physical abnormalities as characteristic of the criminal, another
considers environment the controlling influence. The removal of
physical defect has repeatedly made an antisocial person normal in his
conduct, and it seems plain, especially from the investigations of
European criminologists, that certain individuals are born with a
predisposition to crime, like the alcoholic inheriting a weak will, or
with insane or epileptic tendencies that may lead early to criminal
conduct; but it is not yet proven that a majority of offenders are
hereditary perverts. A stronger reason for crime is the unsatisfied
desire or the uncontrolled impulse that drives a man to take by force
that to which he has no lawful claim. This desire is strengthened by
the social conditions of the present. In all grades of society there
are individuals who resort to all sorts of means to get money and
pleasure, and those who are brought up without moral and social
training, and who feel an inclination to disregard the interests of
others are ready to justify themselves by illegal examples in high
life. Given a tenement home, the streets for a playground, the saloon
as a social centre, hard, unpleasant, and poorly paid labor, a yellow
press, and a prevailing spirit of envy and hatred for the rich, and it
is not difficult to manufacture any amount of crime.
261. =Special Reasons for Crime.=--Certain special circumstances have
tended to encourage crime within the last few generations. The freedom
and natural roughness of frontier life gave an opportunity for
lawlessness and appealed to those who are scarcely to be reckoned as
friends of society. In the mining and lumber camps gambling and
drinking were common, and robbery and murder not infrequent. The
American Civil War, like every war, stimulated the elemental passions
and nourished criminal tendencies. Human life and rights were
cheapened. The brute in man was evoked when it became lawful to kill
and plunder. The moral effects of war are among the most lasting and
the most pernicious. More recently the conditions of existence in the
cities have generated crime and are certain to continue to do so as
long as slums exist.
The liberty that is characteristic of America easily becomes license,
especially if restraint has been thrown off suddenly, as in the case
of the immigrant, or of the country youth arriving in the city for the
first time and dazzled by the opportunities of his new freedom or with
a grudge against society because it has not been hospitable to him.
The amount of crime is increased also by the constant increase of
legislation. The social regulations that are necessary in the city
tend to become confused with the more serious violations of the moral
code, and because the first are frequently broken with impunity acts
of crime seem less iniquitous. All these reasons help to explain the
increase of crime in the cities. It is worth noticing that the blame
for it is not to be placed on the immigrant. In spite of his
misunderstanding of American law and custom, his overcrowding in
houses and streets, his ill-treatment economically and socially, and
his common disappointment and discouragement because his dreams of
wealth and progress have not materialized, the immigrant as a rule is
law-abiding when sober and is less responsible for crime than the
degenerate American. It is important to remember that there is a
constant inflow of undesirable elements of American population into
the cities, as well as an influx of aliens from Europe. The
proletariat is not all foreign.
262. =Measures of Prevention.=--Crime calls for prevention and
punishment. Improvements in both are taking place. Various methods of
prevention are being proposed and these should be considered
systematically. The first step is to prevent the reproduction of the
bad. It has even been proposed to take away the life of all who are
regarded as hopeless delinquents. Less severe but still radical is the
proposal, actually in practice in several States, to sterilize such
persons as idiots, rapists, and confirmed criminals. The same end
demanded by eugenics may be accomplished by segregating in life
confinement all but the occasional criminals. A second step is the
right training of children by the improvement home conditions, to
include pensioning the mother if necessary, that she may hold the
family together and bring the children up properly. The school helps
to train the children, but industrial training is needed to take the
place of the street trades.
A third step is provision for specific moral and religious education.
Many persons think that however good may be the moral influence of a
school, there is need of supplementary instruction in the home and the
church. In the school itself character study in history and literature
helps, and attention to the noble deeds in current life; the
introduction of forms of self-government and the study of the life and
organization of society are also useful; but some way should be
devised for the definite training of children in social and moral
principles that will act as an antidote to antisocial tendencies.
Experiments have been tried in the affiliation of church and school,
and it has been urged that the State should appropriate money for
religious training in the church, but the objection is made that such
procedure is contrary to the American principle of the separation of
church and state. The need of such education awaits a satisfactory
solution.
263. =The Big Brother Idea.=--The most hopeful method of prevention is
to provide a friend for the human being who needs safeguarding. Many a
grown person needs this help, but especially the boy who is often
tempted to go wrong. The Big Brother movement, starting in New York in
1905, befriended more than five thousand boys in six years, and
branches were formed in cities all over the country. In Europe the
minister is often made a probation officer by the state, to see that
the boy or youth keeps straight. In this country through the agency of
court or charitable society in some cities each boy in need has his
special adviser, as each family has its friendly visitor; sometimes it
is a probation officer, sometimes the judge of a juvenile court,
sometimes only a charitably minded individual who loves boys. Through
this friend work is found, to him difficulties are brought and
intimate thoughts confided, and the boy is encouraged to grow morally
strong. The immigrant, whether boy or man, often ignorant and stupid,
especially needs such friendly assistance. The Boy Scout movement may
be extended, or a substitute found for it, but some such organization
is needed for the immigrant boy and the native American who is
compelled to rely on his own resources. The fear of the law is
undoubtedly a deterrent from crime, but it is inferior to the
inspiration that comes from friendliness.
264. =Educating Public Opinion.=--One of the important preventives of
crime is work--steady, well-paid, and not disagreeable work, with
proper intervals of recreation; added to this a social interest to
take the place of the saloon and the dance-hall. With these belong
improved housing, a better police system, and cleaner politics. The
education of public opinion will eventually lead to a general demand
for all of these. The press has the great opportunity to mould public
opinion, but in its search for news, especially of a sensational
character, it discusses crime in such a way as to excite a morbid
interest in its details, and sometimes in its repetition, and the
newspaper rarely discusses measures of crime prevention. Many believe
that a large responsibility rests upon the church to educate public
opinion with regard to social obligation. They declare that the people
need to be taught that certain social conditions are turning out
criminals as regularly as the factory machine turns out its particular
product, and then they need to be aroused in conscience until the will
to prevent the evil is fixed. The minister, priest, or rabbi is
summoned by the age to be both a prophet and a teacher of ways and
means to a people too often unheeding and careless.
265. =Theories of Punishment.=--The old theory of punishment was that
the state must punish the criminal in proportion to the seriousness of
his crime, and that the penalty must be sufficiently severe to deter
others from similar crime. This primitive theory has been giving way
to the new theory of reformation. This theory is that the object of
arrest and imprisonment is not merely the safety of the public during
the criminal's term of imprisonment, but even more the reformation of
the guilty man that he may be turned into a useful member of society.
The reformatory method has been introduced with conspicuous success
into a number of the American States, and is being extended until it
seems likely to supplant the old theory altogether.
266. =Three Elements in the Method of Reformation.=--The reformatory
system includes three elements that are comparatively new. The first
of these is the indeterminate sentence now generally in practice in
the United States. According to this principle, the sentence of a
prisoner is not for a fixed period, but maximum and minimum limits are
set, and the actual length of imprisonment is determined by the record
the prisoner makes for himself. The second element is reformatory
discipline. The whole treatment of the prisoner, his assignment to
labor, his participation in mental, moral, and religious class
exercises, are all designed to stimulate manhood and to work a
complete reformation of character. The third element is conditional
liberation, or the dismissal of the prisoner on parole. According to
this method, the prisoner is freed on probation, if his record has
been good, before his full term has expired, and is under obligation
to report to the probation officer at stated intervals until his final
discharge. If his conduct is not satisfactory he can be returned to
prison at any time. This probation principle has been extended in
application, so that most first offenders are not sent to a penal
institution at all, but are placed on their good behavior under the
watchful eye of the probation officer. Experience with the reformatory
method shows that about eighty per cent of the cases turn out well. In
the sifting process of the reformatory there are always a few
incorrigibles who are turned over to the penitentiary, and most
recidivists, or old offenders, are sentenced there directly.
267. =Helping the Discharged Prisoner.=--Two experiments have been
tried to help the discharged prisoner and to improve the treatment of
the juvenile criminal. It is a part of the reformatory system to
prepare the way for a prisoner's return to society by teaching him a
trade while in confinement, and finding him a place to work when he
goes out, but under the old system a man was turned loose from prison
with a small sum of money, to redeem himself, when he felt the
timidity natural to an ex-convict and the stigma of his reputation,
and in most cases took the easiest road and returned to crime. To aid
him friendly societies were organized, and even now they prove
necessary to get a man on his feet. The Volunteer Prison League was
organized by Mrs. Ballington Booth to help in the reformation of men
in prison and to aid them when they return to society, and homes have
been established to give them temporary refuge. Through these efforts
not a few criminals that seemed incurable have been reformed.
268. =The Juvenile Court.=--The juvenile court is the result of the
enlightened modern policy of dealing with the criminal. It was the old
custom to conduct the trial of the juvenile offender in the same way
as older men were tried, and to commit them to the same prisons. They
soon became hardened criminals through their associations. But
experience proves that with the right treatment a majority of those
who fall into crime before the age of sixteen can be redeemed to
normal social conduct. Experiments with boys showed that there was a
better way of trial and punishment than that which had been in vogue,
and the juvenile courts that they devised have been widely adopted.
The new plan is based on the principle of making friends with the boy.
Personal inquiry into the conditions of his life is made before the
trial, then the judge hears the case in private conference with the
boy, and after consultation gives directions for his future conduct.
It is plain that the right principle of dealing with crime is to
secure the reformation of the criminal and the protection of society
with a minimum amount of punishment. Retaliation is no longer the
accepted principle; reformation has taken its place. Fundamental to
all the rest is the prevention of crime by providing for the needs of
children and youth. Methods of reform and reclamation are made
necessary, because youthful impulses are not gratified in a way that
would be beneficial, and habits are allowed to develop that lead to
antisocial practices. Society can protect itself only by providing
means for comfortable living, suitable employment, wholesome
recreation, and social education.
READING REFERENCES
HENDERSON: _Cause and Cure of Crime._
WINES: _Punishment and Reformation_, pages 1-265.
BARROWS: _Reformatory System in the United States_, pages 17-47.
ELIOT: _The Juvenile Court and the Community_, pages 1-185.
TRAVIS: _The Young Malefactor_, pages 100-183.