The journal of prison discipline and philanthropy (New series, No. 57), March, 1918Pennsylvania Prison Society
History
The journal of prison discipline and philanthropy (New series, No. 57), March, 1918
Pennsylvania Prison Society
Charities -- Periodicals; Prisons -- Periodicals
In the _first place_ it is essential that there be agencies at work
to stimulate the public to measure up to its responsibility for
delinquency and the delinquent.
Experience teaches that men as a rule are likely to be content with
present attainment. Our organizations are composed largely of men who
are interpreters of conditions.
The careful study then of facts and conditions that relate to crime
and the criminal, the discovery of the forces at work, which develop
delinquency, and wrongdoing, and the faithful presentation of these
facts and forces to the public, are some of the important functions of
a local organization.
In the _second place_ there should be agencies at work to encourage
the State to do all it can through proper official agencies. In
former days the State did little. The needed work, however, was too
great for private agencies. Gradually the State has been encouraged
to assume the burdens that rightfully belong to her, until we have
great institutions, splendidly equipped and manned. But officials
are only men and a very large percentage of them become set in their
habits. A few have kept young and have made progress, but it has seemed
necessary that a stick of dynamite such as Thomas Mott Osborne, should
occasionally be thrown into the machine, to break the crust of fixed
methods and start a new line of progress.
The progress made thus far by the State is commendable, but more
encouragement along this line seems essential. The present interest
in sanitation, employment, probation and parole is encouragement,
but should not the State do more to develop the man while in the
institution, so that he will be better fitted for a successful life
when released? What is the present state of mind on this subject?
During the past year the University of California, at the suggestion
of Calvin Derrick, an active member of this congress, sent out a
questionnaire to all classes of institutions in the country, on the
general subject of “Control and Correction.” The fundamental purpose
of this study was to learn what institutional heads thought of the
possibility of developing in boys and men the power of self-government
that is so necessary for a man when released from custody.
One hundred answers were received, and when they had been carefully
digested by thoughtful professors and Mr. Derrick, the following
conclusions were reached:
1. “That there are a few people in institutions who thoroughly believe
in the principles of democracy and their application to populations in
custody.”
2. “That almost all the people in institutions are ignorant of the
manner in which these principles should be applied, or could be
applied.”
3. “That the rank and file of institution people are so prejudiced
against the plan that they can not be induced to examine into it with
an open mind.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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