As far as we know, there is no systematic classification of criminals in any State. For the sake of facilitating the work of the courts and saving much time, we would recommend the following classification, which is entirely original, never having seen anything like it before:
It is under four general heads, viz.:
(1) The insane, (2) the mental and industrial illiterate, (3) the born criminal, and (4) the victim of circumstances. I have not used the word dependent in this classification, as it is too indefinite. An insane person or a pauper or a cripple may be dependent according to some classifiers. I prefer to use my own division under the four heads into which all criminals may readily be placed.
If this Board of Experts finds that the accused is or was really insane or mentally unbalanced when the crime was committed, it should recommend to the Court without delay, so as to save time and expense, that the person be sent to an asylum or sanitarium for treatment, and kept there until entirely cured.
In case the prisoner recovers his sanity, he should be returned and re-examined by the Board. They have all the records before them, and all the facts in his case, and after considering them carefully, could recommend his discharge, or, if they think best, put him on trial.
Second: If the Board finds that the wrongdoer belongs to the second class; that he is illiterate and has no trade, or that he is a lazy and good for nothing idler, preying upon his fellow men for a living, or that he is tainted with some physical malady, or is suffering from tubercular trouble, epilepsy, dipsomania, or indeed, any progressive disorder, then the Board can recommend to the Court that such a one is a fit subject for Elmira Reformatory, or some other institution of a similar character, where he will receive mental, moral and industrial training, besides medical treatment, and be discharged only when cured of his delusions, and fit afterward to live as an honest and law-abiding citizen. There are hundreds of industrial and mental illiterates that pass through our courts every year—young men who never learned a trade, and can hardly write their own names. The only way to save them from criminal lives is to educate them, and turn them out of prison when cured. It is a waste of time and money to send such persons to State prison or penitentiary, as more than 50 per cent. return again, after a brief season of liberty, confirmed criminals. Many of our prisons receive yearly as high as 82 per cent. of first offenders who have no trade.
Third: It is a well known fact that more than half our criminal population are recidivists or backsliders in crime. A great wrong is committed on the community when we send a criminal away for a definite period, and afterward turn him loose upon the community. If the offender is known as a rounder, or habitual criminal, by all means send him to a prison colony and keep him there for the remainder of his life, or till cured. Our criminal population grows yearly, and we are compelled to build new prisons and reformatories, simply because our penalogical ideas are impracticable, if not archaic. Not only are we making no progress, but some kinds of crime are alarmingly on the increase.
I do not regard the habitual criminal as beyond the hope of reformation. I believe there is a tender chord in his heart that can be touched, if we go about it in the right way.
But it is an outrage to turn such a man out of prison or penitentiary, after a limited term of confinement, without a home to go to, or a place to work. If they know him, they will not receive him, nor give him employment. And the police will arrest him on sight as a suspicious character, and railroad him back to prison. The State should provide employment, and a home for such a person until he gets on his feet again, or keep him in jail.
The fourth and last mentioned in this classification is the criminal of circumstances. This man may have snatched a pocketbook from the hand of a lady, or stolen a loaf of bread when his wife was sick at home, and his children crying for food. Such a person should not be branded as a criminal. He should be paroled on his good behavior. To send such a person to prison is simply to make a criminal of him.