Are crimes on the increase?
Whether the number of crimes, taking the country as a whole, is increasing more rapidly than the growth of population we do not know. This is because the figures in some states are not carefully or uniformly kept. But crime has been increasing in the large cities during the past few decades. This is partly because the crowded cities afford unusual opportunities to escape detection and partly because police inefficiency or corruption has encouraged the commission of crimes with impunity. The number of crimes committed in the United States is much greater, in proportion to population, than in any of the chief European countries.[[263]]
The Theory of Punishment.—Among primitive people punishment was regarded as a retaliation or vengeance, but as civilization developed this notion gave way to one in which punishment was looked upon as a means of warning other people from committing similar crimes. In either case the feeling was that punishment ought to be severe. |The old severity.| Severity, rather than certainty of punishment was depended upon to deter people from committing crimes. A century ago in England, for example, men were put to death for stealing small sums of money and were sent to jail for long terms when they failed to pay their debts. But even this severity of punishment did not achieve the desired end, for crimes were relatively more numerous in England a century ago than they are today.
What is the purpose of punishment?
In due course the public intelligence was led to the conclusion that certainty of detection and punishment, rather than severity, was the best way of securing the observance of the laws.[[264]] Since the prime object of punishment is neither to visit the wrath of society upon the offender, nor yet to reform him (although this is an incidental object), but to protect the people against the commission of crimes, it follows that the penalty should be no more severe than is necessary to achieve this object. Hence there are gradations of punishment, each adjusted to the degree in which the offence constitutes a challenge to the well-being of society. If murder is more severely penalized than manslaughter, it is not because the victim suffers more in one case than in the other. He has lost his life in either case, and no penalty can restore it. It is not the atrociousness of a crime that makes it serious, but the degree of danger to the whole community involved.
Prisons and Prison Reform.—Until a generation ago the treatment of prisoners in all parts of the country was inhuman. Offenders of all types, old and young, were thrown together into the same institutions. They were brutally treated by those in charge, confined in narrow, damp cells, given poor food to eat and rarely set to work at any useful employment. Even yet these conditions have not wholly disappeared from every part of the United States. But the movement for the reform of prisons and prison methods has made notable progress during the past twenty years.
The main features of prison reform:
The main features in prison reform may be briefly stated. |1. Classification of prisoners.| First, in point of importance, is the classifying of prisoners and the sending of each class to a special institution instead of herding them all together in one county jail. Some prisoners are hardened criminals and not easy to reform. Others are first offenders, persons who have never been previously convicted. With humane treatment and the opportunity to learn a trade these prisoners can often be sent out into the world, when their terms expire, with the likelihood of their becoming good citizens. There are others who also need to be segregated, such as juvenile offenders and those who are mentally defective. Prison reform involves the separation and special treatment of each class.
