Society has a crushed, ulcerous, and painful hand upon which the doctors of the college and church have expended such skill as they have in their occasional perfunctory visits, and the hand grows no better, but rather worse, during the whole existence of the American Republic.
The existence of an increasing mass of crime, pauperism, and insanity is the crushed and diseased hand of civilized society, to which and to its obvious, natural method of healing I have vainly endeavored, in the “New Education,” to call the attention of our clergy and our teachers. It is true that three editions of that book have been disposed of to the delight of progressive thinkers, but it has made little impression on those who control public institutions and public opinion. Why is this?
There are sounds in nature too finely delicate to be heard by the average ear, and rays beyond the violet too fine for the average human eye, though visible to those of superior nervous endowments. So in the world of thought there are ethical conceptions too high and pure for the multitude,—conceptions so far away from their habitual life that they cannot appreciate or sympathize with them. Such conceptions constitute the ethical system of education, which is competent to banish crime, and to introduce a higher social condition, as has been amply proved by its imperfect introduction in the Lancaster, Ohio, and other reformatory schools.
Why is not this made the prominent theme in every religious society, as prominent as temperance? True, intemperance supplies us the majority of criminals, but when the criminal is prepared in the hot-bed of alcohol, society transplants him into a richer soil, impregnated with a greater amount of filth than the saloon, and cultivates him into the full-blown, hardened villain, for whom there is nothing but a career of crime, very costly indeed to society.
Why is this insane course pursued? Because society has not the Christianity which it professes, and the pulpit has not learned how to instil the Divine law of love, while the college cares nothing about it.
Society itself is criminally indifferent, and barbarously cruel. Its only thought in reference to its debased members is not their lost condition, and how to redeem them, but how to punish them revengefully for their evil deeds, in imitation of the Divine Demon whom orthodox theology recognizes as its model. Until society has enough of benevolence or enough of practical sagacity to get rid of this common impulse of brute life, we shall continue to have an energetic, skilful, and formidable army of criminals, spread all over the land, levying an immense tax upon respectable citizens, and requiring an increasing army of police to restrain them.
The best discourse that has yet been preached in a Boston pulpit was once delivered in Trinity Church by the assistant minister, Mr. Allen, a few weeks since, which was made the basis of an admirable article on “our prisoners” in the Banner of Light of April 2. Mr. Allen treated this subject in the spirit of the “New Education,” showing that our penal system, instead of reforming criminals, educates and perfects them in crime, under which system crime is continually and alarmingly increasing, the statistics which he gives being of the same terrible character as those presented in the “New Education,” showing that our demoralization is progressing beyond that of any other country. His statistics, which I have not examined in detail, show that there were more than eight times as many prisoners in this country in 1880 as there were in 1850. In Massachusetts, and especially in Boston, the proportion of criminal population was still greater.
England, having adopted a reformatory system, has kept the criminal population in check,—brought it down to one in 18,000, while we have one to every 837, because our prisons are colleges of crime instead of houses of reformation. A criminal population of 5,000 in Massachusetts is kept under this debasing system, excepting about 700 in the reformatory at Concord and the women’s prison at Sherburne. Our criminals are held for punishment amid evil influences, and turned out only qualified to prey upon society again, since they have the brand of shame upon them.
The only proper and wholesome view of this subject, the only view compatible with ethical or religious principles, is that our unfortunate criminal brethren need our loving care instead of vindictive hate. They should never be sent to prison for any definite term of confinement, as a punishment, but, like lunatics and pauper patients, should be placed under care and control until they are cured. Every criminal who will not obey the law in freedom should be sent to prison for life, under a kind and humane system, there to earn his own support and in some cases to repay the damage he has done, and in all cases to remain there until he has, beyond all doubt, become so thoroughly reformed that he may be safely entrusted with freedom. To encourage in the work of reformation, he should be from time to time rewarded by enlargement of his privileges and enjoyments, just in proportion as he proves himself worthy; and after enjoying partial freedom for years, with faithful and exemplary deportment, he should be granted full liberty, on the sole condition of reporting himself at certain regular periods, that a supervision may be retained over his conduct, and confinement renewed if ever he should prove unworthy of entire freedom.
This system has been tried with entire success, and travellers speak of seeing prisoners in Ireland half emancipated, working in the fields, whom they should not have distinguished from the common laborers. That courageous philanthropist, the late Burnham Wardwell, adopted a system of moral government in the Virginia penitentiary, under which punishment was almost abolished; and he was able to send out convicts in the city, under paroles, without any doubt that they would faithfully return. Under a similar system at Lancaster, Ohio, walls and locks were made unnecessary, and the youthful convicts went out freely, when permitted to mingle with the neighboring youth. When their reformation was completed, which did not require over three years, they went forth to lead an honest life; and subsequent reports showed that they walked in the path of respectability and honor.