AT LOS ANGELES
 
 THE PASSING OF THE 
 COUNTY JAIL
 
 Copyright, 1920, by 
 Stuart A. Queen
 
 THE PASSING OF THE 
 COUNTY JAIL 
 
 INDIVIDUALIZATION OF MISDEMEANANTS THROUGH 
 A UNIFIED CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM 
 
 . - - 
 
 - 
 
 BY 
 STUART ALFRED QUEEN, Ph. D. 
 
 Associate Professor of Constructive Philanthropy in Goucher College 
 
 formerly 
 Secretary of the California Slate Board of Charities and Corrections 
 
 George Hanta Publishing Company 
 
 Mknasha, Wisconsin 
 
 1920

 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 When the California State Board of Charities and Corrections \ 
 established by the Legislature of 1903, the interest of prison reformers 
 was centered in the penitentiaries. This was true not only of Califor- 
 nia but of the entire United States. From the days of John Howard 
 and the rise of penitentiaries, debates between advocates of the 
 Auburn and the Pennsylvania systems quite obscured the evils of the 
 county jail. Yet here and there were found people interested in petty 
 offenders, and in 1869 Rhode Island established a State Workhouse 
 which "was to save men and women from imprisonment in jails and 
 prisons, which has proved expensive and worse than useless to all 
 concerned." But for most people the state prison with imposing 
 buildings, large inmate population and sometimes sensational evils, 
 appeared to be more worthy of study and philanthropic effort. 
 
 When public attention turned to the needs of misdemeanants, it 
 was restricted for the most part to the problem of sanitary jails. 
 The first ten years of the California State Board of Charities and 
 Corrections was a period typified by the building of "Paully" jails. 
 The first biennial report read: "We are now at the commencement 
 of an era of jail building in this State. We are passing into the second 
 stage of our history. . . . Before the end of the decade most, if not 
 all, of our old jails will give way to modern structures." As a matter 
 of fact, of the fifty-eight counties in California, sixteen did erect new 
 jails, and five more remodelled their old structures. 
 
 But even in 1904 the Board conceived the need of more fundamen- 
 tal changes, and on the same page with the statement of the jail- 
 building program it said: "We believe the time is not far distant 
 when all persons convicted of violation of State laws will be considered 
 and treated as State prisoners and confined at labor in State institu- 
 tions." Following discussions along this line in the National 
 Conference of Charities and Corrections and in the American Prison 
 Association, a bill was introduced into the 1911 Legislature to estab- 
 lish two state farms for misdemeanants. Being a first effort and lack- 
 ing public support, it failed. 
 
 219638
 
 VI THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 When I became Secretary of the State Board of Charities and 
 Corrections in December 1913, I felt that the great need, so far as 
 "corrections" were concerned, was for a fund of information to back 
 the penal farm movement. So I personally visited the county jails 
 as soon as possible, accumulating information as to just how the army 
 of petty offenders was faring in California. The meeting of the 
 National Conference in the spring of 1914, a visit to the Kansas City 
 Municipal Farm and discussions in the Commonwealth Club of San 
 Francisco were very helpful in formulating the problem through the 
 suggestions and criticisms offered. In the 1914 report of the Board I 
 presented a tabular statement of county jail conditions with com- 
 ments and arguments. With this as ammunition, the passage of 
 another "state farm bill" was urged in the Legislature of 1915. 
 Again inadequate publicity and inexperienced lobbying ended in 
 failure. 
 
 Looking ahead to 1917, I then made another study including an 
 examination of the county jail records, covering personal data 
 concerning 31,000 prisoners who were received during 1914. I did 
 most of this work myself, but was greatly assisted by Ernest P. Von 
 Allmen, agent of the Board, in field work, and by Dr. Jessica B. 
 Peixotto, Dr. Martin A. Meyer, and Rev. Chas. A. Ramm, members 
 of the Board, in revising the data for publication. The results of this 
 investigation were published as a bulletin entitled "A Study in 
 County Jails in California." This pamphlet, semi-popular and semi- 
 scientific, was then used as propaganda for reform of the system 
 of handling petty offenders by (1) commitment to state institutions, 
 and (2) indeterminate sentence. 
 
 By the opening of the 1917 Legislature I had been led to two new 
 opinions: first, that the Legislature could not at that time be induced 
 to establish the desired state institutions for misdemeanants, and 
 second, that our program was inadequate because it made too little 
 provision for individualization. As a result of the first, I drafted and 
 secured the passage of two, bills extending the possibility of outdoor 
 work for men serving sentence in county or city jails. (These the 
 ( .overnor pocket-vetoed.) As a result of the second opinion, I 
 entered upon further study which has developed into this little book. 
 In preparing this later work for publication I have been again 
 fortunate in having most valuable counsel. Dr. Edward Byron 
 Reuter, my colleague in the Gouchei College, has read the manuscript
 
 Till. PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL vii 
 
 and offered many helpful suggestion . Dean Albion YV. Small and 
 Dr. Ernest \V. Burgess of the University of Chicago have also do 
 
 me the honor to study the work as a whole. Cue- to a "basis of 
 individualization" came from Professor George Herberl Mead of the 
 
 University of Chicago and from Calvin Derrick of the New ] 
 
 I )epartment of Charities and Corrections. Both have been kind 
 
 enough to examine critically the fifth chapter. 
 
 In spite of the recognized weakness of the "Study in County Jail- 
 in California," I am again undertaking to present a problem of social 
 science in language that the uninitiated can understand. It is 
 admittedly a difficult task, but I hope greater success will attend this 
 effort to steer between the Scylla of academic obscurity and the 
 Charybdis of newspaper shallowness and sensation. 
 
 S. A. Q. 
 Goucher College, Baltimore, 
 September, 1919.
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Crime in primitive society appears to have been the violation of 
 custom or taboo, the normal consequence of which is death or exclu- 
 sion from the tribe. Taboo is simply the reverse of custom, which has 
 been aptly described by W. I. Thomas. "When for any reason there 
 is established in a group a tendency toward a practise, then the ten- 
 dency is likely to become established as a habit, and regarded as 
 right, binding and inevitable: it is moral and its contrary is immoral." 
 Such habits and customs gain sacredness with age, especially when 
 they concern the whole group. Thus importance attaches to customs 
 which have to do with procuring and distributing the food supply, 
 birth of children, initiation of youth, marriage, death and war. 
 In all these things the life of the whole group is involved. Any 
 irregularity on the part of an individual is met by the full force of the 
 entire group. It is condemned as wrong and is visited with severe 
 penalties. 
 
 Thus primitive crime seems not to be personal injury so much as a 
 danger to the group. The clanger which is feared is associated with 
 the new, the strange, the unusual or the mysterious. With advancing 
 culture it gathers around the unseen, spirits or deities. A little higher 
 in the scale of civilization it emerges clearly as the wrath of an angry 
 god that is feared. 
 
 Punishment, then, must be closely related to ceremonial and 
 magic, primitive man's devices for overcoming taboo. For him it is 
 necessary to remove the taboo, to offset the evil which may accrue 
 from a broken custom. With the evolution of spirits and deities the 
 situation becomes a little clearer to us moderns. A spirit might 
 harm the group unless in some way gratified or distracted. A god 
 might be angry and have to be appeased. Violation of custom then, 
 becomes a disturbance of spirits or the arousing of divine wrath. 
 Reparation must be made by some ceremonial. This might have 
 been through the scapegoat, through sacrifice, through expulsion or 
 execution of the offending member. 
 
 W r hile the origins of crime and punishment are still more or less 
 obscure, we seem justified in repudiating the popular theory that they 
 
 IX
 
 X THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 first appeared as personal injury and vengeance. The offender stands 
 from the beginning in the role of an enemy or at least a source of 
 danger to the group. 
 
 Now if that be true, it is easier to understand our modern "retri- 
 butive justice." If the action of the court were merely the settling of 
 a personal dispute, the regulation of personal wrath and the substitu- 
 tion of official for individual vengeance, how could we explain the 
 "righteous indignation" and "moral enthusiasm" which gather 
 around a criminal and his punishment? It is just because it is a 
 group affair that so great importance is attached to catching and 
 punishing the offender. In its extreme form we have the mob and 
 lynch law. Only a little removed from this is the sheriff's posse and 
 the man-hunt. Not only are the chase and the prosecution a game; 
 they are a game in which we are identified with our group, with 
 organized society. It is the heightened feeling, the letting ourselves 
 go, which also appears in war. We may go the limit, because the 
 object of our fury is an enemy of the group. We are thrilled by the 
 sense of unrestricted activity. We enjoy going after the criminal. 
 
 So long as we are under a regime of retributive justice, punish- 
 ments are severe. Death, torture, banishment are the common 
 forms. But when some use is found for the offender, these rigors may 
 be abated. Instead of death or exile, he may be enslaved. The 
 property relation makes it possible to retain him as a partial member 
 of the group. He is in a sense an enemy, but he is also property. 
 Hence he is not destroyed, but neither is he allowed to share the 
 privileges of the common group life. 
 
 There are various ways in which further mitigation may have 
 occurred. But it seems likely to have involved something like this: 
 some members of the group saw in the offender more than an enemy 
 and more than a piece of property. Perhaps it was the delin- 
 quency and punishment of a kinsman or friend that occasioned this 
 situation. Perhaps it was a personal experience such as John How- 
 ard's. But whatever the way in which the additional sides of the 
 criminal's life came to attention, it has created a problem. The 
 person who is aware of the offender as a brother as well as a violator of 
 law must struggle with two conflicting impulses. Shall he deal with 
 the delinquent a - an enemy of society, or shall he condone his offense 
 because of kinship? Perhaps it is in some such problem situation as 
 t his that tne reformer has emerged.
 
 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL XI 
 
 As an effort to solve such problems of social conduct punishment 
 has actually been mitigated. Death has given way to banishment and 
 slavery, and these in turn to wer-geld and imprisonment. But most 
 people do not realize how very recent all this change has been. Im- 
 prisonment itself, as a mititgationof severer penalties, belongs to the 
 modern world. Until the nineteenth century dozens of slight offenses 
 were punished by death. "Prison reform' 1 then, is largely an affair of 
 the last hundred years. 
 
 Now the role of the reformer is a difficult one, for the exhilaration 
 of the man-hunt is gone. Action cannot proceed until a problem is 
 solved. The conventional member of the group enjoys the excite- 
 ment of unimpeded action along with his fellows. But the reformer 
 must stop and make a deliberate choice. 
 
 There is one sort of reformer, however, who solves his difficult}' 
 once for all by establishing in imagination, if not overtly, a new 
 group. This new group includes the criminal and sets itself against 
 the established order. It takes the relatively fixed position that 
 offenders are the victims of society, that they are abused. The senti- 
 mental humanitarian rushes to the defense of the criminal with all 
 the enthusiasm displayed by the conventional man in pursuing the 
 criminal. It is because a new group has been set up over against 
 the old. 
 
 The clash between the "dignity of the law" and "sentimental 
 humanitarianism" may be stated in terms of severity versus leniency. 
 The humanitarian accuses the legalist of inhuman brutality. The 
 representative of the established order charges the humanitarian with 
 "coddling" criminals. 
 
 So long as the conflict is on this plane — severity versus leniency- 
 there seems to be little hope of a settlement. In these terms the 
 problem appears insoluble, because it is group against group. But 
 there is another sort of reformer who sees in the offender one who is a 
 danger to the group, but who is for all that a member of the group. 
 He seeks neither to destroy nor to condone the delinquent. His 
 desire is to understand him and the reasons for his crime so that the 
 offender may be restored to normal relations with his fellows. 
 
 This is the point of view of the present study. It is not an easy 
 position for most people to take, because it means holding up the 
 act and weighing circumstances. It requires inhibition and post- 
 ponement of action until a judgment can be formed. But the con-
 
 Xll THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 ventional thing, the easy thing, is to respond quickly to the presence 
 of a criminal. The careful student of the offender (distinguished from 
 the man on the street as well as from the sentimental humanitarian) 
 misses the thrill that goes with united group action which is 
 spontaneous and unhindered. It is much harder to make a social 
 diagnosis than to hound a man to prison or to shoot the robber hiding 
 in a swamp. 
 
 How can the enthusiasm of the sheriff's posse or of the sentimental 
 reformer be carried over to the diagnostician and the correctional 
 officer? It is like the problem of transferring interest and attention 
 from the buffalo hunt to the domestication of the buffalo, from the 
 play of childhood to the serious work of mature years, from conversion 
 through a revival meeting to religious education through a Sunday- 
 School, from homiletics and dogmatism to scientific investigation, 
 from fighting fire to erecting fire-proof buildings, from stock-gambling 
 to cost accounting. 
 
 The fact that such transfers of interest do occur is clear to all. 
 How they occur it is difficult to say. But the change seems to involve 
 a new definition of purpose. The economic analogy may help us to 
 appreciate this. So long as his main interest is in driving competitors 
 from the field, a business man thinks of his firm primarily in terms of 
 its rivals. But when a monopoly has been secured or in some other 
 way competition has been modified, the corporation may acquire a 
 new meaning. No longer can it be defined in opposition to rivals. 
 It must be stated in terms of its processes, its functions. The quality 
 and quantity of output, the treatment of employes, may now receive 
 attention. 
 
 The prevention and salvage of waste may not at first stir men as 
 does cut-throat competition. But after business gets going and settles 
 down, attention turns more and more to the maximum use of labor 
 and material, and presently we have devotees of "efficiency." So it is 
 possible that retributive justice may go the way of cut-throat compe- 
 tition, and that enthusiasm may be aroused for the prevention and 
 salvage of human waste. The pages which follow are based on a faith 
 in this possibility.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Preface v 
 
 Introduction ix 
 
 Index "7 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 I The County Jail System 1 
 
 II Substitutes for the County J ah. System 20 
 
 III Inmates of County Jails and Other Misdemeanants 41 
 
 IV Misdemeanants and Felons— An Outgrown Classification 72 
 
 V A Basis for Individualization 102 
 
 VI A Unified Correctional System 128 
 
 Xlll
 
 CHAPTER I 
 The County Jail Sys i em 
 
 It is interesting to see how deeply impressed we all have been 
 with the imposing structures of state prisons, the large number of 
 prisoners there assembled, and the sensational acts of which they have 
 been convicted. Even today we give only fleeting and scornful 
 attention to county jails and petty offenders. But the fact that there 
 are probably one hundred local jails to each penitentiary, and twenty 
 arrests for misdemeanors to each arrest for felony 1 might well cause 
 us to transfer the emphasis. 
 
 Most of us feel that we know pretty well what the state does to 
 burglars, murderers and bigamists. But not many of us can picture 
 clearly what happens to "hoboes," "drunks," and chicken thieves. 
 Yet if we only knew it, there are choicer bits of scandal in the county 
 jail system than in all the penitentiaries in the world. 
 
 The most general methods of dealing with the miscellaneous lot of 
 people whom we call misdemeanants may be subsumed under the 
 term "the county jail system." The situation as regards municipal 
 police and lock-ups does not differ fundamentally from that involved 
 in the sheriff's office and the county jail. Consequently, as a matter 
 of convenience and brevity, let the one phrase stand for both. 
 
 A complete survey would include police methods — especially in 
 arrests — detention, trial and treatment after conviction. For the 
 purposes of this study it seems wise to deal rather superficially with all 
 except the last. We are here concerned primarily with what is done 
 to the people who are more or less regularly pronounced guilty of 
 misdemeanors. 
 
 To make a simple, and possibly dogmatic statement, what happens 
 in the process of becoming officially a misdemeanant is about as 
 follows. A constable, deputy sheriff or policemen sees a man whom 
 he "sizes up" as a "bum," "booze-fighter," or a "suspicious char- 
 acter"; and after a few questions tells him to "move on" or "runs him 
 in." Or perhaps complaints of chicken thieves have led to the issue of 
 
 1 A Study in County Jails in California. Sacramento, 1916, p. 25, 92. 
 
 1
 
 2 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 a warrant and someone is arrested on a charge of petit larceny. Or, 
 again, a boy delivering newspapers may be "taken up" for riding on 
 the sidewalk. A farmer may have hitched his team to a forbidden 
 telephone pole, or a shopper may have parked her car on the wrong 
 side of the street. In these last cases the owner of the vehicle will 
 probably receive instructions to appear in court "tomorrow morning 
 at ten," but will not be locked up. 
 
 Now what happens to the person who is "put behind the bars?" 
 He is led by an officer or hauled in a patrol wagon to a jail. Here the 
 desk sergeant or deputy sheriff makes a record of the prisoner's sex, 
 age, race, the charge against him and a few other items. He 
 "searches" the prisoner, takes away any money, knives, keys, etc., 
 that he may find. Perhaps he will throw them into a drawer, possibly 
 he will seal them in a manila envelope, and it is remotely possible 
 that he may give the prisoner a receipt. 
 
 Then the iron door swings open and the "guest" is shown to his 
 quarters. Most commonly these consist of a steel cage inside a room 
 with carefully barred windows. Around the cage runs a corridor for 
 the jailer. When they are inside the big room, the jailer unlocks a 
 steel box which encases the levers and locking devices which control 
 both the cage and the separate cell doors. The proper levers are 
 pulled, the grated door opens, and the prisoner is told to "get in 
 there." Inside the cage he may be assigned to a given cell by the 
 officer, or he may be left to the tender mercies of a "trusty." Perhaps 
 he may be compelled to take a bath, possibly he will be sprayed 
 with some disinfectant to kill the vermin. If lucky, he will get a pair 
 of blankets and a straw tick that have not been used very long since 
 their last washing. 
 
 He may go to court next morning or he may await trial for a 
 month. If he is a "suspicious character," he may be held for as much 
 as sixty days on a vagrancy charge; but the more usual procedure 
 is to find him guilty of a misdemeanor, to serve sentence while evi- 
 dence is sought which might convict him of a felony. While awaiting 
 trial he will probably mingle freely with other men in the cage, some of 
 them also awaiting the pleasure of the court, others "doing time," 
 and possibly one or two held for lunacy hearings. He will join in 
 poker or "crap" games, he will share in the "kangaroo court" if there 
 be one, he will do his pari of the cleaning each day.
 
 THE COUNTY JAIL SYSTEM 3 
 
 When he goes to court he may have a lawyer, but this is very 
 frequently dispensed with. Indeed the whole trial may not take 
 more than five or ten minutes. \Yh;it happens to him depends a good 
 deal upon the habits of the judge. "His honor" may be accustomed 
 to "floating undesirables," in which event the prisoner may be 
 simply told to "get out of town"; or he may be found guilty and 
 either given a suspended sentence or put on "probation," the condi- 
 tion being that he "leave town within two hours." If the judge has 
 the "ten day" habit, the prisoner will receive a sentence of several 
 days in jail, ground out as by a phonograph. Or mayhap it will be a 
 fine of $25.00 which means 25 days in jail for the moneyless victim. 
 But if the judge is worried about the bolsheviki or has had a bad 
 night's sleep, the offender may expect to "get" anywhere from 60 
 days to 6 months. 
 
 Suppose he gets a jail sentence. He will then return to his cage to 
 spent the time as before, gambling, "spinning yarns," planning future 
 crimes, learning I.W.W. doctrines. He is supposed to be undergoing 
 a process of moral regeneration! At the expiration of his sentence 
 the door is unlocked, he is given his "property" — or a part of it — 
 and he is turned out on the street. He has no money, no job, no 
 friends, his muscles are soft from idleness, his skin is sallow, and his 
 lungs are filled with stale prison air, but he is supposed to be reformed. 
 
 Perhaps this is a caricature, but even worse facts have been 
 observed by the writer himself as an official jail inspector. In any 
 case, this general statement may well serve as an introduction to a 
 more detailed examination of the county jail system. The most of 
 the data which follow were collected by the writer during the years 
 1913-1917, while he was Secretary of the California State Board of 
 Charities and Corrections. Some of them have previously been 
 published in reports and bulletins of the board. 2 
 
 One of the first things discovered in the study of the county jails 
 in California was a marked variation in arrests from county to county. 
 Apparently some officers were much more zealous than others in 
 making arrests. Taking the state as a whole, there were imprisoned 
 in city and county jails during the fiscal year 1914-1915, 712 persons 
 
 2 California State Board of Charities and Corrections. Reports, 1904 to date. 
 Reports for 1914 and 1916 prepared by the present writer. A Study in County Jails 
 in California, Bulletin, 1916, also prepared by the writer, and based on investigations 
 which he personally conducted.
 
 4 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 for every 10,000 of the entire population. But in 19 counties there 
 were less than 100 prisoners per 10,000 of the population, while in 7 
 counties the ratio exceeded 1,000 per 10,000. In Yuba County it 
 went above 2,000. Surely there was not so great a difference in the 
 "criminality" of the several counties. Neither can we account for 
 the variation in terms of main lines of travel. The following pairs of 
 adjoining and similarly located counties make this clear, especiallv 
 if reference is made to a map of California. 
 
 Variation in Relative Number of Prisoners ln Adjoining California 
 
 Counties 
 (Ratio of prisoners per 10,000 population) 
 
 Tulare 141 Merced 580 
 
 Kings 964 Madera 1464 
 
 Santa Barbara 665 San Diego 999 
 
 Ventura 1068 Imperial 1736 
 
 The next table shows similar proportions of prisoners in counties 
 dissimilarly located with reference to main routes of travel. 
 
 Similarity of Relative Number of Prisoners in Dissimilarly Located 
 
 California Counties 
 
 (Ratio of prisoners per 10,000 of population) 
 Counties on main lines Counties not on main lines 
 
 Placer 234 Humboldt 243 
 
 Kern 558 Lassen 520 
 
 Alameda 319 Sonoma 361 
 
 Fundamentally these tables show tremendous variations in the 
 policies of peace officers with reference to two groups of men: itiner- 
 ant laborers and professional tramps. In some counties the ruling 
 idea seems to be to lock up every unknown or doubtful character, 
 while in others leniency is the rule. 
 
 Not only does the proportion of arrests vary; the percentages of 
 convictions likewise shows a wide range. Comparing counties where 
 there is also a city jail at the county seat, we find 78% of convictions 
 among men booked on misdemeanor charges at the county jail in 
 Sacramento, but only 43% of convictions in Santa Clara County 
 (San Jo-t'i. Comparing counties where the county jail also does duty 
 for the < iiy, we find ' s ^% of convictions in Placer (Auburn), but only 
 5 < J in Stanislaus (Modesto). Similar variations are shown by
 
 THE COUNTY JAIL SYSTEM 5 
 
 Everson in his review of the annual report of the magistrates' courts 
 of New York City for 1916. 8 
 
 New York City Courts, 1916 
 
 Proportion of Cases Discharged by Different Magistrates 
 
 Maximum percentage Minimum percentage 
 
 discharged by any discharged by any 
 
 Offense one magistrate one magistrate 
 
 All summary cases 28. 7 . 
 
 Intoxication 70. 0.2 
 
 Teddling without license 79. 0. 
 
 Speeding 14.6 1.3 
 
 Proportion of Cases Given Suspended Sentence by Different Magistrates 
 
 Speeding 60. 0.0 
 
 All cases 59.2 0.6 
 
 Corporation ordinances 60.8 0.2 
 
 Disorderly conduct 50 . 4 2.4 
 
 Intoxication 83 . 2 0.7 
 
 Rowdyism 75 . . 
 
 Vagrancy 50. 0. 
 
 Peddling without license 90. 0. 
 
 Lest the above tables be misunderstood, it should be made clear 
 that several different judges are considered in each column. What it 
 means may be illustrated thus: Judge A discharged 28% of all 
 summary cases coming before him; while Judge B discharged only 
 ?%• Judge C was not so lenient in general, but discharged 79% of 
 his intoxication cases; while Judge D discharged only 0.2% of the 
 "drunks." 
 
 To supplement this rather abstract statement by names men- 
 tioned in Everson's review — in the vagrancy cases Judge Brough sent 
 80% to the workhouse, put 10% on probation, and sent 10% to the 
 City Home. Judge Conway suspended sentence for 50%, fined 8.3%, 
 sent 16.7% to the workhouse and 25% to the City Home or peni- 
 tentiary. 
 
 The judges sit in rotation in the various courts so that each one 
 handles cases in a majority of the district courts during each year. 
 It is reasonable to suppose that on the whole the cases tried by any 
 judge are similar to those of his colleagues. The great variety of 
 dispositions which appears indicates that what happens to an offender 
 depends less on his own deeds and needs than on the temperament of 
 
 3 Everson, George: "A Year in the City Magistrates' Court of New York." 
 Delinquent. March, 1918, pp. 14-20.
 
 6 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 the magistrate. This notion is further supported by the fact that in 
 these courts the magistrates each sit alone. 
 
 Upon the men who are actually committed to jail a great variety 
 of sentences is imposed. In California in 1914, county jail sentences 
 ranged from 2 hours to 2 years. For a single offense — vagrancy — 
 they varied from one day to six months. Less striking but more 
 significant are the differences in typical sentences. The lowest 
 average sentence, 15 days, was found in Marin County; the highest 
 average, 123 days, in Colusa. Less extreme variations are San Luis 
 Obispo 18 days; Sacramento 80 days. For disturbing the peace the 
 average sentence varied from 12 days in Marin to 104 days in Madera. 
 In Orange County the "drunks" got an average of 7 days in jail, while 
 the same offenders in Santa Clara got 59 days. For petit larceny the 
 averages ran from 41 days in Fresno to 120 days in Orange and 122 
 days in Santa Clara. Vagrants were sentenced on the average for 12 
 days in Riverside and 90 days in Sacramento. 
 
 The modal sentence likewise displays great variation. In 10 
 counties it was 10 days. In 18 counties it was 30 days. The lowest 
 mode was 5 days (Sonoma and Marin) and the highest 150 days 
 (Glenn and Modoc). Let us illustrate this in another way. Of the 
 men sentenced for disturbing the peace in Marin County, 43% went 
 to jail for 5 days and 82% for 10 days or less. In San Bernardino, on 
 the other hand, 44% got 30 days and 38% got more than 30 days, 
 thus reversing the proportion in Marin. Sixty-three per cent of the 
 sentences for vagrancy in Fresno were for 10 days or less, and 33% 
 were for exactly 10 days; while in Sacramento 60% were for 60 days 
 or over, j Facts such as these just presented lead us to suspect that the 
 treatment of misdemeanants is determined by the disposition of the 
 judge, his theory of punishment, or the capacity of the jail, but not by 
 a settled policy based on knowledge of the real needs of these men. 
 
 Although practice varies from one county to another, neverthe- 
 less a high percentage of convicted misdemeanants serve very short 
 sentences. Roughly speaking, one fourth of them serve ten days or 
 less and two-thirds serve 30 days or less. Remembering that many 
 have firmly fixed habits of idleness, or at best of intermittent work, 
 excessive use of liquor or drugs, or other vices, I he significance of these 
 short sentences must impress itself upon us. Such habits are not 
 broken in 10 day- nor in 30; much less are they replaced by industry 
 and sobriety.
 
 THE COUNTY JAIL SYSTEM 7 
 
 In the third chapter it will be pointed out that as a general pro- 
 position, California misdemeanants are residents of the state, but of 
 no particular county. This fact is tacitly and sometimes avowedly 
 admitted by courts and peace officers in their wide-spread use of the 
 "Jloaler" custom. Considerably over one-half of the men booked on 
 misdemeanor charges in 1914 were not convicted at all. For the 
 offense of vagrancy only 30% received jail sentences, and in four 
 San Joaquin Valley counties only 5% of the men charged with vagran- 
 cy were convicted at all. In round numbers these counties "floated" 
 2,200 out of 2,300 men. They were taken to court and dismissed on 
 condition of leaving town in a few hours, or put on probation or 
 given a suspended sentence on the same condition. The reasons 
 seemed to be that the jails were full, the men were known to be non- 
 residents, and the cry of the tax-payers for economy was answered by 
 officials who were forced to be penny-wise and pound-foolish. Some- 
 times a vagrant was "paroled." This, of course, was a joke, because 
 he immediately moved on to some other community and was lost 
 sight of. We were informed by officers that in some cases the prisoner 
 was never taken to court at all, but was shown the open door and told 
 to "get out." Occasionally individuals and gangs were turned away 
 without being arrested. This practice we have witnessed ourselves. 
 The writer was in Marysville, California, one day in 1915 when a 
 large number of men — perhaps 200 — were driven out by the officers. 
 The test of whether a man should be compelled to move on or not was 
 the possession of a meal ticket or a receipt for room rent. 
 
 We frequently found such notations as the following in jail regis- 
 ters: "ordered to disappear," "floated," "ordered to leave town in 
 half an hour," "ordered to leave town in two hours." It seems appar- 
 ent that no county is willing to assume the burden of caring for all 
 petty offenders, real or alleged, who happen inside its borders. 
 Probably no county ought to undertake this task, but somebody 
 should and logically that body is the state. Local authorities are 
 coming to recognize that the problem is beyond them. In the fall of 
 1915 representatives of several Southern California counties met to 
 consider a plan of cooperation in dealing with vagrants. They talked 
 of joint support of certain officers and of detention camps at points 
 of entry into their territory. So far as we know, the plan was never 
 put into effect, and anyway its main value is that it constitutes an
 
 8 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 admission of the failure of present methods of handling misdemean- 
 ants in general and vagrants in particular. 
 
 Another aspect of the county jail system is the physical condition 
 of the jails themselves. Again let us take California as a representa- 
 tive state. There are some very good jails, as jails go. Sacramento, 
 Yolo, Humboldt, San Diego and Alameda counties have institutions 
 that are almost invariably found to be clean, light, well ventilated, 
 with the prisoners segregated to a considerable degree. But there are 
 still so many jails of a very different sort that a description of one or 
 two is in order. 
 
 Imperial County Jail consists of one room with a single cage of 
 four cells, each about 7'x9'x7'. There are four bunks in each cell, 
 thus accomodating in a very crowded manner 16 prisoners. However, 
 we have counted 30 men in this cell room, and are informed by the 
 sheriff that it has held as many as 44 at one time. There is one 
 toilet in the corner. This was stopped up at the time of one inspec- 
 tion and sewage was running out over the floor. There is one bath- 
 tub usually in fair condition. Blankets are furnished and most of the 
 prisoners sleep on the floor or on top of the cage. During part of the 
 year a few men work outside on the public roads. 
 
 San Joaquin County Jail was built 25 years ago to accomodate 
 80 prisoners. It is fireproof but not sanitary. About half of the 
 second floor is reserved for the jailer and his family, an arrangement 
 which makes it necessary to keep a considerable number of prisoners 
 down in the basement which is very dark and damp. The cells are all 
 "outside rooms," but the windows are narrow slits completely 
 covered with armor-plate steel through which are bored round holes 
 about an inch in diameter. The light is so poor that it is practically 
 impossible to read even in the middle of the day. The vermin, instead 
 of being kept out by examination of incoming prisoners, are sprayed 
 with anti-germine, the odor of which pervades the entire jail. The 
 law regarding segregation is not complied with. Witnesses, men 
 awaiting trial and those serving sentence are sometimes kept together 
 in the basement cells where there is not a particle of furniture, not 
 even the conventional wall-bunks. They sit and sleep on the cement 
 floors over which arc spread dirty mattresses and blankets. 
 
 Contrasting with the insanitary conditions of Imperial and San 
 Joaquin, but representing an enormous waste of public funds, is 
 Kern County Jail. In 1014 Kern County (with a population of 40,000
 
 THE COUNTY JAIL SYSTEM 9 
 
 and an average of 40 prisoners) erected a magnificent jail, more 
 beautiful and more expensive than the public library or high school, 
 surpassing every public building in the county except the court hou 
 Every modern convenience, except private rooms is provided for the 
 prisoners. The sheriff has a delightful apartment and there are 
 suites of rooms for his deputies. Tall columns and marble lions 
 guarding the entrance impress the visitor with the dignity of the law. 
 One hundred and seventy-live thousand dollars was the cost of this 
 elegant structure, a permanent memorial to the supervisors, sheriff 
 and architect, all of whose names are engraved on the cornerstone. 
 
 These descriptions show opposite extremes, but taking the state 
 as a whole, three years ago, half of the county jails were dark and 
 poorly ventilated, a third had inadequate bathing facilities, a third 
 were overcrowded at some time during the year, and five-sixths were 
 violating the state law as to segregation which requires: four separate 
 departments for (1) men awaiting trial, (2) men serving sentence, 
 (3) witnesses, etc., (4) women. The conditions in 1916 were thus 
 summarized in the Biennial Report of that year. 
 
 Bad Conditions in California County Jails, 1916 
 
 Not safe from escape 8 
 
 Segregation lacking 29 
 
 Crowded 8 
 
 Dark 32 
 
 Stove heat or none 24 
 
 Bad air 18 
 
 Toilets dirty or out of repair 18 
 
 Baths unsatisfactory 11 
 
 Dirty throughout 12 
 
 No towels 20 
 
 Lack of employment 43 
 
 Careless handling of prisoners' property 25 
 
 Kangaroo Court 5 
 
 No night jailer 16 
 
 Insane kept in jail 23 
 
 Food supplied on contract 56 
 
 "Floater" excessively used 7 
 
 Beds unsatisfactory 20 
 
 The categories used in the above table are admittedly crude and 
 lacking in objectivity, but still they indicate pretty clearly that there 
 is a serious problem centering around the physical conditions of the 
 jails. These difficulties might conceivably all be met by local authori-
 
 10 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 ties, but the expense necessary to overhaul the unsatisfactory county 
 jails would suffice to equip several really worth while state institu- 
 tions. The latter might prove to be a good investment; the former 
 promises at most only poor returns. 
 
 Bad as the physical conditions in county jails may be, they are less 
 of a problem than that aspect of the situation which might be referred 
 to as prison discipline. One key to the difficulty lies in the fact of 
 enforced idleness. This is perhaps the worst single feature of present 
 methods of handling misdemeanants. The great majority of convic- 
 ted men are simply locked up in cages like wild animals. They may 
 twiddle their thumbs, they may exchange stories of criminal exper- 
 ience, they may gloat over perverted justice, they may brood over 
 wrongs done them by society, or they may sit in pious penitence! 
 In 1916, only 15 out of 58 county jails provided anything like regular 
 work, and in most of these only a fraction of the convicted men were 
 employed. It seems strange that anyone should expect such enforced 
 idleness to reform a wayward man or woman. People in jail, like 
 other human beings, have impulses which must find some means of 
 expression. If circumstances repress the normal outlet, some perver- 
 ted expression of a perfectly natural impulse is apt to come forth. 
 Hence the tendency of jail life can hardly be otherwise than to fix 
 and multiply bad habits, to exaggerate inherited weaknesses. It is a 
 trite saying that bad habits are broken only by putting good ones in 
 their places. Yet we presume to cure the delinquent by repression 
 instead of directing his energies actively into socially useful channels. 
 
 The employment of county jail prisoners is already provided for 
 by law in California, 4 yet this is rarely taken advantage of. San 
 Bernardino, Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, San Joaquin, Solano and 
 a few other counties have been in the habit of employing part of their 
 prisoners outside the jails. In some counties there is no means of 
 providing work. In many more there are not enough men serving 
 sentence to be employed without financial loss. But whatever the 
 reason may be in a given instance, it is certain that a great majority 
 of California's misdemeanants spend their days in jail without 
 anything in particular to do. 
 
 Now this enforced idleness combines with a crude congregate 
 system of handling prisoners to make discipline a farce. As an 
 
 * Penal Code, Sec. 1613. Political Code, Sec. 4041, subdivision 29.
 
 THE COUNTY JAIL SYSTEM 11 
 
 abstract proposition, who would think of locking up a lot of men in an 
 empty room and expect them not only to behave but to improve 
 themselves? Yet this same impossible result is presumably supposed 
 to come from a jail sentence. As a matter of fact, something very 
 different happens. Sodomy has been discovered in a few instances 
 and strongly suspected in many more. Where women prisoners are 
 handled by male officers and where male "trusties" are given access 
 to the women's department, there is at least no assurance that 
 immoral practises are not indulged in. The attitude of jailers as well 
 as prisoners toward matters of sex is often anything but wholesome. 
 
 At one time while inspecting the Los Angeles County Jail we saw a 
 group of prisoners playing "penny ante." In the San Joaquin jail 
 the "openers" were evidently higher, for we saw considerable silver 
 on the bench where a group was playing poker. In some other jails 
 the men are not allowed to have money, but they may pay their 
 gambling debts by orders on the deputy sheriff or jailer who holds 
 their little "pile." 
 
 The educational side of county jail life is aptly described by the 
 Missouri State Board of Charities and Corrections: 5 
 
 A short time ago a jail was visited in which there were only three prisoners. 
 One of these had served at different times twenty-five years in state penitentiaries. 
 He had a strong personality, was interesting and at home in jail. The young men 
 for whom he was playing the part of entertainer and consoler were serving thirty- 
 day sentences for a misdemeanor. Their lives of industry and good citizenship had 
 been interrupted by a month of enforced idleness. They were given an opportunity 
 to see the best side of criminal life from a past master in the work of crime. They 
 had experienced the luxury of having no responsibilities, of being warmed and fed, 
 and that without any effort on their part. Such experiences would perhaps be no 
 temptation for men with good family connections. But with such as above described 
 can we wonder that often the question is asked as to whether or not the honorable 
 life pays? The sentence of these men had been brief and not very distasteful. They 
 had learned new ways of evading officers and an easier way of making a living. If 
 at the expiration of their term of imprisonment they came out with the determination 
 to lead lives of crime, the state is to a large extent responsible. They have had a 
 chance to learn that for certain men a life of crime is attractive. They look at it as 
 a proposition in which there is much to gain and little to lose. At the worst, one 
 can only be arrested and cared for by the state. Besides, the first imprisonment has 
 cost them their social standing in the communities from which they came. 
 
 Another feature of jail life is the "Kangaroo Court." This is an 
 organization of prisoners for the purpose of holding mock trials. As a 
 
 6 Ninth Biennial Report, 1914, p. 69.
 
 12 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 form of self-government and a means of enforcing cleanliness and 
 order in congregate jails it is not altogether bad; but it has possibili- 
 ties of injustice which make it an institution to be condemned. 
 Following are the "Rules of the Kangaroo Court" of Kern County, 
 California. 
 
 January 1, 1915. 
 I. All persons entering here shall be searched by the sheriff of the Kangaroo 
 Court. 
 
 II. The judge has the power to fine an inmate from one to five dollars, to 
 be used for tobacco and sugar for inmates. 
 
 III. All persons must bathe and wash their clothes at least once a week. 
 
 IV. Throwing rubbish or spitting on the floor is strictly forbidden. 
 
 V. Inmates must keep away from the door and windows unless wanted there. 
 VI. Noise must cease at 10 p. m., remaining so until 7 a. m. 
 VII. The judge shall appoint inmates to do necessary work each week. 
 VIII. Any person disobeying above rules shall be punished as the judge sees fit. 
 These rules have been approved by the sheriff of Kern County. 
 
 When making an inspection of Imperial County Jail, we had the 
 novel experience of being taken for a prisoner and being tried by the 
 Kangaroo Court for "breaking into jail without consent of the 
 inmates." We were found guilty and fined tobacco for the crowd. 
 The Illinois State Charities Commission reported in 1911 that 29 
 county jails permitted kangaroo courts. 6 
 
 Knox County prisoners have a Kangaroo Court, but the sheriff carefully super- 
 vises it; for example, he will not allow the prisoners to fine one another unless the 
 person fined agrees to it. 
 
 This statement implies what is doubtless true, that in other jails 
 prisoners are fined whether they agree to it or not; but it makes little 
 difference; the prisoner is likely to "agree" when he knows that he is 
 apt to be hazed if he refuses. In regard to the Peoria County Jail: 
 
 The men do most of their own disciplining by means of the Kangaroo Court. 
 They have two dark rooms for punishment cells, but the usual method of dealing 
 with a man who has violated one of their laws is to sentence him to hard labor. 
 
 We have often had occasion to suspect that if a prisoner's color, 
 the angle of his nose, or some personal habit did not please his mates, 
 
 •Illinois State Charities Commission. Second Annual Report. 1911. pp. 44, 
 ."500, 312, 316, 322.
 
 THE COUNTY JAIL SYSTEM 13 
 
 he would be compelled to do a large share of the daily or weekly 
 scrubbing. 
 
 Vermillion County Jail: 
 
 The prisoners in the various wards have Kangaroo Courts. As they are allowed 
 to keep their money in jail, it would be very uncomfortable for prisoners who refused 
 to join the court and thus failed to contribute their money for the purpose of news- 
 papers, tobacco and other articles which the county does not furnish. 
 
 Another aspect of the jail problem is ihefee system. Perhaps the 
 chief difficulty with the financial administration of our jails is this. 
 The duty of caring for prisoners is often regarded by the sheriff as a 
 side issue, if indeed not quite outside his proper duties. In line with 
 the custom of requiring fees for certain services rendered by other 
 county officers, e.g. the recording of deeds, he feels that there should 
 at least be extra compensation for his responsibility as jailer. There 
 are two ways in which he may get such extra pay in California. He 
 gets mileage and a per diem for transporting prisoners, and he may 
 have a margin of profit on the feeding of prisoners. 7 We are here 
 concerned with the latter. Section 1611 of the Penal Code provides 
 that: 
 
 The sheriff must receive all persons committed to jail by competent authority, 
 and provide them with necessary food, clothing, and bedding, for which he shall be 
 allowed a reasonable compensation, to be determined by the board of supervisors, and, 
 except as provided in the next section, to be paid out of the county treasury. 
 
 This section sounds innocent enough, but what actually happens 
 is suggested by the table of rates showing what in the various coun- 
 ties was considered to be "reasonable compensation." 8 In 1914 the 
 food allowance varied from 10c per day in Santa Clara County to 
 $1.05 in El Dorado. To be sure, the situation is not the same in 
 these two counties; Santa Clara has more prisoners, cooking is there 
 done by "trusties," and San Jose is a good market town; while 
 Placerville is farther from markets, food is prepared by the jailer's 
 wife, and the number to be fed is small. However, it is fair to compare 
 Santa Clara with San Diego. In both jails the number of prisoners 
 varies from 50 to 100, cooking is done by "trusties," and good market 
 
 7 California State Board of Charities and Corrections. 1916: 51. Penal Code 
 of California. Section 1611. 
 
 8 California State Board of Charities and Corrections. 1914: 133.
 
 14 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 facilities are available. But in Santa Clara the sheriff was, at the time 
 of our study, allowed only 10c per day per prisoner, while in San 
 Diego the allowance was 373^c. Apparently one of two things was 
 happening: one lot of men was being underfed, or one sheriff was 
 making a profit. 
 
 A description of state supervision may be permitted to round out 
 our account of the county jail system in California. 
 
 Chapter 683, Statutes of 1911 
 
 Inspection and Investigation by Board of Charities and Corrections 
 Sec. 3. The board is hereby empowered and authorized, and it shall be its duty 
 as a whole, or by committee, or by its secretary, or other agent whom it may authorize, 
 to investigate, examine, and make reports upon the charitable, correctional, and penal 
 institutions of the state, including the state hospitals for the insane, of the counties, 
 cities and counties, cities, and towns of the state, and such public officers as are in 
 any way responsible for the administration of public funds used for the relief or 
 maintenance of the poor. All the persons or officers in charge of or connected with 
 such public institutions, or with the administration of such funds, are hereby required 
 to furnish to the board or its committee or secretary such information and statistics 
 as they may request or require, and allow such board, committee, or secretary free 
 access to all departments of such institutions and to all of their records 
 
 Plans for New Jails and for Alterations 
 . . . All plans of new buildings, or parts of buildings for any of the public 
 institutions coming under the provisions of this section, or any additions or altera- 
 tions in such buildings shall, before their adoption by the proper officials, be submitted 
 to the board for suggestions and criticism. 
 
 Reports and Special Information 
 Sec. 6. Any public officer, superintendent, manager, or person in charge of any 
 said public institution, or with the administration of said funds, who refuses or 
 neglects to furnish said board, its committee, or secretary, the information and 
 statistics which they may request or require shall be subject to a forfeiture of fifty 
 dollars, to be recovered as provided in section 4 of this act for disobedience of a 
 subpoena. 
 
 Chapter 338, Statutes of 1913 
 
 Records Prescibed 
 
 Sec. 1. It is hereby made the duty of the state board of charities and corrections 
 to prescribe forms of records for the use of the superintendents of county hospitals 
 and almhouses, and jailers in charge of county jails and city prisons, in keeping the 
 records of persons received into or discharged from such county hospitals, alms- 
 houses, jails and city prisons. 
 
 Sec. 2. Books of record for the records so prescribed by the said state board of 
 charities and corrections may be printed at the expense of said board and furnished 
 to such county hospitals and almshouses, county jails and city prisons, at the cost 
 thereof.
 
 THE COUNTY JAIL SYSTEM 15 
 
 Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of the superintendent in charge of any such county 
 hospital or almshouse and the jailer in charge of any such jail or city prison to keep 
 the records prescribed by the state board of charities and corrections as fully and 
 completely as possible, and any superintendent or jailer who neglects and fails to 
 keep the records thus prescribed shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. 
 
 Under the provisions of this law, the original form of which was 
 adopted in 1903, the secretary made a flying trip to each county 
 about once in two years. He assembled a good deal of information, 
 made suggestions as to jail management and urged the erection of new 
 jails in numerous instances. Beginning with 1914 more frequent visits 
 were made, many minor improvements were secured, and many more 
 data were assembled both concerning the jails and their inmates. 
 Advice was given as to the construction of new jails, plans and speci- 
 fications were revised. But when a jail was found to be notoriously 
 insanitary or mismanaged there was nothing that the state depart- 
 ment could do to force the hand of the local authorities. We shall 
 refer later to the laws of some other states which make it possible to 
 meet such situations as this much more satisfactorily. 
 
 With the exception of probation and parole for misdemeanants we 
 have now a fairly complete picture of the county jail system as it is 
 found in California. We shall not attempt a detailed description of 
 conditions in other states, but will call attention to evidence that the 
 California institutions and methods are typical. 
 
 We cite first Miss Hinrichsen's summary concerning Illinois. 9 
 
 The statement was made in a preceding paragraph that the jails in Illinois are a 
 powerful factor in the promotion of crime and degeneracy. I have attempted to 
 develop this statement in detail. In summing up the developing paragraphs, I 
 present the following reasons for my statement: (1) Because of their physical con- 
 struction. (2) Their method of operation. (3) The fee system of feeding. (4) The 
 enforced idleness. 
 
 1. Their physical construction is such that they are insanitary, ill-ventilated, 
 dark, and too small or too poorly planned to permit of the classification of prisoners, 
 or of the separation of the healthy frorr^the sick. The health of the men must suffer. 
 Communicable diseases are certain to be passed around among the men. The lack 
 of fresh air, exercise and stimulating interests makes the men particularly susceptible 
 to disease, both physical and mental. The herding together of all classes, regardless 
 of age or degree of crime, spreads a moral contagion through the jail; and, as with 
 the physical contagion, there are no counteracting influences. 
 
 'Institution Quarterly. Springfield. Vol. 7, No. 1. pp. 9-15.
 
 16 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 2. The method of operation may make even a modern jail vilely insanitary. 
 Clogged air shafts, disabled plumbing, filthy bedding, the common towel and drinking 
 cup, the tub in which all must bathe, the lack of steam and sunshine for towels and 
 bedding, the closed and grimy windows, the presence of rats and vermin, failure on the 
 part of the sheriff to enforce the classification law — these conditions can make, and 
 in certain instances have made, even the better jails as dangerous as the worst. On 
 the other hand, several very poorly constructed jails are made habitable by the 
 determination of the sheriff to eliminate as many evils as possible. 
 
 3. The enforced idleness predisposes the prisoner for every kind of moral, 
 mental and physical contagion. 
 
 4. The fee system of feeding, long recognized as a legitimate source of profit 
 for the sheriff, proves to be a cause for rousing in the prisoner a contempt for the law 
 and sends him forth from the jail a greater enemy to society than he was when he 
 entered it, and more fully prepared for a life of crime. 
 
 Physically, mentally, and morally, the men go forth worse than they were when 
 they entered, and they go forth hating the travesties called laws which have been 
 repeatedly violated by the officials in their efforts to punish them. 
 
 If anyone should be tempted to regard Miss Hinrichsen's state- 
 ment as a flight of imagination, let him read the concrete word- 
 pictures of 99 of Illinois' 101 county jails. Then he will see the 
 evidence accumulate which thoroughly justifies her excoriation of 
 these institutions. 
 
 The condition existing until recently, and in considerable degree 
 even to the present, in Alabama is thus described by Dr. W. H. 
 Oates, State Prison Inspector: 10 
 
 While most of those who are confined in jails are there simply for safe-keeping 
 and awaiting trial, and therefore presumptively innocent, they have been, as a ride, 
 housed in unclean, ill-ventilated, foul smelling structures, with no room for exercise, 
 and scant, if any, provisions for, and no incentive to, personal cleanliness, and exposed 
 to every peril of fire and disease. Their food has been coarse, ill-prepared and ill- 
 served, and every auxiliary with which modern science fortifies the physical con- 
 stitution against the inroads of disease has been conspicuous by its absence. Nor 
 has there been any provision whatsoever against the idleness of mind which begets 
 viciousness and is the fertile breeding ground of crime. 
 
 In my own state, Alabama, the above described regime has heretofore existed. 
 Everything in the state seems to have grown and improved with the single exception 
 of the jails. No additions or improvements have been made in a number of jails 
 throughout the state since they were originally built many years ago. 
 
 Absolute ignorance of the rudimentary principles of ventilation and sanitation 
 is evidenced in the building of these old jails, and, in most cases, the bulk of the 
 money expended was placed in a commodious residence for the sheriff, with one to two 
 
 10 National Conference of Charities and Correction. 1914: 40-41.
 
 THE COUNTY JAIL SYSTEM 17 
 
 small rooms in a wing of the building for the jail, in which rooms, placed in the center, 
 are the cells, usually eighty per cent solid metal with twenty per cent openings. The 
 elementary principles of sanitation were totally ignored, and so-called disinfectants 
 were used in lieu of the scrubbing brush and soap. Black was the favorite color 
 used in painting the interior of the jails, resulting in a dungeon-like darkness which 
 was almost invariably contributed to by dirty windows obstructing the entrance of 
 light. 
 
 Isolation and segregation of prisoners have been totally ignored. The hardened 
 criminal, first offender, and the juvenile prisoners have been confined in the same 
 cells, thus converting our jails into veritable schools of crime, and the constant con- 
 tamination by association must have been incalculable. Another deplorable fact, 
 and one which I am ashamed to say, still obtains, is that there are no matrons in any 
 of the jails of the state of Alabama. Female prisoners, regardless of color, or the 
 crime of which they are accused, are cared for by the male deputies. . . . 
 
 The fee system, that far-reaching, deplorable, pernicious and unwittingly 
 criminal method of compensating sheriffs and other officers obtains today in Alabama. 
 The result of this system nearly beggars description; it introduces into our jails the 
 bad effects of the almighty dollar; prisoners are arrested because of the dollar, and, 
 shame to say, are frequently kept in captivity in these steel cages for months awaiting 
 trial on account of the almighty dollar, so that certain officers may profit by feeding 
 them at a less amount by far than the state allows for their feeding. 
 
 This general statement of Dr. Oates is borne out by detailed 
 descriptions of individual jails, such as may be found in the biennial 
 reports of the prison inspector. 11 
 
 No cases of contract labor were found in California, and it was 
 taken for granted that this evil was limited to certain state prisons. 
 But New Haven, Connecticut, furnishes an instance of this in a 
 county jail. During the five years ending December 31, 1918, the 
 Metropolitan Chair Co., paid the county $7000 per annum, and was 
 "entitled to the service of all of the male persons not incapacitated 
 by illness, except some twenty or twenty-five whose services may be 
 required by the jailer for other purposes, and except also bound-over 
 prisoners and prisoners confined on civil processes. The company 
 is entitled to the services of such prisoners for ten full working hours 
 on Monday to Friday inclusive, and nine full working hours on 
 Saturday." The County Commissioners agreed to furnish artificial 
 light when necessary in certain parts of the jail and the company was 
 entitled to the use of various parts of the jail and yard for storage. 
 Heat and power were to be furnished by the county. Under this 
 contract the county apparently received $7000 from the company. 
 
 11 Report of the State Prison Inspector of Alabama. 1916.
 
 18 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 But the value of power furnished during the year ending Septembei 
 30, 1916, amounted to $2500, rebates on account of reduction of 
 working hours were $3550, and the value of the rental, light and heat 
 is estimated at $4800. Thus it appears that the county lost about 
 $1000 a year on the transaction. This is not to mention the exploita- 
 tion of prisoners, interference with discipline and further develop- 
 ment of anti-social attitudes. 12 
 
 The California study did not include an investigation of court 
 records to discover how general the practise of fining petty offenders 
 may be. However, in compiling statistics for the 1916 report of the 
 State Board of Charities and Corrections we found that one-fourth of 
 the county jail prisoners were released upon payment of all or a por- 
 tion of the fine imposed. In the Springfield, Illinois, Survey special 
 attention was given to the fining system, and Potter's findings are 
 worth reviewing: 13 
 
 Fines, as we have seen, were in 1913, by far the most usual methods of disposing 
 of Springfield offenders. Indeed, of the 152 persons found guilty by the county and 
 circuit courts out of a considerable variety of sentences, 70, or 46 per cent, were fined, 
 many of them, however, receiving jail sentences also. Of the 1,119 sentences imposed 
 on persons coming before justices of the peace and the city magistrate, 791, or 71 
 per cent, were fines. Moreover, most of the fines were for small amounts. Of the 
 county and circuit court fines, 43 per cent were for $10 or less, 76 per cent for $25 
 or less, while of the fines assessed by the justices of the peace and city magistrates 
 60 per cent were for $3.00 or less, 71 per cent for $10 or less, and 84 per cent for $25 
 or less. 
 
 The failure of fines to serve as a deterrent for many offenders is 
 shown by the fact that 23 per cent of the persons fined in Springfield 
 in 1913 were rearrested again within the year, and 13 per cent were 
 again convicted. It hardly seems likely that fines will keep gamblers 
 from gambling, drunkards from drinking, vagrants from begging, or 
 prostitutes from soliciting. The imposition of a small fine seems about 
 on a par with the short jail sentence so far as displacing anti-social 
 habits is concerned. It offers no more hope when the offender is 
 feebleminded or suffering from a nervous disorder. Moreover, there 
 is a certain injustice in fines as a means of punishment: 
 
 H Delinquent, Jan., 1917. pp. 5-9. 
 
 13 Potter, Zenas L.: "The Correctional System of Springfield, Illinois." Spring- 
 field Survey. New York. 1915. pp. 17-30.
 
 THE COUNTY JAIL SYSTEM 19 
 
 To a man of some means a fine of $.5.00, or even $25, is slight punishment. But 
 on the laborer making Si. 75 a day, and perhaps still more on his family, which is 
 already a sufferer, even a fine of $3.00 falls heavily. The offense may be the same 
 and the fine the same in two cases, and yet in the payment the poor man may suffer 
 the rich man's penalty many times over. One hundred and thirty-eight persons in 
 Springfield went to jail in 1913 because they were not able to pay their fines in whole 
 or in part, 44 being unable to meet even a fine of $3.00 plus $1.35 of costs. Many 
 of the largest lines were assessed against vagrants who had no money at all. In such 
 cases fines result in nothing less than sending people to jail for being poor. 14 
 
 This, of course, does not deny the fact that in certain instances 
 the levying of a fine may help to prevent the repetition of technical 
 offenses, especially when used in connection with a suspended sen- 
 tence. 
 
 All in all, the county jail system presents a pretty dark picture, 15 
 but fortunately something better is already in the making. In the 
 succeeding chapter we shall describe some other ways of caring for 
 misdemeanants, ways actually in use at the present time. 
 
 11 Potter: op. tit., 29-30. 
 
 15 For data concerning conditions in different states see: 
 
 Colorado State Board of Charities and Corrections. Biennial Reports. 1898 — . 
 e. g., 1916: 41-44. 
 
 Connecticut State Board of Charities. Biennial Reports, e. g., 1914: 38-45. 
 
 Maine State Board of Charities and Corrections. Annual Reports. 1913 — . 
 e. g., 1916: 33-54. 
 
 Michigan State Board of Corrections and Charities. Biennial Reports. 1871 — . 
 e. g., 1916: 7. 
 
 Missouri State Board of Charities and Corrections. Biennial Reports. 1898 — . 
 e. g., 1914: 68-71. 
 
 New Hampshire State Board of Charities and Corrections. Biennial Reports, 
 e. g., 1916: 108-112. 
 
 New York State Commission of Prisons. Annual Reports. 1895 — . e. g., 
 1916: 124-406. 
 
 Prison Association of the State of New York. Annual Reports. 1845 — . 
 e. g., 1915: 2: 260-494. 
 
 Oklahoma Commissioner of Charities and Corrections. Biennial Reports. 
 1908— e. g., 1916: 31-36. 
 
 Tennessee Board of State Charities. Biennial Reports, e. g., 1917: 28-9. 
 
 Virginia State Board of Charities and Corrections. Annual Reports. 1909 — . 
 e. g., 1916: 17. 
 
 Klein, Philip: "The County Penal Institutions of New Jersey." Delinquent. 
 Jan., 1918. pp. 14-18. 
 
 Abbott, Edith: "The Real Jail Problem." Chicago. Juvenile Protective 
 Association. 1915. 
 
 Abbott, Edith: "The One Hundred and One County Jails of Illinois and Why 
 They Ought to Be Abolished." Chicago. Juvenile Protective Association. 1916.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Substitutes for the County Jail System 
 
 If the county jail system which we have just described were the 
 only available means of dealing with petty offenders, our problem 
 would be quite overwhelming. But fortunately other methods have 
 been tried, and experience in using them should be of great assistance 
 in devising practical substitutes for the county jail. 
 
 One of the first for us to consider does not necessarily do away with 
 the local penal institution at all; it is state control of local jails. This 
 was brought about in Great Britain in 1877. Three acts were passed 
 for the three kingdoms. Every local prison — i.e. jail for the confine- 
 ment of persons not sentenced to penal servitude — was transferred 
 from the control of local "visiting magistrates" to a central adminis- 
 trative authority. The expenses are paid out of the central funds. 
 A good many jails have been found superfluous and have been closed. 
 In 35 years the number of such prisons in England was reduced from 
 113 to 56, and their population fell from 21,000 to 15,000.* 
 
 Numbers of the American states have provided for state super- 
 vision by laws similar to the California statute quoted above. But 
 the nearest approach to state control has been made by Alabama. 
 The act of 1911, amending the original act to create an office of state 
 prison inspector provides among other things: 2 
 
 Sec. 5. The duty of the Inspector is to inspect at least twice a year every county 
 or city jail, except those maintained by cities or towns of less than 10,000 population. 
 
 Sec. 7. The Inspector has power to order the local authorities to put a jail or 
 almshouse or city prison in proper sanitary condition, and to make such repairs, 
 alterations, additions as he may deem necessary. The only appeal from his order is 
 to the Governor. 
 
 Sec. 8. The Inspector has power to condemn jails and prohibit their use, when 
 in his opinion insanitary conditions warrant it. 
 
 Sec. 12. The Inspector has the authority to formulate such rules and regula- 
 tions as he may deem necessary with reference to hygiene, sanitation, cleanliness 
 and healthfulness of all jails and almshouses in this state including town and city 
 prisons. 
 
 1 National Conference of Charities and Correction. Report of Committee on 
 Correction. 1914: 24. 
 
 1 General Ads of Alabama. 1911. p. 356. 
 
 20
 
 SUBSTITUTES FOR THE COUNTY JAIL SYSTEM 21 
 
 Sec. 14. In the event of failure to carry out orders for repairs or alterations or 
 additions, the Inspector may remove the prisoners to the jail of another city or county 
 or to the state penitentiary. The same power is given him whenever he finds it 
 necessary to condemn a jail. 
 
 Sec. 15. The penalty for refusal to obey the orders of the Inspector is conviction 
 of a misdemeanor and fine of $25 to $500. 
 
 In the detention of persons awaiting trial some progress has 
 been made over the typical congregate system. The California law, for 
 example, requires that persons awaiting trial must be kept separate 
 from those serving sentence; 3 that women prisoners shall be in charge 
 of a matron and segregated from the men; 4 that children under the 
 age of sixteen shall not be detained in jail at all. 5 To be sure, this 
 legal segregation is not always carried out, but wherever there is a 
 well organized juvenile court and detention home for juveniles, 
 children at least are not subjected to the influences of the congregate 
 jail. In Philadelphia similar provision has been made for women 
 through the establishment of a house of detention for women and 
 girls under the jurisdiction of the misdemeanants' division of the 
 municipal court. 
 
 This House of Detention facilitates work by having in it the court room, the 
 medical clinic, the psychological clinic, adequate quarters for the probation officers 
 and the opportunity to classify the cases to be detained. Since January, 1917, it 
 has housed all the girls and women needing detention while awaiting court action by 
 the Municipal Court — averaging not far from one hundred new cases a month. It 
 has also given shelter to girls and women held for the federal authorities as witnesses 
 or prisoners in white slave or drug traffic cases. 6 
 
 Court procedure, together with probation and parole is another field 
 for experiment. In California provision is already made for adult 
 probation and the paroling of misdemeanants. 7 However, our dis- 
 cussion of the "floater" custom indicates the way in which these 
 laws are often utilized. The chief difficulty seems to be that the 
 administration is placed in the hands of men permeated with old 
 traditions, whose minds have little or no appreciation of the possibili- 
 
 » Penal Code. Sec. 1598. 
 
 « Penal Code. Sec. 1598, 1616. 
 
 6 Juvenile Court Law. Sec. 14, Chap. 631, Stats. 1915. 
 
 8 Rippin, Jane Deeter: "Municipal Detention for Women." National Con- 
 ference of Social Work. 1918: 132. 
 
 7 Penal Code, Sec. 1203. Chap. 230, Stats. 1913.
 
 22 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 ties of probation and parole for certain offenders. James A. Collins, 
 formerly City Judge of Indianapolis, told the National Conference of 
 Charities and Correction in 1914 what he had done in the direction 
 of "humanizing a court." 8 Judge Collins presented a program of nine 
 points, all of which have doubtless been tried elsewhere, but which 
 taken together are illustrative of a forward movement in the courts 
 which deal with petty offenders. 
 
 1. The Suspended Sentence 
 
 During my term I suspended judgment in 700 cases and withheld judgment in 
 7,559. Of this latter class less than 3 per cent were returned for a second or subse- 
 quent offense. 
 
 2. Paying Fines in Installments. 
 
 Out of 3,832 persons placed on probation to pay fines 3,220 paid their fines and 
 costs in full, while 102 were given credit for partial payments and committed to serve 
 out the balance. However, 205 were unable to pay anything and were committed 
 to the jail or workhouse. In 152 cases the circumstances of the families were such 
 that the court felt justified in withholding judgment rather than committing the 
 defendants. Out of the entire number placed on probation 143 did not live up to 
 their agreement with the court and re-arrest was ordered in each of these cases. 
 
 3. Drunkenness and Pledge System 
 In all cases of first offenders charged with being drunk and where the defendant 
 had others dependant upon him for support, the court made it a condition on with- 
 holding judgment or suspending the sentence that the defendant take the pledge 
 for a period varying from six months to one year. Three hundred and eighty-two 
 pledges were taken, all of which were kept faithfully but 27. 
 
 4. Medical and Surgical Treatment 
 
 It was not an infrequent experience for the court to find persons charged with 
 offenses of a character that disclosed physical or mental defects. Arrangements were 
 always made for medical care and treatment. In meeting the problem presented by 
 such conditions the court had the cooperation and assistance of the superintendent 
 of the City Hospital, as well as some of the best known physicians and surgeons of 
 Indianapolis. 
 
 5. Separate Imprisonment of Minors 
 
 Through an arrangement with the superintendent of the workhouse an unused 
 wing of the building was set apart for such offenders and in this way they were kept 
 separate and apart from the old and hardened offenders. 
 
 6. Restitution. 
 As part of the probation plan the court required every person charged with any 
 offense involving the loss or damage to property and injuries to the person to make 
 full and complete restitution to the injured party before the final disposition of the 
 case. 
 
 'National Conference of Charities and Correction. 1914: 26-33.
 
 SUBSTITUTES FOR THE COUNTY JAIL SYSTEM 23 
 
 7. Separate Session for the Trial of Women. 
 
 Wednesday afternoon was set aside for the trial of such cases. The legislature 
 of 1911 enacted a law providing for the appointment of a court matron in cities of 
 the first and second class, and this act prescribed her duties as follows: "She shall, 
 under the direction of the judge of the city court, investigate and report to such 
 judge upon the past histories, conditions of living, morals and character and habits 
 of all women and girls awaiting trial in such city court and shall have supervision 
 of such women and girls while not in actual custody until final disposition of the 
 charges against them. 
 
 8. Domestic Relations Session 
 
 Thursday afternoon was set aside for the consideration of cases involving domestic 
 relations. 
 
 9. Employment 
 
 Through the probation department employment was found for some 600 persons 
 who had come before the court as delinquents. 
 
 For convicted misdemeanants outdoor work has been provided by 
 numerous counties and cities. We have visited road camps for these 
 men in several California counties. In San Bernardino we found two 
 camps in the mountains. A gang of forty to fifty prisoners was work- 
 ing on the county roads in the vicinity of each camp. Some of their 
 work was repairing, some of it the building of new roads. The prison- 
 ers worked eight hours a day under the supervision of armed guards. 
 There was nothing of the honor system, but they had the advantages 
 which come from fresh air, regular hours, steady employment and 
 wholesome food. At night they slept in iron cages covered with 
 canvas. Their beds were wooden or steel bunks in tiers, furnished 
 with blankets. Each tent-cage had room for about twenty-five men; 
 it was kept clean by a "trusty" appointed for the purpose. Food was 
 prepared by a paid cook assisted by "trusties." In Los Angeles Coun- 
 ty the prisoners were paid ten cents a day, which was intended as a 
 "stake" for the return to a life of freedom. Family deserters received 
 no wage themselves, but $1.50 was paid by the county to their fami- 
 lies while the men were working on the road. 9 Another sort of 
 outdoor work is provided on the county poor farm. This has been 
 tried with success in Orange County, California. It has been more 
 widely used in New Hampshire. 10 In the latter case, however, it has 
 not been possible to furnish enough work in the winter time when the 
 
 • For a description of the road work in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, see Annals 
 of the American Academy. March, 1913, pp. 90-91. 
 
 10 Page, Edwin L.: "New Hampshire's Experiment in Using Prison Labor to 
 Support Paupers." An. Am. Acad. March, 1913. pp. 115-121.
 
 24 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 number of prisoners was greatest. Moreover, neither farm nor 
 road work is just what is needed by every sort of man who happens to 
 get in jail. 
 
 Another experiment has been tried, apparently with a goodly 
 measure of success, in the Washington County Jail at Montpelier, 
 Vermont. The Vermont legislature in 1906 passed a law permitting 
 the employment of county jail prisoners outside the jail. The Wash- 
 ington County experiment was begun in the spring of 1907. It is 
 thus described by Sheriff Tracy: 11 
 
 The men are all compelled to work at laborer's work. No matter what his 
 trade or profession has been, he has to do the work of a common laborer. The reason 
 for this is, that this is a strong union center, but in this way we have had the support 
 of the various labor unions. The pay for a laborer in this section is $2.00 per day. 
 Under our system the penal board has taken Si. 00 as the share for the state, and has 
 allowed the men to have the balance earned. During the last six years we have worked 
 over 1,200 men outside the jail. The men start from the jail before seven o'clock in 
 the morning, taking their dinner pails in hand and work sometimes two or three in 
 a place, and very often alone, scattered over a radius of twelve miles, and during 
 this time we have never lost a man. During the first three years we had three try to 
 escape, but during the last three years none have made the attempt. These men 
 go to their work dressed like the ordinary laborer and no one not knowing them 
 would for a minute suspect them to be prisoners. 
 
 The jail office has become an employment bureau. . . . We have had many 
 a man serving a sentence of from three to six months or a year support his family 
 and keep them from charity, while serving sentence. . . . 
 
 No prisoner is denied the privilege in the evening of going to the newstand to 
 buy the daily paper, or to the tobacco store to buy his tobacco or to any other store 
 to purchase what he needs. . . . 
 
 We know we have seen some men start with a new purpose in life, going out to 
 try and redeem the past. The locking of a cell door is an unknown quantity with 
 
 us. 
 
 12 
 
 Another method of caring for misdemeanants, represented by the 
 ■workhouse or house of correction, as usually found, is practically an 
 imitation of the state penitentiary. That is, it is little if anything 
 more than an effort to apply to petty offenders the traditional plan for 
 
 11 Quotations are from Delinquent, Nov. 1913, pp. 1-3. See also: Delinquent, 
 Oct., 1917, pp. 8-9; National Conference of Social Work, 1918: 253-255; Atlantic 
 Monthly, 108: 170-179. 
 
 12 Tor other descriptions of outdoor work for misdemeanants see: Delinquent, 
 Jan., 1917, p. 6, Litchfield County, Conn.; Journal of Criminal Law, 6:684-688, 
 Wisconsin.
 
 SUBSTITUTES FOR THE COUNTY JAIL SYSTEM 25 
 
 handling felons. However, some of these institutions have made 
 innovations worthy of careful study. 13 
 
 Apparently one of the most successful has been the Detroit House 
 of Correction. Beginning in 1861 with Zebulon Brockway, it has had 
 a succession of unusually capable superintendents, who have, in 
 addition to rendering the few weeks or months of confinement of 
 some value to the prisoners, made the institution self-supporting. 14 
 The purpose of the House of Correction is thus described by Brock- 
 way : 
 
 It was intended that the house of correction should accomplish much for the 
 hitherto neglected class of common jail prisoners. Mental and moral isolation, 
 under our "social-silent" or "Auburn" system, thorough supervision, strict discipline, 
 with complete occupation of all their waking hours — this was the system designed 
 for improvement of the prisoners, who were to be vigorously engaged in instructive 
 and remunerative mechanical work, with opportunity to earn something for them- 
 selves while imprisoned, either by allowance for overwork or by a cooperative system, 
 or both together. They were to be supplied with employment on their release and 
 supervised for a period. ... A complete educational plan was early outlined 
 in the mind of the management, which should include some effort at education for 
 all the prisoners, old and young, men and women, short and long sentenced prisoners. 
 Special efforts for the religious impression of the prisoners by public, private, and 
 carefully arranged ministrations were also included in these early plans. 
 
 The Chicago House of Correction has not had the financial success 
 of the Detroit institution, but it has made progress in another direc- 
 tion. It established in 1915 a psychopathic department. 15 
 
 13 The line of division between what is here called the workhouse and the sort of 
 institution to be presently described as prison farm is not altogether distinct. How- 
 ever, there is a general distinction, in spite of the fact that some institutions officially 
 known as workhouse or house of correction have been classed with the farms. As 
 samples of the workhouse type we refer to the following: Detroit House of Correction. 
 
 Annual Reports. 1862 . Chicago House of Correction. Annual Reports. 
 
 1872 . New York City Workhouses. Department of Correction. Annual 
 
 Reports. Allegheny County (Pittsburgh) Workhouse and Inebriate Asylum. 
 Annual Reports. 1870 . 
 
 14 Detroit House of Correction. Annual Reports. Journal of Criminal Law, 5: 
 190-191. Brockway, Z. R.: Fifty Years of Prison Service. New York. 1912. 
 pp. 68-85. The following quotation is from pp. 76-77. 
 
 16 Kohs, Samuel C: "A New Departure in the Treatment of Inmates of Penal 
 Institutions." Publication of the Research Department, Chicago House of Correc- 
 tion. 1915. pp. 4-7. See also Journal of Criminal Law, 8: 837-843.
 
 26 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 All those between the ages of 17 and 21 who are sentenced to the House of 
 Correction are subject to call for psychological diagnosis. Of these there are a number 
 who are recommended to the Psychopathic Department by the Boys' Court. To 
 this group special attention is paid. Whenever the above list is exhausted, older 
 inmates, particularly recidivists are interviewed. . . . 
 
 The interview is begun with questions regarding his school and trade training, 
 his industrial history, the positions he has held, the amount of salary received, the 
 length of service in each and why he left; the reasons for the periods of unemploy- 
 ment; the work he is best able to perform, and the kind he likes best; his ambition 
 his prospects of employment when released. We then obtain a full and detailed 
 account of the criminal career of the individual from the day he first found himself 
 in difficulty. Any past sicknesses, accidents and diseases are noted. Inquiry is 
 made of any past examinations, mental, physical, or both. The subject is then 
 questioned regarding his father, mother, siblings and other relatives, the same informa- 
 tion being elicited regarding them as was obtained from him personally. ... It 
 is but natural to expect that this history will only approach accuracy, but will never 
 attain it. The services of a field worker are necessary to verify and supplement the 
 data. 
 
 With this personal-industrial-sociological-family history more or less complete, 
 we pass on to our mental tests. Our main instrument here, is of course, the Binet 
 Scale as adapted by Dr. Goddard at the Vineland Training School. . . . 
 
 On the basis of the information obtained a report on each individual case is 
 made and the record placed in the hands of the Superintendent who acts upon the 
 recommendations. As a result of the examination, any of these three courses may be 
 followed, depending upon general conditions: (a) the inmate may be placed in a 
 special class for mental defectives; or, (b) he may be placed at work that will benefit 
 him most, work that will give him the training and experience necessary to gain 
 him entry into that industry after his release; or, (c) he may be merely placed at 
 ordinary labor on the grounds. 
 
 Here is the beginning of a program of individualization, but the 
 limited facilities of the house of correction together with the short 
 sentences makes it hard to achieve any permanent results. 
 
 Bearing resemblances both to the house of correction and to the 
 outdoor work already described is the local farm colony for misde- 
 meanants. Such institutions have been established by the cities of 
 Washington, D. C, Cleveland, Ohio, Kansas City, Missouri, Houston, 
 Texas, and Lynchburg, Virginia. 16 
 
 18 Washington — District of Columbia Workhouse. Annual Reports. 1911 — . 
 Cleveland— Nat. Conf. Char, and Corr. 1912: 191-195, 437-439. American 
 Prison Assn. 1913: 180-186. 
 
 Kansas City — Board of Public Welfare. Annual Reports. 1910 — . 
 Houston — Houston Foundation. Report. Dec, 1917. 
 Lynchburg — Virginia State Board of Char, and Corr. 1916: 21.
 
 SUBSTITUTES FOR THE COUNTY JAIL SYSTEM 27 
 
 Probably the best developed of these municipal prison farms is 
 the District of Columbia Workhouse near Occoquan, Virginia. This 
 institution was established in 1910, and located on 1150 acres of land 
 twenty-four miles south of Washington. Twenty-nine prisoners 
 were first transferred from the old workhouse in the city. Their 
 immediate task was to erect a barbed wire fence around some three 
 acres of land enclosing tents which were used as temporary dormi- 
 tories, dining room, store-house, kitchen, etc. By the first of August 
 there were accomodations for 300 prisoners. The next 60 days were 
 spent in the construction of a road a mile and a quarter long extend- 
 ing to the permanent location. Very plain, simple buildings were 
 erected and in December the inmate population was moved. After 
 the transfer to the new quarters, plans were laid for completing as 
 quickly as possible the physical part of the plant for the safe-keeping, 
 feeding and caring for 600 male and 125 female prisoners. This 
 meant that two separate institutions had to be constructed. In 
 addition to this it was necessary to make plans for the development 
 of the land, clearing brush, cutting timber, pulling stumps, preparing 
 the soil by use of lime and fertilizer. 
 
 Because of the thick underbrush, each guard was given a squad of 
 only six prisoners. But as the work progressed, this number was 
 gradually increased to about 20. This was only the beginning of a 
 policy of progressive removal of restraints. In the fiscal year 1913- 
 1914 the 10-foot barbed wire stockade fence was taken down. Now 
 there is no longer any dependence upon walls, locks or bars, with 
 the exception of twelve rooms used for disciplinary measures. 
 
 The buildings are all one-story, wooden, with a view to giving 
 ample light and ventilation. The congregate system has been adop- 
 ted. Two hundred prisoners are taken care of during the night in 
 each dormitory. Cots are arranged side by side on raised platforms, 
 and sufficient bedding — mattress, sheets, pillow, blankets and com- 
 forts — is given to each prisoner. All the buildings are equipped with 
 steam heat, electric lights, and have other modern conveniences, 
 albeit they are simple and inexpensive. While the prisoners sleep 
 there are only five paid officers and six prisoner sentinels on guard, in 
 spite of the fact that doors and windows are alike unbarred and 
 unlocked. Escapes are very few in number. 
 
 During the evening, after the day's work is done, and on Sundays, 
 the men are taken to a large building known as the rest hall and
 
 28 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 library, where they are permitted to talk, play checkers, or read the 
 daily papers. They have access to the library of 4,000 volumes. On 
 summer evenings and Sundays the inmates are permitted to take the 
 benches out into the yard, where it is possible to enjoy more freedom 
 and have an abundance of fresh air. 
 
 The work on the 1150 acres of land includes road-building, con- 
 struction of buildings, brick-making, stone-crushing, building and 
 repairing wagons, painting and whitewashing the buildings, farming, 
 poultry-raising, dairying and many other things that go with the 
 up-keep of an institution. 
 
 The women's department is managed by women, and is some dis- 
 tance from the men's. The women do laundry work and make clothes 
 for the prisoners of both departments. In addition a number of them 
 work on the lawn and in the garden, do the painting and other sani- 
 tary work about the buildings. The women's department, like the 
 men's, has neither cell, lock nor bar. The buildings are one-story, 
 with neither wall nor fence around them. Nevertheless, during the 
 first three and a half years, out of 3000 women handled only three 
 were lost through escaping. 17 
 
 The other municipal farms are more or less like the one at Occo- 
 quan. Their superiority to the county jail is well established. But 
 they, too, are handicapped by the fixed, short sentences, and by lack 
 of proper facilities for individualization of their wards. Moreover, 
 they do not at all meet the problems of the small community. 
 
 The last mentioned difficulty is overcome in part by state farms for 
 misdemeanants. Such institutions have been established in Massa- 
 chusetts, Rhode Island, Indiana and New York. 18 The Massa- 
 
 17 District of Columbia Workhouse. Annual Reports. 1911 — . National Conf. 
 Char, and Corr. 1914: 45-48. Delinquent. May, 1914. pp. 9-11. American 
 Prison Assn. 1913: 199-211. 
 
 18 Massachusetts State Farm at Bridgewater. Annual reports. 1854 — . 
 Massachusetts State Board of Charity. Annual Reports. 1879 — . 
 
 Rhode Island Board of State Charities and Corrections. Annual Reports. 
 1869—. 
 
 Indiana Board of State Charities. See Annual Reports, 1913 — . 
 
 Indiana Bulletin of Charities and Correction. See numbers 1913 — . 
 
 New York Superintendent of State Prisons. Annual Report. See those from 
 1914 on. 
 
 New York State Commission of Prisons. Annual Reports, see 1914 — . 
 
 Prison Association of the State of New York. Annual Reports.
 
 SUBSTITUTES FOR THE COUNTY JAIL SYSTEM 29 
 
 chusetts State Farm was established in 1854 as a State Almshouse, 
 and bore that title until 1N72 when its name was changed to State 
 Workhouse. The present name was given it in 1888. From 1872 it 
 has served as a combined charitable and penal institution, becoming 
 almost an inebriate asylum. 
 
 In Rhode Island by the Act of May 28, 1869 (Chapter 814) there 
 were established under the control and management of the Board of 
 State Charities and Corrections, a State Workhouse, a House of 
 Correction, a State Asylum for the Incurable Insane, and a State 
 Almshouse, all located on the state farm at Cranston. That the 
 workhouse was intended as an institution for misdemeanants appears 
 in the words of the act: 
 
 Section 6. All persons who have actually abandoned their wives or children 
 without adequate support, leaving them in danger of becoming a public charge, or 
 who may neglect to provide according to their means, for the support of their wives 
 or children, or who being habitual drunkards, shall abandon, neglect or refuse to aid 
 in the support of their families; all idle persons, who being of doubtful reputation 
 and having no visible means of support, live without employment; all sturdy beggars 
 who apply for alms, or solicit charity; all persons wandering abroad, lodging in station 
 houses, outhouses, market-places, sheds, stables, or uninhabited buildings, or in the 
 open air, and not giving a good account of themselves; all persons who go about 
 from place to place to beg or to receive alms; all common prostitutes, drunkards 
 and night-walkers; lewd, wanton, and lascivious persons in speech and behavior, 
 common railers and brawlers; all persons who neglect all lawful business and habitually 
 misspend their time by frequenting houses of ill-fame, gambling-houses and tippling 
 shops; all common cheats, vagrants or disorderly persons; shall, on conviction of 
 either of the aforesaid offenses by a justice of the peace, be sentenced to said State 
 Workhouse, for a term of not less than six months and not more than three years. 
 
 There were 155 committments to the Workhouse between July 1 
 and December 31, 1869. Of these there were: 102 "common drunk- 
 ards," 35 "vagrants," 14 "common prostitutes," 4 guilty of "neglect 
 to support family." Their sentences were as follows: 76 for six 
 months, one for eleven months, 65 for one year, 13 for more than one 
 year. The report for 1869 goes on to say: 
 
 In this connection it may be well to refer to a misapprehension that exists in 
 the minds of many persons in relation to the practical working and objects of the 
 Work House. To those who look upon the Work House as a prison, and the sentences 
 to it as punishments for offenses committed, the punishments measured by length of 
 time, seem out of proportion to the offenses. But this is a wrong view of the subject. 
 The Work House is not a prison and it is hoped that every influence tending to make 
 it such will be resisted. It was to save men and women from imprisonment in jails
 
 30 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 and prisons, which has proved expensive and worse than useless to all concerned, 
 that the Work House has been established. 19 
 
 The male prisoners were at once put to work upon the farm at road 
 building, laying foundations for new buildings, painting and carpen- 
 tering. The women prisoners did the cooking, washing and other 
 housework, as well as sewing in making and repairing clothes for the 
 inmates. 
 
 Recent reports show that in the main this institution has retained 
 its original character. In 1915 the number of new commitments was 
 720; 578 men and 142 women; 703 white and 17 colored; 434 born in 
 the United States, 286 foreign-born; the offenses for which most of 
 them were committed were: vagrancy 258, being a common drunkard 
 257; as to occupation the largest single group was laborers, 225; other 
 groups were "mill hands" 136, "servants" 70, teamsters 50. The 
 sentences were 531 for six months, 16 for nine months, 2 for eleven 
 months, 152 for a year, and 19 for over one year. 
 
 Apparently the sole advantage which an institution such as this 
 possesses over the municipal farm is that it is of service to small com- 
 munities. The sentences are, however, somewhat longer, although we 
 have no assurance that the length is adapted to the specific needs of 
 individual misdemeanants. 
 
 The Indiana State Farm was created by an act of the 1913 legisla- 
 ture, and was opened in April 1915. The organic act provides that 
 sentences of sixty days or over (for misdemeanants, of course) must 
 be served at the State Farm instead of in county jails or workhouses. 
 For shorter sentences the court has the option of the state institution 
 or the local prison. The Farm is located near Putnamville, and occu- 
 pies 1603 acres, of which 500 were under cultivation in 1917. The 
 maintenance expenses are paid by the state, transportation to the 
 Farm is paid by the counties, the expense of returning a discharged 
 prisoner to the place of his committment or to such place equally 
 distant as he may wish to go, is paid by the state and reimbursed by 
 t he counties. 
 
 It is interesting to know that since the opening of the state institu- 
 tion for male misdemeanants, the county jails of Indiana have begun 
 to serve their real purpose, the detention of persons awaiting trial. At 
 
 19 R. I. Bd. of State Char, and Corr. 1869: 26. The figures given above and 
 the excerpt from the law are taken from the same report.
 
 SUBSTITUTES FOR THE COUNTY JAIL SYSTEM 31 
 
 the lime of the 1917 inspections by the Board of State Charities few 
 prisoners were found serving sentences, and these were for short terms. 
 Many jails were empty on the day they were inspected. 20 Furthermore, 
 this was accomplished by establishing a state institution with a capa- 
 city of only 750, and which had in 1917 an average daily population of 
 only 671. 
 
 New York Stale opened a Farm for Women at Valatie, October 1, 
 I'M 4, for the reception of women over thirty years of age who had 
 been convicted at least five times in the two years previous of a mis- 
 demeanor or lesser crime. The inmates were put at farm work such as 
 planting, weeding, picking fruit, etc. They also made practically all 
 of the clothing used. The Farm has not, however, been of service to 
 very many women, the number of inmates almost never exceeding 
 fifty. In December 1918, the institution was turned over to the 
 State Department of Health for the accomodation, treatment and 
 isolation of female patients. 21 
 
 In addition to institutions devoted to all sorts of petty offenders 
 there has been evolved a certain degree of specialization in dealing 
 with limited groups, such as vagrants, inebriates, and prostitutes. 
 Switzerland and Belgium appear to have been more successful than 
 other countries in dealing with vagrants and beggars. In certain of the 
 Swiss cantons laws regarding vagrancy — 
 
 begin by separating the genuine unemployed from the thieves, loafers, and ne'er-do- 
 wells who render this question so complicated in America. This is done by a system 
 of travelers' relief books, issued by the Swiss Intercantonal Union, which includes 
 fourteen out of the twenty-two cantons of which Switzerland is composed. This 
 travelers' relief book sets forth all the facts necessary to identify and certify to the 
 good faith of its owner, and the possession of this book is sufficient to permit its 
 owner to travel through the fourteen cantons above mentioned without any work 
 whatever being exacted from him. . . . 
 
 The Swiss have established: 
 
 Two kinds of labor colonies, essentially different from one another: the so-called 
 forced labor colonies or Zwansgarbcits-Anstalten to which are committed all culpable 
 vagrants; and free labor colonies, the doors of which are open to all indigent persons 
 who are not culpable. . . . 
 
 The colony at Witzwyl is a forced labor colony instituted by the canton of Berne. 
 The colony at Tannenhof is a free labor colony started by individual philanthropists. 
 
 20 Indiana Bulletin of Charities and Correction. Mar., 1913. pp. 30-34. 
 Indiana Board of State Charities. Report. 1917: 73,146. 
 
 21 Letter from Secretary, State Commission of Prisons. Jan. 24, 1919.
 
 32 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 The two colonies had separate directors until the increasing expense of Tannenhof 
 and the diminishing expense of Witzwyl induced the board of directors of the Tannen- 
 hof institution to offer the directorship of the Tannenhof colony to Mr. Otto Kellerhals, 
 who had succeeded in making the colony of Witzwyl self-supporting. They are 
 now, therefore, both under the same direction. . . P 
 
 There have sprung up around Witzwyl a number of small colonies 
 to which able-bodied inmates can be sent after expiration of their 
 term and where they can be at once employed at a fair salary, removed 
 from the temptation to drink, enabled to save a little money and 
 gradually prepared for competition in the open labor market. They 
 sign a contract to remain for a fixed term in the free colony. These 
 free colonies are also havens to which the men may later return in time 
 of unemployment or other misfortune. 23 
 
 To deal with the same general groups of vagrants and beggars 
 Belgium had before the war four poor-houses and two work-houses. 24 
 The system is thus described by Binder: 
 
 1. The workhouses are intended for individuals who shun work and try to find 
 a living by exploiting charity; for those who have become homeless owing to laziness, 
 intemperance, shiftlessness and immorality; finally, for those who become a public 
 danger by keeping houses of prostitution. The poorhouses are intended for unfortu- 
 nate persons who for one reason or another are unable to make a living, chiefly those 
 in poor health, advanced age, or in hard luck. 
 
 2. In every case the question of being sent to one of the two kinds of institu- 
 tions must be submitted to a judge or justice of the peace. The court must verify 
 the identity, age, physical and mental condition, antecedents and especially the 
 police record of the individual. In order to assist the judge in getting all the facts 
 in the case of an individual not sufficiently known in the locality where he or she is 
 apprehended, the department of justice at Brussels renders all possible aid. The 
 decision of the court is final and cannot be appealed from except in the case of "white 
 slavers." 
 
 3. If the sentence is too severe, the Minister of Justice may be asked to modify 
 it or pardon the culprit; if too light, a corrective is found in having the parties either 
 expelled from the poorhouse, if their presence should be morally dangerous to the 
 inmates, or by having them resentenced by the Minister of Justice to the workhouse. 
 
 "Kelly, Edmund: "The Elimination of the Tramp." New York. 1908. 
 pp. 24, 25, 29, 34. 
 
 "Fetter, Frank A.: "Witzwil a Successful Penal Farm." Survey 25: 760-766. 
 
 M Binder, Rudolph M.: "The Treatment of Beggars and Vagabonds in Belgium." 
 Journal of Criminal Law. 6: 835-848. 
 
 Van Schellc, A. F.: "A City of Vagabonds. The Largest Colony of Mendicants 
 in the World, Merxplas, Belgium." American Journal of Sociology. 16: 1-20.
 
 SUBSTITUTES FOR THE COUNTY JAIL SYSTEM 33 
 
 4. No person under IX years is to be sent to a poorhouse or workhouse; persons 
 between bS and 21 years of age in those institutions must be kept separate from older 
 inmates. 
 
 Sentences to the poorhouse are for one year or less, to the workhouse for two 
 years or more. 
 
 6. Admission to the workhouse is by judicial process alone; to the poorhouse 
 (1) by voluntary application to the mayor and aldermen of a commune, (2) by direct 
 demand of the mayor and aldermen, (3) by judicial procedure. 
 
 7. The expense of parties sent to the poorhouse on the request of a commune 
 are charged to it in their entirety; expenses of inmates of workhouses and poorhouses 
 sentenced by a judge are divided equally between the commune, the province, and 
 the State. The expenses for "white slavers" must be borne by the commune in 
 which they plied their trade. 
 
 8. Every healthy inmate of a poorhouse and workhouse is obliged to work, 
 but is legally entitled to pay fixed by the Minister of Justice for the particular work 
 he does. 
 
 9. Discharge from the poorhouse must, according to law, invariably take 
 place at the end of one year. Release may be granted before if the Minister of 
 Justice concludes from the report of the director that confinement has served its 
 purpose, or when the savings accumulated by the inmate amount to 15 francs, or 
 when regular work is found for him, provided the savings amount to 15 francs, since 
 no inmate should be set at liberty when he cannot find work at his trade. . . . 
 
 A special bureau examines all requests for pardon, and deals on an average with 
 10,000 petitions per year, coming from approximately 6,000 individuals. Nothing 
 is left undone to avoid an infringement of individual liberty of deserving persons. 
 
 A voluntary board of visitors forms another safeguard against any possible 
 injustice. The members visit in turn and biweekly the institutions to which they 
 are assigned, hear petitions, examine the reports and conduct of prisoners, and 
 endorse the requests for clemency if they see a good reason for doing so. The visiting 
 board for Merxplas-Wortel consists of fifteen members, and of six members for each 
 of the other institutions. They have the advantage of coming in personal contact 
 with the petitioners and examining records on the ground. 
 
 Each of the colonies has shops; two of them have farms. Every 
 inmate, unless sick, is required to work and is assigned so far as possi- 
 ble in accordance with his strength, aptitude and previous training. 
 Inmates have erected buildings and assembled machinery. At 
 Hoogstraeten there is a brewery and malstery, flour mills, bakery and 
 soap factory; carpenter, cobbler, shoe-maker and locksmith shops; 
 and gas works. At Merxplas the shops provide brick and tile making, 
 tinning, weaving, tailoring, smithing, carpentering, boot and shoe 
 making, foundry work, charcoal burning, plumbing, etc. Among the 
 field crops raised are: oats, barley rye, carrots, potatoes, chicory, 
 tobacco, flax, hemp, legumes. Wages are paid in accordance with 
 ability, experience and kind of work. They vary in the poor-houses
 
 34 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 from 9 to 71 centimes per day, and in the workhouses from 3 to 25 
 centimes. A canteen is maintained, but this does not prevent saving 
 for a part of the wages is kept back until the time of release. 
 
 The only thing in the United States comparable to the Swiss and 
 Belgian institutions for vagrants and beggars is the New York State 
 Industrial Farm Colony. In January 1913 the State took title to 821 
 acres of fertile farm land, situated in the town of Beekman, Dutchess 
 County, for the purpose of erecting and maintaining thereon a colony 
 for tramps and vagrants. Since then no progress has been made 
 toward the construction of buildings. Several causes have contri- 
 buted to the delay Primarily there has been the legislative argument 
 of "economy," insisting that existing institutions should be properly 
 supported before new ones are launched. 25 
 
 In the United States more has been done toward specialized care 
 for inebriates — alcohol and drug addicts. In California, for example, 
 they may be committed to the state hospitals, which are primarily 
 for the insane. Under Section 2185c of the Political Code, they may 
 be committed for a definite period not to exceed two years and sub- 
 ject to parole at the discretion of the superintendent of the institu- 
 tion. On June 30, 1916 there were 562 such persons in the California 
 state hospitals, and 844 were admitted during the year ending that 
 date. 26 
 
 There the alcoholics have the benefit of a little hydrotherapy and 
 other eliminative measures, but this is of short duration and is not 
 followed up by the necessary training, employment and supervision. 
 The liquor cases are put on the same wards with "mental" cases to 
 the chagrin of the former and the annoyance of the latter. There is 
 not enough work for them to do and conditions are not such that they 
 can be employed very generally. They require a great deal of super- 
 vision and the attendants cannot be spared from their regular duties 
 of looking after the insane. In addition, the alcoholics cause much 
 disturbance on the wards and their presence is resented by some of 
 the insane. 
 
 In the Napa State Hospital drug addicts are given the Towns- 
 Lambert treatment. But hydrotherapy is more generally used. The 
 packs and sprays arc most employed, although some patients are 
 given continuous baths. All are, of course, eliminative, stimulating 
 
 2,1 Seventy-first Annual Report. Prison Association of New York. 1: 102. 
 M Cal. State Bd. of Char, and Corr. 1916: 46.
 
 SUBSTITUTES FOR THE COUNTY JAIL SYSTEM 35 
 
 secretions and carrying off poisons through the skin. Electro-cabinets 
 and vibrators are also used. Massage and shampoo are found helpful 
 for some patients. Hyoscin is not generally used, neither is gradual 
 withdrawal much practised, the theory apparently being that both 
 hamper the development of will power. After this preliminary 
 treatment the drug cases are transferred to the regular wards with the 
 same general results as in the case of alcoholics. The argument in 
 favor of this system is that many of the alcohol and drug habitues 
 are suffering from some nervous (or mental) disease. 
 
 Similar state hospital treatment is available for a limited number 
 of inebriates in Illinois, Minnesota, North Carolina and Massachu- 
 setts. 27 In New York City care is provided in Bellevue, Metropolitan 
 and Kings County Hospitals. 28 
 
 The Massachusetts State Farm at Bridgewater, which was started 
 as a mixed institution and has remained more or less that to the 
 present day, is, however, primarily a place for the care and detention 
 of inebriates. Just when special attention began to be given this 
 group does not appear, but we read in the report for 1873: "We do 
 not hesitate to attribute nine-tenths of the commitments here to 
 intemperance directly or indirectly." In 1892 the superintendent 
 reported: "The increase of population has been principally in the 
 workhouse department, through commitments for drunkenness, and 
 is probably accounted for in the new drunk law. . . . The large 
 number of men committed under the drunk law, together with the 
 class of vagrants just referred to, if accounted drunkards, seems to 
 make the workhouse department what I think it should be — an institu- 
 tion for the care and detention of cases of drunkenness, rather than a 
 receptacle for everybody who is not wanted elsewhere." In 1914, of 
 the 4321 new commitments, 3613 were for drunkenness. 29 
 
 In 1904 Iowa established a State Hospital for Inebriates at Knox- 
 ville, 30 miles from Des Moines. 30 Although this is a more specialized 
 institution than the Massachussetts State Farm, and hence possesses 
 
 27 Summaries of State Laws. Compiled by Dallas Civic Federation. 1918. pp. 
 72-73. 
 
 28 Weber, Joseph J. : "Handbook on the Care and Treatment of Alcoholic and 
 Drug Addicts in New York City." 1917. pp. 5-7. 
 
 29 Massachusetts State Farm. Annual Reports. 1854 — . Massachusetts State 
 Board of Charity. Annual Reports. 1879 — . 
 
 30 Iowa State Hospital for Inebriates. Biennial Reports. 1906 — . Iowa State 
 Board of Control. See Biennial Reports. 1908—.
 
 36 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 great possibilities, it started without adequate hospital facilities and 
 without sufficient means of employing the patients. It has, however, 
 two noteworthy featues. One is that the patients who have been in 
 the hospital 90 days may be employed at the brick and tile plant, 
 receiving $1.00 per day for their work. The other is a parole system 
 allowing the superintendent to parole into the custody of responsible 
 persons patients whom he might not want to certify as being cured. 
 The population of this institution has never been large; in fact, it 
 decreased from 207 in 1915 to 141 in 1916. This is attributed by the 
 Board of Control to the Harrison Law and its enforcement. 
 
 A similar institution known as the New York City Hospital and 
 Industrial Colony was started in 1912 by the purchase of some 700 
 acres of land near Warwick, Orange County. 31 Weber describes the 
 colony thus: 
 
 Cases are admitted by commitment after application to the Executive Secretary 
 ofthe Board of Inebriety. Drug addicts are committed by the courts. If discharged 
 from the Colony before the expiration of the maximum term for which alcoholics 
 may be committed, namely, three years, the patient is placed in the care of a field 
 officer and remains under his supervision until the Board considers that he may be 
 safely released, or until the expiration of the maximum term. 
 
 Each patient receives a careful physical and mental examination. Based on 
 the data thus gathered, an effort is made to improve physical defects by hygienic 
 measures, refraining, as far as possible, from medicinal measures. The individual 
 patient is thereby given an opportunity to learn what the normal is for him, and is 
 taught not to lean upon props in the shape of medicine and tonics. . . . 
 
 When discharged from the Farm Colony, the patient is placed, as far as possible, 
 in employment away from his old environment, in a community the ideals of which 
 approximate those of the farm community. Field officers keep in touch with him 
 for a period when necessary in order to advise and encourage. 
 
 We have considered special methods of caring for two of the 
 largest groups of misdemeanants — vagrants and alcoholics — we shall 
 speak rather briefly of two smaller groups — prostitutes and family 
 deserters. In connection with state reformatories for women and 
 municipal farms, something far better than the county jail can offer 
 is being done for prostitutes. But the only specialized institutions in 
 the United States appear to be those maintained by the various state 
 and federal commissions called into being by the war and a few pri- 
 vate institutions. Because it has been operating for some time and 
 its methods are pretty definitely established, let us take Waverly 
 
 "Delinquent. April, -1915. pp. 10-13. Weber: op. cit. pp. 5-6.
 
 SUBSTITUTES FOR THE COUNTY JAIL SYSTEM 37 
 
 House, New York, as a sample of the best work being done in this 
 
 field. 
 
 Each young woman who comes to us has her own problems and needs quite 
 distinct from those facing any other girl. Different forces have contributed toward 
 her delinquency, and varied influences have been responsible for her continuance 
 in an immoral life. Understanding of her mental and physical condition, her home 
 environment, her education, and knowledge of an)' work, or trade, aids us in deter- 
 mining a plan for helping her. The first step is to hear her story, then to verify it by 
 thorough investigation. A physical and mental examination is given each girl. As 
 a result of such observation, examination, and investigation, we have information 
 which enables us to decide the best disposition in the case of each individual. 32 
 
 While at Waverly House the girls receive some training for useful 
 work and stimulation to desire an honest living. They are kept 
 occupied as much as possible. Music, "talks," gymnastics, walks, 
 rides and religious services are a part of their program. When they 
 leave Waverly House, the girls may be placed on probation, sentenced 
 to a reformatory, or sent to a custodial institution for the insane or 
 feebleminded. All women requiring medical care are sent directly to a 
 hospital for treatment. Those needing convalescent care are sent to 
 the country to recuperate. Provision is made for girls having suitable 
 homes to return to them. Positions are found for those who are able 
 to work. Great care is taken to know that the relatives or friends to 
 whom the girls go are able to help them; that places of employment 
 are adapted to their abilities, and afford a protected environment. 
 Thus the treatment and care at Waverly House are definitely indivi- 
 dualized. The institution is practically a clearing house for "fallen 
 women." 
 
 Family deserters are dealt with in a great variety of ways. The 
 first problem is to secure a warrant for their arrest; their location and 
 apprehension are frequently very difficult; return to jurisdiction, in 
 case they have left the state is even harder; and after they have been 
 brought back and convicted, we face the greatest problem of all. 
 Frequently they are imprisoned, with the economic waste of the man 
 idling in jail at the expense of the county while his family depends 
 upon the charities. If he is fined, the penalty is apt to fall still more 
 heavily upon the family. The work that is undertaken by courts 
 of domestic relations and by many relief agencies is to effect recon- 
 ciliation where this is possible, or to secure support of wife and chil- 
 
 32 Miner, Maude E.: "The Slavery of Prostitution." p. 165. 
 
 219638
 
 38 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 dren without return of the husband, or to break up families by separa- 
 tion or divorce where that seems wise. Individualization within the 
 limits of legal and financial resources is the essence of the most suc- 
 cessful methods used in dealing with family deserters. 33 
 
 In concluding this chapter, we may well consider programs for the 
 future care of misdemeanants. A number of schemes have been 
 projected. They include some features already in operation here and 
 there, and some ideas drawn from the fields of social case work and 
 clinical psychology. It should be noted in passing that in the various 
 systems we have reviewed three fundamental defects remain: (1) the 
 relatively fixed and short sentence, (2) lack of facilities for courts to 
 learn the real personal needs of each offender, (3) relative uniformity 
 of treatment within the institutions, i.e., lack of individualization. 
 
 There are many proposals relating to details of the county jail 
 system, such as jail architecture, sanitation, outdoor work, etc. 34 
 Among the various sorts of people included among the misdemean- 
 ants, the vagrants seem to have received more attention from the 
 "reformers" than any other group. 35 Nearly all of these programs 
 agree in urging the labor colony system already operative in Switzer- 
 land and Belgium. 
 
 Two more general programs deserve special attention. The 
 committee on corrections of the National Conference of Charities 
 and Correction in 1914 outlined a plan which Amos W. Butler sum- 
 marized as follows: 36 
 
 1. A system of police recognizing character, merit and efficiency in the personnel 
 and a proper social view for its operations. 
 
 2. A prompt hearing for every person arrested. 
 
 3. The establishment of juvenile courts for all children's cases. 
 
 39 Eubank, E. E. : "A Study of Family Desertion." Chicago. 1916. Brandt, 
 Lilian: "Five Hundred and Seventy-four Deserters and Their Families." New 
 York. 1905. 
 
 34 Zimmerman, W. C: "Modern Jail Architecture." Jour. Crim. Law. 6: 
 717-723. 
 
 Dowling, Oscar: "The Hygiene of Jails, Lock-ups and Police Stations." Jour. 
 Crim. Law. 5: 695-703. 
 
 Henderson, Chas. R.: "Outdoor Labor for Convicts." Chicago, 1907. 
 
 36 Actes du Congres Pgnitcntiare Internationale de Washington. 1910. 1: 183-207. 
 
 Lewis, O. F.: "Vagrancy in the United States." New York. 1907. 
 
 Kelly, Edmund: "The Elimination of the Tramp." New York. 1908. 
 
 « National Conf. of Char, and Corr. 1914: 21-26.
 
 SUBSTITUTES FOR THE COUNTY JAIL SYSTEM 39 
 
 4. Provision for the care and detention of delinquent children outside the jail. 
 
 5. A probation system for adults similar to that of juvenile courts. 
 
 6. Separate trials for women offenders. 
 
 7. A modification of the present system of fines in order not to discriminate 
 against the poor. 
 
 8. Classification of prisoners, confinement of individuals apart from each other 
 and absolute sex separation in county jails. 
 
 9. The prohibition of the use of the jail for any other purpose than that of 
 detention. 
 
 10. The abolition of the fee system. 
 
 11. State control of all minor prisons. 
 
 12. The establishment of industrial farms for convicted misdemeanants. 
 
 13. A form of indeterminate sentence for misdemeanants. 
 
 14. Their release on parole under supervision. 
 
 15. The abolition of contract labor. 
 
 In 1915 at the meeting of the American Prison Association in 
 Oakland the committee on jails, lock-ups and police stations made a 
 rather comprehensive report of which the following is an outline. 37 
 
 I. Methods involving a change in the plan of incarceration 
 (o) State penal farms 
 
 (b) Payments to prisoners in the nature of wages 
 
 (c) Revision of sentences 
 
 (d) Habitual offender acts 
 
 (e) Educational work and mental examination 
 
 II. Methods involving conditional liberation under supervision 
 
 (a) Adult probation 
 
 (b) Parole 
 
 (c) Outdoor work for local prisoners 
 
 (d) Employment of prisoners without guards, an aspect of the so-called 
 
 honor system 
 
 (e) Restitution 
 
 (/) Change in system of commitment for fines 
 III. Rehabilitation of the offender 
 
 (a) Special treatment of special classes 
 
 (6) Cooperation with community agencies 
 
 (c) Case work 
 IV. Improvement in the process preliminary to conviction 
 
 (a) Psychopathic study 
 
 (b) Reforms in legal procedure and police administration 
 V. Supervision 
 
 (a) State supervision and control 
 
 (b) Statistics 
 
 17 American Prison Association. 1915: 363-378.
 
 40 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 In view of what seems to be a very definite tendency toward 
 individualization, two features of this last program are worthy of 
 special notice: revision of sentences and case work. As to the former, 
 the report says: 
 
 The principle of systematic revision of sentences on the basis of a more complete 
 knowledge of the criminal and his action subsequent to conviction has been established 
 through the success of the indeterminate sentence acts. A very considerable propor- 
 tion of prisoners now in penal institutions are serving indeterminate sentences. The 
 indeterminate sentence now applies to persons committed to the New York City 
 workhouse, penitentiary and reformatory, and a general extension of this important 
 principle to the misdemeanant class may be expected. 
 
 In regard to case work, it states: 
 
 One of the greatest contributions made to the science of social betterment is the 
 method of case work developed in the charity organization societies. Whatever be 
 the nature of the maladjustment through which the offender is finally committed to 
 prison, the prime need is for some agency to undertake and to see through to the 
 end the process of his rehabilitation. Whether as leader or as cooperator, the penal 
 institution ought definitely to take part in this process. 
 
 Apparently we seem justified in concluding that there are already 
 established better ways of handling misdemeanants than the county jail 
 system. Moreover, these innovations — some of them are not so very 
 new — seem to indicate a movement in the direction of making the 
 treatment fit the needs of the individual offender. Admittedly we are as 
 yet far from thorough-going individualization, but there appears to be 
 a pretty definite tendency toward that as a goal.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 Inmates of County Jails and Other Misdemeanants 
 
 Perhaps it would have been more "logical" to describe first the 
 offenders and then the treatment which is applied. But it has been 
 more convenient to get a clear picture of the county jail system before 
 studying its victims very closely. At any rate that is the way we 
 actually proceeded in working at the problem. 
 
 In the previous chapter we were content to accept the popular 
 assumption that everybody knows who the inmates of county jails 
 are. But we cannot go much farther without a pretty exact notion of 
 these folks. The vague generalizations about petty offenders or 
 misdemeanants do not afford an adequate basis for criticizing the 
 correctional system. Just who, then, are the people that get into 
 jail? The following tables begin to define them. 
 
 General Classification of Prisoners Received in California County Jails 
 
 1914 1 
 Charged with misdemeanors: 
 
 Not convicted 9,691 
 
 Convicted 11,017 20,708 
 
 Charged with felonies and United States prisoners 8,459 
 
 Not charged with any offense 2,405 
 
 Total 31,572 
 
 Classification of Prisoners in California County Jails at Specified Dates 2 
 
 Date 
 
 Dec. 31, 1914. 
 June 30, 1915. 
 Dec. 31, 1914. 
 June 30, 1916. 
 June 30, 1917 . 
 June 30, 1918. 
 
 
 
 Serving 
 
 
 Awaiting 
 
 Sen- 
 
 Totals 
 
 Trial 
 
 tence 
 
 2,121 
 
 808 
 
 1,221 
 
 1,717 
 
 596 
 
 1,060 
 
 1,962 
 
 754 
 
 1,095 
 
 1,590 
 
 551 
 
 925 
 
 1,306 
 
 571 
 
 676 
 
 1,560 
 
 907 
 
 603 
 
 Sentenc'd and 
 
 Awaiting 
 Transporta- 
 tion to 
 
 State 
 
 Ref'rm 
 
 Prison 
 
 School 
 
 60 
 
 7 
 
 29 
 
 2 
 
 85 
 
 7 
 
 26 
 
 4 
 
 25 
 
 3 
 
 19 
 
 1 
 
 All 
 others 
 
 25 
 30 
 21 
 84 
 31 
 30 
 
 1 A Study in County Jails in California, p. 25. 
 
 1 California State Board of Char, and Corr. 1916: 97. 
 
 41 
 
 1918: 100-101.
 
 42 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 i 
 
 These figures show that a large proportion of county jail prisoners 
 are people serving sentences under conviction of misdemeanor. 
 Another large group consists of those charged with misdemeanors 
 and awaiting trial. Many of these are never found guilty. The rest 
 of the jail population is made up of (1) persons charged with felonies, 
 (2) convicted of felonies and awaiting transportation to a state 
 prison, (3) wards of the juvenile court awaiting transportation to a 
 "reform school," (4) persons against whom no charge has been pre- 
 ferred, including "lodgers," "drunks" sleeping off the effects of a 
 carousal, "suspects" and insane — a pretty motley crowd. 
 
 Because the misdemeanor group is decidedly the largest we shall 
 devote most of our attention to it. First of all, we need to make sure 
 that we know who misdemeanants are. We talk glibly of them as 
 though we are dealing with a well defined type. But are we justified in 
 this naive assumption? 
 
 Perhaps the easiest way to get at this problem is through a legal 
 definition. A misdemeanant is a person who has been found guilty of 
 of a misdemeanor. How simple! But what is a misdemeanor? The 
 Statutes of Illinois state it thus: 3 
 
 A felony is an offense punishable with death or by imprisonment in the 
 penitentiary. 
 
 Every other offense is a misdemeanor. 
 
 The Penal Code of California offers a definition that is almost 
 identical. 4 
 
 A felony is a crime which is punishable with death or by imprisonment in the 
 state prison. Every other crime is a misdemeanor. When a crime, punishable by 
 imprisonment in the state prison is also punishable by fine or imprisonment in a 
 county jail, in the discretion of the court, it shall be deemed a misdemeanor for all 
 purposes after a judgment imposing a punishment other than imprisonment in the 
 state prison. 
 
 These are typical legal definitions, not very satisfactory, perhaps, 
 but about the only thing available. However, we can make these 
 statements more concrete in two ways: (1) we can go through the 
 codes and pick out the offenses listed as misdemeanors, or (2) we can 
 find out what offenses have been committed by people who serve jail 
 sentences. The latter method appears to be more worth our while, 
 
 » Hurd's Revised Statutes. 1917. Chap. 38, Sec. 277-278. 
 1 Deering's Penal Code. 1909. Sec. 17.
 
 INMATES OF COUNTY JAILS AND OTHER MISDEMEANANTS 
 
 43 
 
 for it is likely that many sections of our penal codes are not regularly 
 enforced, and perhaps some are not violated. 
 
 In a study in county jails in California in 1915 6 the offenses for 
 which people were sentenced most frequently to county jails were: 
 vagrancy, drunkenness, disturbing the peace and petit larceny. 
 The folllwing table shows the numbers in detail for each of thirty 
 offenses. 
 
 Offenses of Misdemeanants in California County Jails, 1914 
 
 Vagrancy 2,893 
 
 Disturbing the peace 1,937 
 
 Petit larceny 1,498 
 
 Drunk 1,242 
 
 Begging 372 
 
 Beating railroad 371 
 
 Battery 289 
 
 Assault 197 
 
 Liquor laws 151 
 
 Concealed weapons 105 
 
 Malicious mischief 80 
 
 Defrauding innkeeper 77 
 
 Failure to provide 74 
 
 Indecent exposure 49 
 
 Passing fictitious check 45 
 
 Obtaining money under false pre- 
 
 pretenses 36 
 
 Total convicted of misdemeanors . . . 
 
 Embezzlement 34 
 
 Contempt of court 31 
 
 Fish and game laws 31 
 
 Liquor laws 24 
 
 Cruelty to animals 24 
 
 Gambling 18 
 
 Resisting an officer 13 
 
 Threat to kill 10 
 
 Prostitution 10 
 
 Auto laws 9 
 
 Discharging firearms 8 
 
 Fast driving 5 
 
 Lottery 3 
 
 City and county ordinances not 
 
 specified 52 
 
 Misdemeanors not specified 1,336 
 
 11,024 
 
 This gives a representative list of the principal offenses included 
 in the general category of misdemeanors. 6 It is suggestive, but does 
 not define our group at all exactly. As we shall see later, misde- 
 meanants are not capable of precise definition in terms of offenses 
 committed. But perhaps we will have better prospects of success, if 
 we seek information about the misdemeanants themselves as human 
 beings. As a matter of fact it is possible to assemble data concerning 
 
 6 A Study in County Jails in California. Bulletin of the State Board of Charities 
 and Corrections. 1916. This study was made by the present author. 
 4 For similar lists of offenses see: 
 New York City Department of Correction. 1915: 65-72. 
 Kansas City Board of Public Welfare. 1914: 120. 
 Rhode Island Board of State Charities and Corrections. 1915: 90. 
 Chicago House of Correction. 1915. 
 Allegheny County (Pittsburg) Workhouse. 1916: 47. 
 Journal of Criminal Law. 8: 861. 
 National Conference of Social Work. 1918: 134.
 
 44 
 
 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 their age, sex, birthplace, race, marital condition, occupation, previous 
 experience in prison, mental and physical condition. By way of 
 caution, however, we must be on the lookout for possible inaccuracies, 
 and see whether the character of the data and the methods of investi- 
 gation justify the conclusions which we attempt to draw. 
 
 Sex of Misdemeanants 7 
 
 Institutions 
 
 California County Jails: 
 
 Received in 1914. . . 
 
 In jail, 12-31-14 
 
 6-30-15 . . . . 
 California City Jails : 
 
 Received 1914-15... 
 
 In jail, 6-30-14 
 
 New York County Penitentiaries: 
 
 Received, 1916-17 
 
 In prison, 6-30-17 
 
 New York County Jails: 
 
 Received, 1916-17 
 
 In jail, 6-30-17 
 
 
 
 Per cent 
 
 Male 
 
 Female 
 
 Female 
 
 29,950 
 
 1,052 
 
 3.4 
 
 2,071 
 
 50 
 
 2.4 
 
 1,648 
 
 69 
 
 4.0 
 
 129,650 
 
 8,000 
 
 5.8 
 
 463 
 
 26 
 
 5.3 
 
 15,041 
 
 434 
 
 2.7 
 
 2,172 
 
 93 
 
 4.1 
 
 37,573 
 
 2,405 
 
 6.0 
 
 1,524 
 
 106 
 
 6.5 
 
 The above table simply means that most of the people found guilty 
 of misdemeanors are men. It does not show the relative "criminal- 
 ity" of men and women, because there is no means of discovering the 
 number of unpunished offenses of either sex. In fact, it is pretty well 
 understood that the police and courts are much more lenient toward 
 women than toward men. In some cases the women are known to the 
 police for some time before the first arrest, and are not committed 
 by the magistrate until they have been arrested a number of times. 8 
 Furthermore, we should not be unduly impressed with variations in 
 the percentage of women. A single raid by "Vice Crusaders" just 
 before a report is made up will obviously change the proportion of 
 women prisoners for an entire state. 
 
 7 The table which follows is made up from data in the following official reports: 
 A Study in County Jails in California. 26. 
 
 California State Board of Char, and Corr. 1916: 97, 106-115. 
 New York State Commission of Prisons. 1917: 404, 426-427. 
 
 8 See Journal of Criminal Law, 8: 851, concerning women in Holmesburg 
 (Philadelphia) House of Correction.
 
 INMATES OF COUNTY JAILS AND OTHER MISDEMEANAN CS 
 
 45 
 
 It is very probable, however, that there is a decidedly larger pro- 
 portion of male than of female misdemeanants. This very likely can 
 be explained in terms of a difference in the metabolism of the sexes. 9 
 But there is little doubt that the number of female offenders is much 
 greater Chan the number of women arrested and convicted. More- 
 over, the number is surely large enough to make it impossible to 
 regard misdemeanants as a single type so far as sex is concerned. 
 
 Ages of Misdemeanants 10 
 percentages of misdemeanants in several age groups 
 
 Age 
 
 California 
 
 New York City 
 
 Rhode Island 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 Groups 11 
 
 County Jails 
 
 Workhouses 
 
 State Workhouse 
 
 County Jails 
 
 20 and under . 
 
 13 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 12 
 
 21-30 
 
 31 
 
 30 
 
 30 
 
 47 
 
 31-40 
 
 26 
 
 29 
 
 29 
 
 41 
 
 41-50 
 
 17 
 
 19 
 
 19 
 
 . . 
 
 51 and over. . . 
 
 13 
 
 16 
 
 16 
 
 
 Totals . . . 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 Ages of Misdemeanants Compared with General Population 
 Percentages of Each ln Several Age Groups 
 
 Age Groups 11 
 
 20 and under 
 
 21-30 
 
 31-40 
 
 41-50 
 
 51 and over. . 
 
 Totals. . 
 
 California 
 County Jails 
 
 General population of California 
 over 15 years of age 
 
 11 
 26 
 23 
 18 
 22 
 
 100 
 
 • 
 
 "Thomas, W. I.: "Sex and Society." Chicago. 1907. 
 
 10 Data in this table were taken from the following sources: 
 A Study in County Jails in California. 28-29 (figures for 1914). 
 New York City Department of Corrections. 1915: 54-55. 
 Rhode Island Board of State Charities and Corrections. 1915: 91. 
 
 totals up to and including 1915.) 
 
 Pennsylvania Board of Commissioners of the Public Charities. 1915: 110. 
 
 11 For the California County Jails the age groups actually used were: 21 and 
 under, 22-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50 and over. This accounts in part, at least, for the 
 
 (Figures are
 
 46 
 
 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 The most important fact that stands out from these tables is that 
 misdemeanants are pretty well distributed over the various age 
 groups. Of course, there are relatively more misdemeanants among 
 the younger people, but it is perhaps natural that friction with the 
 law should occur more frequently during the active years of life. The 
 
 Birthplace of Misdemeanants 12 
 
 Number and percentage of misdemeanants and ratio of misdemeanants to the general 
 population born in the same state, other states and foreign countries 
 
 California, 1914 
 
 Brithplace 
 
 County 
 
 actual 
 
 number 
 
 Jail 
 
 prisoners 
 per 
 cent 
 
 General 
 
 populati'n 
 
 per cent 
 
 Ratio of prisoners to 
 total of same birth- 
 place in general 
 population 
 
 California 
 
 5,251 
 
 12,395 
 
 9,142 
 
 20 
 46 
 34 
 
 38 
 36 
 25 
 
 0.59 
 
 Other states 
 
 1.28 
 
 Foreign countries 
 
 1.38 
 
 
 
 Totals 
 
 26,788 
 
 100 
 
 99* 
 
 
 
 
 Chicago House of Correction, 1915 
 
 Illinois 
 
 4,533 
 5,402 
 6,492 
 
 28 
 33 
 39 
 
 47 
 17 
 36 
 
 0.60 
 
 Other states 
 
 1.94 
 
 Foreign countries 
 
 1.08 
 
 Totals 
 
 16,427 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 
 Kansas City Farm, 1913-1914 
 
 
 Missouri 
 
 865 
 
 1,703 
 
 380 
 
 29 
 
 57 
 14 
 
 43 
 45 
 10 
 
 0.67 
 
 Other states 
 
 1.27 
 
 Foreign countries 
 
 1.40 
 
 Totals 
 
 2,948 
 
 100 
 
 98* 
 
 
 
 
 significant thing is not the decreasing proportion of misdemeanants in 
 the groups above the age of forty. The significant thing is the small 
 amount of that decrease. It is important to note that the distribu- 
 
 larger per cent in the first group. The second group, on the other hand, would be 
 larger if the classification were the same as in the other columns. 
 
 12 Data taken from the following sources: 
 
 Thirteenth U. S. Census. Population. 1:712,727,728. 
 
 A Study in County Jails. 30-31. 
 
 Chicago House of Correction. 1915. 
 
 Kansas City Board of Public Welfare. 1914: 119. 
 
 * The remaining 1% and 2% arc unknown.
 
 INMATES OF COUNTY JAILS AND OTHER MISDEMEANANTS 
 
 47 
 
 linn in age groups is not very different for misdemeanants and for the 
 general population. Certainly misdemeanants do not constitute a 
 single type so far as age is concerned. 
 
 As in the matter of ages, the first observation we are led to make is 
 that misdemeanants are distributed over all the groups considered. 
 There is complete absence of such uniformity as would justify us in 
 regarding them as a single type. It is interesting that both in Califor- 
 nia and Chicago the "native sons" were both actually and relatively 
 the smallest group. In Kansas City their absolute number was 
 greater than that of the foreign-born prisoners, but the relative 
 number was smaller. This suggests either that people who move 
 about are more apt to clash with the law or else that the police are 
 more ready to arrest outsiders. Perhaps both are true. But the large 
 number of "native sons" among misdemeanants everywhere makes it 
 impossible to classify them or typify them in terms of migration. 
 
 One of the best studies that has been made of the relation of birth- 
 place to petty offenses is the work of Miss Grace Abbott. 13 Her table 
 is presented herewith. 
 
 Nativity of Male Persons Arrested and Convicted of Misdemeanors in 
 
 Chicago in 1913 
 
 
 Arrests 
 
 Convictions 
 
 Per cent distribution 
 
 of male persons in 
 
 Chicago, 21 years 
 
 and over 
 
 Nativity 
 
 Number 
 
 Per 
 
 Cent 
 
 Number 
 
 Per 
 
 cent 
 
 American: 
 
 White 
 
 50,999 
 4,741 
 
 31,416 
 3,282 
 1,240 
 181 
 6,942 
 1,592 
 209 
 2,354 
 2,972 
 7,519 
 2,857 
 2,268 
 
 58.5 
 5.4 
 
 36.1 
 3.8 
 1.4 
 .2 
 8.0 
 1.8 
 .3 
 2.7 
 3.4 
 8.6 
 3.3 
 2.6 
 
 23,656 
 
 2,179 
 
 13,855 
 
 1,492 
 
 537 
 
 90 
 
 2,977 
 
 947 
 
 115 
 
 901 
 
 1,333 
 
 3,314 
 
 1,330 
 
 819 
 
 59.6 
 5.5 
 
 34.9 
 3.8 
 1.3 
 .2 
 7.5 
 2.4 
 .3 
 2.3 
 3.4 
 8.3 
 3.3 
 2.1 
 
 43.1 
 
 Colored 
 
 2.6 
 
 Foreign 
 
 54.3 
 
 Austrians .... 
 
 11.2 
 
 English 
 
 5.2 
 
 French 
 
 
 Germans 
 
 12.6 
 
 Greeks 
 
 .6 
 
 Hollanders 
 
 .7 
 
 Irish 
 
 4.4 
 
 Italians 
 
 Russians 
 
 Scandinavians 
 
 Others 
 
 3.2 
 8.5 
 6.7 
 1.2 
 
 Totals 
 
 87,156 
 
 100 .0 
 
 36,690 
 
 100 
 
 100.0 
 
 
 
 13 Abbott, Grace: "Immigration and Crime." Delinquent. August, 1915. p. 1-8.
 
 48 
 
 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 From these figures it would seem that some nationalities furnish 
 more than their share of misdemeanants. But before undertaking to 
 draw any far-reaching conclusions we ought to know how long the 
 immigrants had been in this county and the attitude of the police 
 toward the people of different nationalities. Miss Abbott discusses 
 these matters somewhat in the article referred to. What seems 
 particularly worth emphasizing here is that petty offenders are 
 drawn from all elements of the population; more or less, though by 
 no means exactly, in the ratio of their numerical importance. 
 
 The California study, which unfortunately did not classify the 
 foreign-born prisoners according to nationality, did, however, state in 
 general terms the length of their residence in the United States. It 
 showed that only 5% had been here less than one year; 18% from one 
 to five years; 16% from five to ten years. The rest of those about 
 whom information could be secured had been in the country more 
 than ten years. This means that for California at least the problem 
 is practically one of Americans. 14 
 
 In the matter of race we have not been able to secure very satis- 
 factory data for different parts of the country. But in California 
 five-sixths of the county jail prisoners were classified as "white." 
 The following table shows the number and proportion of certain 
 groups that would not be counted as white. 
 
 Special National and Racial Groups in California County Jails, 1914 
 
 Number and Percentage of prisoners and ratio of prisoners to general population of 
 
 same nationality or race. 
 
 Race or 
 Nationality 
 
 County Jail Prisoners 
 
 Actual 
 
 number 
 
 Per cent 
 
 of all 
 prisoners 
 
 Per cent of 
 General 
 
 population 
 
 Ratio of prisoners 
 to general popu- 
 lation of same 
 
 race 
 
 Negroes . . 
 Chinese. . 
 Indians. . 
 Japanese . 
 Mexicans. 
 
 1,021 
 703 
 202 
 168 
 
 3,078 
 
 3.2 
 2.2 
 6 
 0.5 
 9.7 
 
 0.9 
 1.5 
 0.7 
 1.8 
 
 ? 
 
 3.55 
 1.47 
 0.86 
 0.28 
 
 ? 
 
 Thus while the negroes and perhaps the Mexicans contribute more 
 than their share of misdemeanants, they are not typical of the petty 
 
 14 A Study in County Jails in California, pp. 21, 42.
 
 INMATES OF COUNTY JAILS AND OTHER MISDEMEANANTS V > 
 
 offender group. Taken with the other special racial and national 
 groups they constitute only one-sixth of all the county jail prisoners. 
 
 M \ritat. Status of Misdemeanants 15 
 
 Marital 
 Status 
 
 New York 
 City 
 
 Workhouses 
 
 Chicago 
 
 House of 
 
 Correction 
 
 Kansas City 
 Farm 
 
 Philadelphia 
 
 Detention 
 
 Home for 
 
 Women 
 
 
 11,617 
 6,872 
 1,627 
 
 10,089 
 6,338 
 
 2,047 
 763 
 141 
 
 759 
 
 
 216 
 
 Widowed 
 
 61 
 
 Divorced 
 
 14 
 
 Separated 
 
 139 
 
 
 
 Totals 
 
 20,116 
 
 16,427 
 
 2,951 
 
 1,205 
 
 
 
 These figures show that there is a decided preponderance of single 
 persons among the misdemeanants, but at the same time they make it 
 clear that a program of treatment based upon the assumption of 
 bachelorhood would fail to meet the needs of many. The following 
 table of percentages shows the proportion of married and single 
 prisoners compared with the proportion of married and single persons 
 
 Marital Status of Misdemeanants Compared with the General Population 1 " 
 
 
 Percentage of Married 
 Persons 
 
 Percentage of Single 
 Persons 
 
 City 
 
 Mis- 
 demeanants 
 
 General 
 population 
 
 Mis- 
 demeanants 
 
 General 
 population 
 
 Chicago . . 
 
 39 
 26 
 38 
 46 
 
 18 
 
 55 
 55 
 54 
 53 
 55 
 
 61 
 
 74 
 62 
 
 54 
 82 
 
 45 
 
 Kansas City (male) 
 
 New York (male) 
 
 43 
 46 
 
 New York (female) 
 
 Philadelphia (female) 
 
 47 
 45 
 
 u. 
 
 16 The data for this table were taken from the following sources: 
 New York City Department of Correction. 1915: 74. 
 Chicago House of Correction. 1915. 
 Kansas City Board of Public Welfare. 1914: 119. 
 National Conference of Social Work. 1918: 134 (Philadelphia). 
 16 Data taken from the same sources as for previous table; also from Thirteenth 
 S. Census. Population. 1 : 619, 624, 629, 634.
 
 50 
 
 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 in the general population. To simplify the statement we have lumped 
 unmarried, widowed, divorced and separated together as "single." 
 Every institution shows a preponderance, both actual and relative, 
 of single persons. But in every case both the number and the percent- 
 age of married offenders is so great that it is not possible to regard 
 misdemeanants as typically free from marital relations. 
 
 Occupations of Misdemeanants 17 
 
 Occupational 
 Groups 
 
 California 
 
 County 
 
 Jails 
 
 Chicago 
 
 House of 
 
 Correction 
 
 New York 
 
 City 
 Workhouses 
 
 Detroit 
 
 House of 
 
 Correction 
 
 "Laborers" 
 
 12,717 
 
 2,901 
 
 2,177 
 
 2,166 
 
 852 
 
 226 
 
 641 
 
 1,521 
 
 5,881 
 
 4,421 
 
 3,071 
 
 2,598 
 
 214 
 
 128 
 
 22 
 
 92 
 
 6,742 
 3,367 
 6,834 
 2,794 
 39 
 219 
 
 121 
 
 2,906 
 
 Mfg. and Mech 
 
 1,626 
 
 Domes, and Pers 
 
 633 
 
 Trade and Trans 
 
 798 
 
 Agricultural 
 
 106 
 
 Professional 
 
 30 
 
 Min. and Fish 
 
 36 
 
 Miscellaneous 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 Totals 
 
 23,138 
 
 16,427 
 
 20,116 
 
 6,142 
 
 
 
 Percentages of Misdemeanants in Various Occupational Groups 
 
 Occupational 
 Groups 
 
 California 
 
 County 
 
 Jails 
 
 Chicago 
 
 House of 
 
 Correction 
 
 New York 
 
 City 
 Workhouses 
 
 Detroit 
 
 House of 
 
 Correction 
 
 "Laborers" 
 
 55 
 13 
 9 
 9 
 4 
 1 
 
 3 
 6 
 
 36 
 27 
 18 
 16 
 1 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 34 
 
 17 
 
 34 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 48 
 
 Mfg. and Mech 
 
 26 
 
 Domes, and Pers 
 
 10 
 
 Trade and Trans 
 
 13 
 
 Agricultural 
 
 2 
 
 Professional 
 
 
 
 Min. and Fish 
 
 1 
 
 Miscellaneous 
 
 
 
 
 
 Totals 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 17 Data for this table were taken from the following sources: 
 A Study in County Jails in California. 22, 46-53. 
 Chicago House of Correction. Report. L915. 
 New York Department of Correction Report. 1915: 57-64. 
 Detroit House of Correction. Report. 1917: 19.
 
 INMATES OF COUNTY JAILS AND OTHER MISDEMEANANTS 51 
 
 Warnings given hitherto as to accuracy of the statistics presented 
 must be redoubled here, for classification of the many occupations 
 listed in the several reports has been a most difficult task. In general, 
 the divisions used by the United States Census have been followed. 
 But in several respects this has been impossible. Thus jail registers 
 frequently record a man as an engineer without a hint as to whether 
 he is civil, electrical, mechanical or railroad engineer. Furthermore, 
 the popular designation "common laborers" found in all the reports 
 is not used at all by the Census. Hence it is not possible to compare 
 the distribution of misdemeanants with the general population in the 
 matter of occupation. 
 
 There seems, however, to be no doubt as to the fact that from a 
 third to a half of the misdemeanants are unskilled laborers. Perhaps 
 the proportion is even larger. But it is more than likely that the 
 same thing is true of the general population. We must further 
 observe that all the occupational groups are represented among the 
 misdemeanants. Again we fail to find a misdemeanant type. To 
 indicate more clearly the diversity, the separate occupations which 
 appear in the California report are presented. 
 
 Occupations of California Misdemeanants, 1914 
 Agriculture, Forestry and Animal Trade and Transportation 
 
 Husbandry Bookeeper 81 
 
 Farmer 573 Clerk 320 
 
 Farmhand 117 Merchant 128 
 
 Gardner 79 Peddler 114 
 
 "Horseman" 42 "R.R.man" 226 
 
 "Lumber jack" 41 852 Sailor 277 
 
 Salesman 260 
 
 Professional (unclassified) . . 226 226 Teamster 710 2,116 
 
 Domestic and Personal Manufacturing and Mechanical 
 
 Barber 220 Baker 78 
 
 Bartender 105 Blacksmith 145 
 
 Butcher 105 Boilermaker 125 
 
 Cook 802 Bricklayer 107 
 
 "Domestic" 220 Carpenter 489 
 
 Housewife 310 Cigarmaker 35 
 
 Waiter 415 2,177 Electrician 104 
 
 "Engineer" 119 
 
 Mining and Fishing Fireman 98 
 
 Fisherman 58 Ironworker 107 
 
 Miner 583 641 Lineman 58 
 
 Mechanic 590
 
 52 
 
 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 Miscellaneous 
 
 Soldier 168 
 
 Student 137 
 
 "Miscellaneous" 1216 
 
 1,521 
 
 Painter 458 
 
 Plumber 185 
 
 Printer 83 
 
 Tailor 120 2,901 
 
 Total, 14,879 
 
 The fact and the extent of recidivism are strikingly revealed by 
 the reports of the Allegheny County (Pittsburg) Workhouse and 
 Inebriate Asylum. The figures quoted below are for the year 1915. 18 
 
 Recidivism of Misdemeanants in Allegheny County Workhouse and Inebriate 
 
 Asylum, 1915 
 
 Number 
 
 of 
 
 Number of 
 
 Number of 
 
 Number of 
 
 Commitment 
 
 Prisoners 
 
 Commitment 
 
 Prisoners 
 
 1. 
 
 
 88,202 
 
 26 
 
 175 
 
 2. 
 
 
 27,439 
 
 27 
 
 140 
 
 3. 
 
 
 13,533 
 
 28 
 
 138 
 
 4. 
 
 
 8,105 
 
 29 
 
 125 
 
 5. 
 
 
 5,523 
 
 30 
 
 118 
 
 6. 
 
 
 4,292 
 
 31 
 
 117 
 
 7. 
 
 
 3,210 
 
 32 
 
 96 
 
 8. 
 
 
 2,322 
 
 33 
 
 88 
 
 9. 
 
 
 1,721 
 
 34 
 
 82 
 
 10. 
 
 
 1,720 
 
 35 
 
 80 
 
 11. 
 
 
 1,037 
 
 36 
 
 70 
 
 12. 
 
 
 1,015 
 
 37 
 
 69 
 
 13. 
 
 
 753 
 
 38 
 
 66 
 
 14. 
 
 
 720 
 
 39 
 
 61 
 
 15. 
 
 
 719 
 
 40 
 
 61 
 
 16. 
 
 
 513 
 
 41 
 
 58 
 
 17. 
 
 
 429 
 
 42 
 
 50 
 
 18. 
 
 
 423 
 
 43 
 
 42 
 
 19. 
 
 
 384 
 
 44 
 
 40 
 
 20. 
 
 
 383 
 
 45 
 
 35 
 
 21. 
 
 
 286 
 
 46 
 
 34 
 
 22. 
 
 
 243 
 
 47 
 
 30 
 
 23. 
 
 
 217 
 
 48 
 
 28 
 
 24. 
 
 
 216 
 
 49 
 
 27 
 
 25. 
 
 Total 
 
 216 
 
 50 or over. . . . 
 
 404 
 
 
 
 
 
 165.855 
 
 
 
 
 
 " Report for 1915. p. 89.
 
 INMATES OF COUNTY JAILS AND OTHER MISDEMEANANTS 
 
 53 
 
 Iii other words, 47 per cent of those committed to this county 
 institution were known to be repeaters. Of these repeaters, 65 per 
 cent were known to have served more than one previous sentence; 
 and a considerable number, though not a large percentage, was known 
 to be in for at least the fiftieth time. A similar report for the Rhode 
 Island State Workhouse 19 shows over 50 per cent of misdemeanants to 
 be recidivists. The Chicago House of Correction found in the same 
 year 44 per cent admitting that they had served sentence before. 20 
 Of 1024 women committed to the Holmesburg (Philadelphia) House 
 of Correction in 1915, 59 per cent were repeaters, and 35 per cent were 
 serving their fourth or more than fourth commitment. 21 Interesting 
 figures are shown for the last institution as to the relation between 
 time of release and recommitment. 
 
 Time Between Release and Recommitment, Holmesburg, Pa., 1915 21 
 
 Less than 1 week 4 
 
 1 week to 1 month 12 
 
 1 to 3 months 30 
 
 4 to 6 months 60 
 
 7 months to 1 year 47 
 
 Less than 1 year 153 
 
 1 to 2 years 39 
 
 3 to 5 years 26 
 
 Over 5 years 12 
 
 Over 1 year 77 
 
 Total studied, 230 
 Police Record of W. K., Springfield, Illinois, 1913 
 
 Date of 
 Arrest 
 
 Charge 
 
 Sentence 
 
 Date of 
 Release 
 
 Days 
 Held 
 
 May 31 
 June 29 
 July 1 
 July 27 
 July 31 
 Aug. 8 
 Aug. 21 
 
 Drunk and disorderly 
 
 Drunk 
 
 Fined $3 
 
 June 12 
 June 30 
 July 26 
 July 29 
 
 Aug. 4 
 Aug. 12 
 
 Sept. 8 
 Sept. 22 
 Oct. 13 
 Nov. 10 
 Dec. 31 
 
 13 
 
 No prosecution 
 
 2 
 
 Drunk 
 
 Fined $25 
 
 26 
 
 Disorderly. . 
 
 No prosecution 
 
 3 
 
 Drunk 
 
 No prosecution 
 
 5 
 
 Drunk and disorderly 
 
 Violations of conditions of 
 
 suspended sentence 
 
 Drunk 
 
 Fined $10, but sent. susp. 
 Fined $10 
 
 5 
 19 
 
 Sept. 21 
 Oct. 12 
 
 No prosecution 
 
 2 
 
 Drunk . 
 
 No prosecution 
 
 2 
 
 Nov. 8 
 
 Drunk . . . 
 
 No prosecution 
 
 3 
 
 Nov. 11 
 
 Vagrancy. . 
 
 
 51 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total Days held 
 
 
 
 131 
 
 
 
 
 
 19 R. I. Board of State Char, and Corr. 1915. 
 
 20 Chicago House of Correction. Report. 1915. 
 
 21 Journal of Criminal Law, 8: 855, 860-861.
 
 54 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 The Springfield (Illinois) Survey shows the fact of misdemeanant 
 recidivism in a slightly different manner. 22 Within that one city, in 
 the single year 1913, 548 persons were arrested a total of 1447 times. 
 One was arrested 16 times, two were arrested 10 times each, three 
 were arrested 7 times apiece. Case records of individual repeaters 
 make the situation more vivid. 
 
 Such facts as these give us some hints about the people whom we 
 call misdemeanants; they also shed light upon the ineffectiveness of 
 the usual methods of dealing with them. 23 
 
 In the California study, to which frequent reference has been 
 made, an effort was made to discover the length of time persons had 
 been in the community before their clash with the officers of the 
 law. The table on following page is a summary of the results. 24 
 
 The surprising fact derived from this particular part of the study 
 is that although the county jail prisoners were residents of no particu- 
 lar county, only one-fifth had been in the state less than a year before 
 their arrest. Over a third of these misdemeanants had not been in 
 the county where they were arrested more than one month. In 
 certain counties where there is no city jail at the county seat, and 
 where the county's prisoners therefore comprise almost the entire 
 body of misdemeanants, over half had been in the county not to 
 exceed one week. This was true, for example, of San Joaquin, Merced 
 and Monterey counties. It was true of San Luis Obispo where there 
 is a city jail at the county seat. In these four counties 1818 out of 
 3168 prisoners, or 54 per cent, had come from other parts of the state 
 within a week of their arrest. Yet in these same counties 75 per 
 cent of the same prisoners had been in California over a year, and 
 
 22 Potter, Zenas L. : The Correctional System of Springfield, Illinois. The 
 Springfield Survey. New York. 1915. pp. 5, 20. 
 
 23 Some information as to the recidivism of European petty offenders is given by: 
 
 Jacquart, Camille: La Criminalite Beige. Bruxellcs. 1909. p. 75-80. 
 
 Sutherland, J. F.: Recidivism; Habitual Criminality and Habitual Petty 
 Delinquency. Edinburgh. 1908. 
 
 Bonger, W. A.: Criminality and Economic Conditions. Translated by Henry P. 
 Horton. Boston. 1916. p. 523. 
 
 American Prison Association. 1910: 455-463. 
 
 Journal of Criminal Law. 6: 843, 846. 
 
 U A Study in County Jails in California, pp. 20-21, 32-39.
 
 INMATES OF COUNTY JAILS AND OTHER MISDEMEANANTS 
 
 55 
 
 Misdemeanants and the Tbansteni Population 
 Length of Time in County Before Arrest, California, 1914 
 
 Time 
 
 Number 
 
 Per Cent 
 
 1 week or less. . 
 
 6,835 
 2,209 
 
 9,044 
 4,375 
 
 28.7 
 9.3 
 
 38.0 
 18.4 
 
 1 week to 1 month 
 
 1 month or less 
 
 1 to 6 months 
 
 6 months to 1 year .... 
 
 1 year or less 
 
 1 to 5 years 
 
 2,670 
 1,705 
 
 11.2 
 
 7.2 
 
 3,742 
 6,644 
 
 13,419 
 10,386 
 
 15.7 
 27.9 
 
 56.4 
 43.6 
 
 Over 5 years 
 
 Over 1 year 
 
 
 
 Total known 
 
 23,805 
 
 100.0 
 
 
 Length of Time in State Before Arrest, California, 1914 
 
 Time 
 
 3 months or less . . . 
 
 3 to 6 months 
 
 6 months to 1 year . 
 
 1 year or less . . . 
 
 1 to 5 years . . 
 Over 5 years. 
 
 Over 1 year. . . . 
 Total known. 
 
 Number 
 
 Per Cent 
 
 2,489 
 
 853 
 
 1,810 
 
 5,152 
 18,682 
 
 10.4 
 3.6 
 7.6 
 
 21.6 
 
 78.4 
 
 5,211 
 13,471 
 
 21.9 
 56.5 
 
 
 
 23,834 
 
 100.0 
 
 52 per cent over 5 years. This shows that so far as residence is con- 
 cerned the misdemeanants constitute a state rather than a local 
 problem.
 
 
 56 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 There appears to be a popular theory to the effect that criminals 
 possess certain physical stigmata which mark them as criminals. 
 While we have insufficient evidence to say without qualification that 
 this doctrine is false, we can at least demonstrate that such evidence 
 as is available points to a very different conclusion. 
 
 In visiting jails and talking with petty offenders we have been 
 impressed, more than anything else, with their great variety. We 
 can testify with certainty that there is no uniformity of stature, 
 weight, eyes, hair, dexterity, alertness or disease. No general physical 
 examinations have been made of misdemeanants, but we do know two 
 things with assurance: (1) many of them are suffering from some 
 disease or other, (2) the nature of their troubles and the medical or 
 surgical care needed are of many different kinds. Light is shed on this 
 subject by the reports of a number of institutions. Thus in the 
 Kansas City Municipal Farm, during the fiscal year 1913-14, 25 3191 
 prisoners were received, and there was an average daily population 
 of 263. At the same time there were 679 hospital cases, an average 
 of 14 per day. The report lists "diseases treated" as follows: 
 
 Diseases Treated in Kansas City Municipal Farm, 1913-14 
 
 Alcoholism, acute and chronic 159 Myocarditis 20 
 
 Drug habits 128 Epilepsy 11 
 
 Syphilis 32 Scabies 9 
 
 Gonorrhoea, with complications 35 Appendicitis 9 
 
 Carbuncles, boils, etc 41 Pulmonary tuberculosis 8 
 
 Rheumatism 32 Circumcisions 8 
 
 Influenza 26 Insanity 8 
 
 Wounds, incised, cauterized, etc 21 Pneumonia 5 
 
 Chancers, with complications 21 Smallpox 5 
 
 Vaccination infected 17 Synavinitis 4 
 
 Bubocectomy 16 Entiritis 4 
 
 Total 679 
 
 A detailed account of the diseases treated in the hospital of the 
 Chicago House of Correction in 1917 is presented in the report of the 
 institution for that year. Suffice it to say that medical care was given to 
 4530 prisoners for 111 causes listed in the report, and surgical attention 
 was given to 574 prisoners for 128 listed causes. A detailed state- 
 ment is not included here because it would be of interest only to the 
 medical profession. 
 
 26 Kansas City Board of Public Welfare. 1914: 98-100.
 
 INMATES OF COUNTY JAILS AND OTHER MISDEMEANANTS 57 
 
 A study was made in 1917 of 100 women offenders in the Holmes- 
 burg (Philadelphia) House of Correction, which made an interesting 
 showing of physical defects. 26 
 
 Results of Physical Examination of 100 Women Misdemeanants 
 
 Total women examined 100 
 
 Total defects found 474 
 
 General medical 78 Drug using 37 
 
 Teeth 74 Gynecological 36 
 
 Nervous disorder 54 Malnutrition 23 
 
 Poor nutrition 53 Tuberculosis 21 
 
 Eyes 45 Skin disease 6 
 
 Venereal disease 43 Defective hearing 4 
 
 These and other reports which might be examined all point to one 
 general conclusion for the layman, viz., that very many misdemean- 
 ants are suffering from various diseases, and that they are in need of a 
 good many different sorts of medical and surgical care. That in 
 itself is a matter of no little consequence in understanding these 
 petty offenders. But that is about all that we may say with assurance 
 at the present time. 
 
 Dr. William J. Hickson 27 has made the statement "that delin- 
 quency and defectives are practically synonymous, the principle forms 
 of defectiveness being dementia praecox, psychopathic constitution 
 and feeblemindedness." But the only conviction we receive from his 
 evidence is that he found what he was looking for. In the first place, 
 he studied a group of offenders chosen because of their suspected 
 defectiveness. Second, he uses a set of concepts about which there is 
 a great deal of debate. 28 
 
 26 Journal of Criminal Law, 8: 871. 
 
 27 Report of the Psychopathic Laboratory of the Municipal Court of Chicago. 
 1914-17. p. 149. 
 
 28 See articles in: Mental Hygiene, Journal of Criminal Law, Journal of Delin- 
 quency, Journal of Psycho-Asthenics, Training School Bulletin, Zeitschrift fur die 
 Erforschung und Behandlung des jugendlichen Schwachsinns auf Wissenschaftlicher 
 Grundlage. 
 
 See also: 
 
 Healy, Wm.: "The Individual Delinquent." Boston. 1915. 
 
 Goddard, H. H.: "Feeblemindedness." New York. 1914. 
 
 Barr, M. W.: "Mental Defectives." Philadelphia. 1910. 
 
 Birnbaum, Karl. "Die psychopathischen Verbrecher." Berlin. 1914.
 
 58 
 
 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 It seems that as in the case of physical condition, the available 
 data on mentality do not justify sweeping conclusions. However, 
 some studies have been made which help us to an understanding of 
 our problem. The first table is made up from figures presented by 
 Dr. Victor V. Anderson, one time psychologist for the Boston Munici- 
 pal Court. 
 
 Mental Abnormalities Discovered in Boston Municipal Court, 19 14 29 
 
 
 Men 
 
 Women 
 
 Mental Condition 
 
 Number 
 
 Per cent 
 
 Number 
 
 Per cent 
 
 Mental defectives 
 
 23 
 49 
 24 
 7 
 6 
 5 
 2 
 1 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 13 
 
 17 
 
 35 
 17 
 5 
 4 
 4 
 1 
 1 
 1 
 
 2 
 4 
 9 
 
 86 
 
 36 
 
 47 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 13 
 
 41 
 
 Constitutional psychopaths 
 
 17 
 
 Subnormal 
 
 22 
 
 Dementia praecox .... 
 
 3 
 
 Epileptics 
 
 3 
 
 General paresis 
 
 
 Cerebral-spinal syphilis 
 
 
 Alcoholic halucinosis 
 
 
 Psychoasthenia 
 
 
 Manic depressive insanity 
 
 2 
 
 Senile dementia 
 
 2 
 
 Unclassified psychoses 
 
 2 
 
 Normal 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 Totals 
 
 140 
 
 100 
 
 210 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 This table might seem to bear out Dr. Hickson's statement were 
 it not known that these also are the results of studying a selected lot 
 of cases. The next table is much fairer. Pintner and Toops examined 
 132 out of 147 inmates of an Ohio workhouse, with results which are 
 summarized herewith. 30 
 
 " American Prison Association. 1914: 392-393. 
 
 30 Pintner, Rudolph, and Toops, Herbert A. : "A Mental Survey of the Population 
 of a Workhouse." Journal of Delinquency, 2: 278-287.
 
 INMATES OF COUNTY JAILS AND OTHER MISDEMEANANTS 
 
 59 
 
 Mental Rating of Inmates of an Ohio Workhouse, 1917 
 
 Mental Age 
 
 No. Group 
 
 No. 
 
 Per Cent 
 
 —6 
 
 11] 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 6 
 
 Feebleminded 
 
 38 
 
 28.8 
 
 8 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 17 1 Borderline 
 
 22 J 
 
 39 
 
 29.6 
 
 11 
 12 
 
 I Backward 
 18/ 
 
 41 
 
 31.0 
 
 13 
 
 4 1 
 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 
 6 
 2 
 
 . Normal 
 
 14 
 
 10.6 
 
 16 
 
 2\ 
 
 
 
 
 
 Totals 
 
 132 
 
 100.0 
 
 Classification of Inmates of an Ohio Workhouse by Offense and Median 
 
 Mental Age 
 
 Offense 
 
 Non-support 
 
 Loitering 
 
 Petit larceny 
 
 Assault and battery 
 
 Drunkeness 
 
 Disturbing peace 
 
 Embezzlement and destruction of property 
 
 Contributing to delinquency 
 
 Adultery, disorderly house 
 
 Carrying concealed weapons 
 
 Begging 
 
 Miscellaneous 
 
 Total. 
 
 
 Median 
 
 Number 
 
 Mental 
 
 
 Age 
 
 29 
 
 11.3 
 
 23 
 
 11.6 
 
 23 
 
 10.0 
 
 10 
 
 10.3 
 
 10 
 
 9.6 
 
 9 
 
 10.5 
 
 5 
 
 10.5 
 
 4 
 
 8.0 
 
 4 
 
 8.0 
 
 4 
 
 10.4 
 
 3 
 
 8.0 
 
 5 
 
 10.9 
 
 ' 
 
 Even if we were justified in accepting the figure, 10.6%, as repre- 
 senting the exact number of normal persons in the workhouse studied, 
 this would of itself be sufficient to invalidate Dr. Hickson's generaliza- 
 tion. But our position is even stronger, for those classed as backward
 
 60 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 and borderline have not been shown to have hereditary defects. 
 Hence we cannot accept the dictum that "delinquency and defective- 
 ness are practically synonymous." In the Ohio study just cited 
 only 28.8% of the prisoners were found to be definitely feebleminded. 
 From the Chicago House of Correction Murray and Kuh present 
 further data. 31 In the five years, 1912-16, there were in the hospital 
 for treatment 22,404 cases. Among these, 1822 examinations were 
 made by the neurological department. Of the 1822, there were 635 
 committable cases, 4 cases of paralysis agitans and one of acromegaly. 
 The remaining 1182 cases were hysteria, neurasthenia and chronic 
 alcoholism. In 1916 there were committed from the House of Cor- 
 rection to the Psychopathic Hospital: 
 
 Dementia praecox 109 Taboparesis 1 1 
 
 General paresis 56 Paranoia 4 
 
 Senile dementia 12 Feebleminded 2 
 
 Alcoholic psychosis 19 Epileptic psychosis 3 
 
 Manic depressive 3 Traumatic psychosis 3 
 
 Juvenile paresis 1 
 
 Total 223 
 
 It is important to remember that the cases of mental defect or 
 aberration represent here less than 10% of the total who passed 
 through the House of Correction hospital. 
 
 Gilliland tested 100 inmates of the Columbus, Ohio, Workhouse 
 by the Yerkes-Bridges Point Scale. Here is a summary of his find- 
 
 ings. 32 
 
 Points Passed Number tested 
 
 33-49 6 
 
 51-65 27 
 
 67-80 37 
 
 81-90 19 
 
 91-99 11 
 
 100 
 
 If 67 out of 100 misdemeanants were found to be above the level 
 of feeblemindedness, it seems hardly fair to describe delinquency and 
 defectiveness as practically synonymous. 
 
 In considering these various statements as to the mentality of 
 misdemeanants we need assume no responsibility for their accurate- 
 
 11 Journal of Criminal Law, 8: 839. 
 a Journal of Criminal Law, 7 : 857-866.
 
 INMATES OF COUNTY JAILS AND OTHER MISDEMEANANTS 61 
 
 ness. So far as that goes, we may as well recognize that there is a 
 great variety of opinions as to what constitutes feeblemindedness. 1 '' 
 But in spite of the fact that the bases of judgment differ, one thing 
 seems apparent from all the reports on mental status. It is that 
 there is a wide range of mental ratings among misdemeanants, and 
 that there is nothing here by which to differentiate them from the rest 
 of the population. This, of course, is not to deny that there may be a 
 considerably greater percentage of dementia praecox or feebleminded- 
 ness or any abnormality. It simply emphasizes the fact that many 
 petty offenders are normal, that the remainder are handicapped by 
 a variety of defects, and that these defects are found among people 
 who are not considered delinquent. 
 
 Before leaving this subject it is of interest to see what formal 
 education has been received by some misdemeanants. Pintner and 
 Toops, in the study already referred to, include the following state- 
 ment. 
 
 Grade at Leaving School, Prisoners in an Ohio Workhouse 34 
 No schooling 11 7th grade 9 
 
 1st grade 3 8th grade 20 
 
 2nd grade 7 9th grade 5 
 
 3rd grade 11 10th grade 
 
 4th grade 17 11th grade 
 
 5th grade 16 12th grade 2 
 
 6th grade 23 
 
 Total 126 
 
 i Cx 
 
 33 Dr. Mable Fernald makes the following statement of the percentage of feeble- 
 minded among 100 Bedford inmates according to the various standards recommended 
 by different authorities: 
 
 Below 12 years by the Binet-Simon Scale, 1911 form (15 year and adult tests used) 88% 
 Below 12 years by Goddard Revision of Binet-Simon Scale, 1911 form (15 year 
 
 and adult tests not used) 100% 
 
 Below 10 years by the Binet-Simon Scale, 191 1 form (15 year and adult tests used) 41% 
 Below 10 years by the Goddard Revision of the Binet-Simon Scale, 1911 form 
 
 (15 year and adult tests not used) 34% 
 
 Below 75 points by Yerkes-Bridges Point Scale 65% 
 
 Having a coefficient of mental ability of 0.75 or less by the Yerkes-Bridges 
 
 Point Scale, standard suggested by Dr. Haines 38% 
 
 Having a mental quotient of less than 0.75 or a mental age of less than 12 years 
 
 by the Stanford Revision, standard used by Dr. Terman 65% 
 
 Fernald, Mable R. : "Practical Applications of Psychology to the Problems of a 
 Clearing-House." Journal of Criminal Law, 7: 722-731. 
 
 "Journal of Delinquency, 2: 284.
 
 62 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 Now if we are going to include among hereditary defectives 
 people able, in spite of handicaps, to complete the grammar grades, 
 we shall have to revise our concept of mental defect. Out of these 126 
 prisoners, 29 completed the eighth grade. But it is probably unfair 
 to count most of those who finished the sixth grade as defective. If 
 we draw our imaginary line at that point, we find 61 or practically 
 one-half on the side which at least deserves the benefit of the doubt. 
 
 A study by Miss Bryant at the Holmesburg (Philadelphia) 
 House of Correction shows the following facts. 36 
 
 Schooling of 100 Women, Holmesburg House of Correction 
 
 None 26 6th grade 5 
 
 1st grade 1 7th grade 5 
 
 2nd grade 3 8th grade 23 
 
 3rd grade 5 High school 5 
 
 4th grade 9 Special 1 
 
 5th grade 5 Unknown 12 
 
 Mrs. Jane D. Rippin presented to the National Conference of 
 Social Work in 1918 similar data concerning 1205 women and girls 
 who had been cared for in the Philadelphia Detention Home for 
 Women. 36 
 
 In Mrs. Solenberger's study of chronic beggars 37 she found that 
 "there were eight college men among the 135, and 103 who had a 
 common school education; 21 were illiterate and the amount of educa- 
 tion of three was unknown ..." 
 
 Consider for a moment some simple facts about the general popu- 
 lation. 38 In 1910 the illiterates of the United States included 7.7% 
 of all the people over 10 years of age. The study of a ten year period 
 in Cleveland indicates that only 25% of the children enrolled in the 
 first grade reached the eighth. Thorndike's computation in regard to 
 elimination 39 estimated that out of 100 children entering school, 
 
 86 Journal of Criminal Law, 8: 877. 
 
 36 National Conference of Social Work. 1918: 135. 
 
 37 Solenberger, Alice Willard: "One Thousand Homeless Men." New York. 
 1911. p. 165. 
 
 38 Mangold, Geo. B.: "Problems of Child Welfare." New York. 1914. pp. 
 228 ff. 
 
 "Thorndike, E.: "Elimination of Pupils from School." U. S. Bureau of Educa- 
 tion. Bulletin. 1907. No. 4.
 
 INMATES OF COUNTY JAILS AND OTHER MISDEMEANANTS 63 
 
 Schooling of 1,205 Inmates, Philadelphia Detention Home for Women 
 Grade at leaving school Age at leaving school 
 
 No schooling 31 No schooling 31 
 
 Ungraded 7 8 years 2 
 
 1st grade 14 9 years 5 
 
 2nd grade 17 10 years 17 
 
 3rd grade 56 11 years 28 
 
 4th grade 112 12 years 54 
 
 5th grade 133 13 years 106 
 
 6th grade 215 14 years 430 
 
 7th grade 125 15 years 186 
 
 8th grade 224 16 years 143 
 
 High school or tech- 17 years 40 
 
 nical 65 18 years 23 
 
 College 4 19 years 7 
 
 Unknown 202 20 years 3 
 
 Still attends 1 
 
 Total 1,205 Unknown 129 
 
 Total 1,205 
 
 68 remain to the sixth grade and 27 enter high school. These figures 
 correspond rather closely with those from some of the groups of 
 misdemeanants studied. Perhaps the simplest way to present the 
 matter will be to compare the percentage of prisoners who reached 
 given grades with the corresponding figures from Thorndike's compu- 
 tation. 
 
 Grade Reached in School by 1,363 Misdemeanants Compared with Thorndike's 
 
 Computation 
 
 Grade Percentage of misdemean- Estimated percentage of all 
 
 reached ants who entered school children entering school 
 
 6th 54 68 
 
 7th 36 54 
 
 8th 25 40 
 
 High school 6 27 
 
 This shows an average educational handicap. But the relative 
 amount of that handicap must surprise those who, like Dr. Hickson, 
 seem to regard all delinquents as defectives. These data serve still 
 further to emphasize and illustrate the fact that the conditions 
 and needs of misdemeanants are by no means uniform. Among them 
 we find imbeciles and superior individuals, illiterates and college
 
 ( 
 
 64 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 graduates. Admittedly our evidence is not exhaustive, but it should 
 be sufficient to make us very wary of efforts to describe a misde- 
 neanant type. 
 
 So far we have dealt with general information for the most part 
 statistical in form. A much better understanding of the human 
 beings involved may be had from case studies. Fortunately such 
 studies are available. Dr. Baker, psychiatrist at the Westchester 
 County Penitentiary, New York, has reported the results of his 
 work with 50 vagrants. We take the liberty of quoting two of his 
 cases. 40 
 
 Case No. 1. A man who was sent to the penitentiary for 90 days. He is 36 
 years old; was born in this country; he has no permanent home and does not know 
 the address of any relative. All the information he could give about his family was 
 that his father worked in a coal yard, and that when the inmate was ten years old his 
 father placed him in a home along with his brothers and sisters. He remained in 
 the home for seven or eight years. He found school work too difficult, so spent 
 most of the time in the institution "cleaning around." He cannot read or write. 
 After leaving the home he worked on farms for a time, earning $4 or $5 a month. 
 Once he worked for a policeman, caring for horses at $3 or $4 a week. He has spent 
 most of his time about the city dump, hunting for pieces of metal which he sells to 
 junk dealers. When he has money he lives in cheap lodging houses. He has no 
 friends or associates and spends most of his leisure time sitting in a chair in a lodging 
 house. He has served eight or ten sentences for vagrancy in the penitentiary on 
 Blackwell's Island. He is inferior in his general appearance and has a marked speech 
 defect — stammering. He has very little grasp on matters of general interest, and 
 intelligence tests reveal that his mental age is eight years. Clearly a case of feeble- 
 mindedness. He was happy and contented in the penitentiary and was faithful at 
 his work, which consisted in cleaning and mopping rooms and corridors. 
 
 Here is a man who has been convicted repeatedly for vagrancy. 
 He is physically inferior, stammers and is definitely feebleminded. 
 It is little wonder that he cannot get along in competition with more 
 able men. See how different is the next case. 
 
 Case No. 5. Forty-two years of age. His family history is not otherwise 
 significant than that a sister died of pulmonary tuberculosis. He attended school for 
 several years. He was interested in his school work and progressed with average 
 ability. He converses with fair intelligence on matters of current interest and 
 retains his school knowledge fairly well. He worked steadily and in a shoe factory 
 until about twelve or fourteen years ago. At that time he was led to give up his 
 jot) in the shoe factory and come to New York City, expecting to make more money 
 
 40 Baker, Amos T.: "Vagrancy." Mental Hygiene, 2: :-><>?• 604.
 
 INMATES OF COUNTY JAILS AND OTHER MISDEMEANANTS 65 
 
 as an employee of the street railway company. He worked for a few month 
 three or four different jobs, but did not seem to be able to hold any of them. He 
 then became ill and was laid up in a hospital for several weeks with typhoid fever. 
 After he recovered he returned home and remained on the farm for a few months. 
 When he felt stronger he went to work as an assistant boss in a livery stable. Then 
 he returned to the shoe factory but was not able to hold his job for longer than five 
 months; he does not know why, except that he felt weak and sick. Following this 
 he remained in the shoe factory town but did not do any work for a year. He then 
 went to New York City again expecting to go to work, but he spent another year 
 in idleness living on money that he had saved up in former years. When his money 
 gave out he applied at a police station for lodging and was sentenced to a penitentiary 
 for vagrancy. Since his release from the first penitentiary, he has walked about the 
 country. Sometimes he works on farms, but says that he never seems able to collect 
 the full amount of his wages. He does not correspond with his family. He has 
 served a number of terms in penitentiaries for vagrancy. 
 
 This man is, like the preceding case, a vagrant recidivist. But 
 how different in other respects! He has been to school, made average 
 progress, learned a trade and acquired a fund of information on 
 matters of current interest. Perhaps he is suffering from some ner- 
 vous disorder, but clearly he is not feebleminded. 
 
 Mrs. Solenberger's study of one thousand homeless men includes 
 a good many who were tramps and beggars, though not under arrest 
 at the time she was interesting herself in them. Two of her cases 
 are quoted here. 41 
 
 . . . One case may be interesting to cite, that of a Norwegian by birth, 
 who has since died in an eastern penitentiary. We have since found upon investiga- 
 tion that this man, who was asking aid in Chicago in 1903-4, had a criminal record 
 in this country and Europe which included among other offenses: bigamy, securing 
 money from women under promises of marriage, defrauding a life insurance company, 
 swindling several hotels and a lodge, receiving money under false pretenses, robbery, 
 burglary, attempting to dispose of a body of a dead infant, perjury when acting as a 
 witness, and blackmail. His career was a long, continuous chain of crimes for several of 
 which he had served terms in American and European prisons. But the significant 
 thing about this man's history was that during all the years in which he was securing 
 large sums of money by the methods referred to, he was at the same time constantly 
 adding smaller amounts to his income by clever begging. His favorite method was 
 to represent himself as almost starving in a strange city and to implore money for 
 transportation to his family and to certain employment in some other city. He was 
 frail and delicate in appearance and in spite of his true character he preserved to the 
 end of his career an innocent and almost boyish expression which served him well 
 in his "profession." 
 
 il Op. cit. pp. 169-170, 1S1-182.
 
 66 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 Here we have a beggar "working the game" of the starving man in 
 a strange city and needing money to reach his family and a job far 
 away. In addition to begging he also has a record of bigamy, fraud, 
 perjury, blackmail and numerous other crimes. How he started on 
 this career we are not told, but certainly it was not through lack of 
 native ability. Note the complete unlikeness to the next case. 
 
 The second story is that of a boy, also born in a large city, who when his home 
 was for some reason broken up, was placed in an immense institution for children. 
 He remained there for a long period during which he received little or no individual 
 training. Shortly after he left the institution this lad met with an accident through 
 which he lost one leg. We endeavored to help him by securing an artificial leg. 
 His record in the interval between his dismissal from the orphanage and his accident 
 was not unfavorable to him and we hoped by prompt assistance and friendly super- 
 vision to save the boy from becoming a vagrant. It was not until after he had sold 
 the leg and gone to begging again that we learned what perhaps we should have 
 discovered earlier — that he was too undeveloped mentally, too lacking in the habit 
 of independent thought and action because of the long years he had spent under 
 direction, to be able to care for himself even when given an amount of assistance 
 which would have been sufficient to rehabilitate the average man who is not immoral. 
 He did not beg because of his lameness — with the artificial leg he had learned to 
 walk without a limp — nor did he deliberately choose to be dependent upon others. 
 His mental incapacity to grapple with the problem of his own support alone seemed 
 to account for his choice of the line of least resistance. 
 
 Here is another beggar. His immediate classification before the 
 law would be the same as that of the preceding case. But instead of 
 the clever crook, we have here a lad lacking in iniative, probably 
 because of the long period spent in an orphanage. His charactertistics 
 are entirely different, yet his offense is the same. 
 
 Prostitutes are for the most part handled as misdemeanants. 
 The cases cited below suggest some of the many factors which may 
 enter into their delinquency. The first is reported by Dr. Anne T. 
 Bingham, physician and mental examiner for the New York Proba- 
 tion and Protective Association. 42 
 
 Ida J. was brought to Waverly House by a detective as a missing person. Age 
 16 years, 5 months. Born in New York. Father born in Germany; mother in 
 Ireland. The latter died of tuberculosis eleven years ago and the father, aged 49, 
 is in an advanced stage of the same disease. He is intelligent, well educated, of 
 good habits. He has been strict with his children, has a quick temper and is capable 
 of bitterness, which qualities, doubtless, make him hard to live with. . . . 
 
 41 Journal of Criminal Law, 7: 874-5.
 
 INMATES OF COUNTY JAILS AND OTHER MISDEMEANANTS 67 
 
 Most of Ida's life to the age of 12 was spent in Roman Catholic institutions. 
 When she came out she was wild and much preferred playing rough street games 
 with her brothers to helping with household tasks. She graduated from grammar 
 school, was promoted in all grades and attended high school for two months. She 
 found the confinement of school very irksome and was glad to leave. She worked 
 for two months in a day nursery but was not lory. Winn 15 she was seduced 
 
 under promise of marriage. There was a quarrel and after a month her lover left 
 her to marry a girl whom he had previously ruined. This experience added to Ida's 
 bitterness. She continued to chafe against home restrictions and early in the winter 
 of 1916, following a quarrel she ran away from home, going to live with a girl known 
 to her to be a prostitute, who agreed to give her the instruction necessary to start 
 her in a similar career. After three weeks of street life, when she sometimes earned 
 $25 a night, she decided to go back to her home. There she was met by blows from 
 her father and taunts from her sister which so angered her that she recklessly returned 
 to prostitution. . . . The summary of the mental examination notes that Ida's 
 habits have been so well established that she should be able to cope satisfactorily 
 with the ordinary demands of life. . . Repression is such a prominent characteristic 
 that it is reasonable to hold this trait responsible in a high degree for the girl's per- 
 verted emotional outlets. 
 
 Here apparently is a product of repression. She is evidently not 
 defective, but the restrictions imposed by a quick-tempered father, 
 followed by the routine of an institution laid the foundation for 
 abnormal expression of perfectly normal impulses. Without recourse 
 to cases of mental abnormality, we can find very different factors 
 in the same overt offense. The following instance is taken from the 
 report of the Chicago Vice Commission. 43 
 
 An inmate of a house of prostitution at — Dearborn Street by the name of 
 Paulette said she was 22 years of age, but she looks much younger. She formerly 
 
 had lived in , Massachusetts, where she married at 17. After living with her 
 
 husband two years, they had a misunderstanding and parted. She first came to 
 Chicago to work in one of the department stores downtown in the shirtwaist depart- 
 ment, and received $7.00 a week. This sum was afterward reduced to $6.00. "I 
 could not live on that," she said, "so I took up the sporting life because it appealed 
 to me. It was impossible to make a living where I was. And even when I was 
 in the store I made money on the side." . . . "While in the store," she continued, 
 "I heard of a case of a good girl getting $6.00 a week. She asked for more money. 
 She said she couldn't live on that. The man said, 'Can't you get somebody to keep 
 you?' " 
 
 Perhaps the economic factors in this case of prostitution might 
 be described as a form of repression. In that event the two cases 
 cited could be considered alike. But the previous experiences of the 
 
 "The Social Evil in Chicago. Chicago. 1911. p. 212.
 
 68 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAILS 
 
 two girls had evidently been quite different, and it seems plain that 
 reformative treatment must be different for each of them. 
 
 Familv desertion is a misdemeanor in 33 states. 44 The following 
 case is taken from Miss Brandt's investigations. 45 
 
 It was a Philadelphia family. The man had been an inveterate loafer from 
 boyhood, had stolen money from his employer and was a gambler and a hard drinker. 
 He was a plumber and could earn from ten to twelve dollars a week, but he never 
 worked. "Possibly," suggested the agent, "his parents were too easy on him when 
 he was a boy, just as his wife was later. The rest of his family are all respectable 
 people." 
 
 There were seven children and he had deserted before the birth of each one, as 
 well as at other times when there was sickness. Relatives and churches had prac- 
 rically supported the family for eighteen years. The wife had several times taken 
 her husband into court on the charge of non-support, but he was always given "another 
 chance." The woman, herself, was a hard worker and an "unusually good" mother. 
 She could not earn more than four or five dollars a week at best and the only boy 
 of working age not more than three. 
 
 When the Society for Organizing Charity undertook to direct the family affairs 
 the man was under orders from the court to pay three dollars a week but he was 
 doing nothing. . . . 
 
 The woman was persuaded to have her husband brought into court for non- 
 payment of order. This resulted in a ninety days' sentence for contempt of court. 
 
 This family deserter is described as an habitual loafer, a gambler, 
 drunkard and thief. He had a good trade, but did not work enough 
 to support his family. But not all deserters are of this type. One of 
 a very different sort is described by Eubank. 46 
 
 The domestic situation in Henry Slokowski's home might well have tried the 
 patience of any man. When he married Anna she was a rather attractive girl, pretty 
 in a cheap way, and apparently as well endowed for the duties of married life as any 
 of the other girls in the Polish community where they lived. It did not take many 
 days of wedlock, however, to reveal that a ready wit which had been one of her charms 
 in her lover's eyes, might, under certain circumstances, add venom to a shrewish 
 tongue. Her easy flow of conversation when it found expression in a deluge of 
 scoldings and abuse was often hard to bear. Henry was a good worker and found 
 no difficulty in keeping employed at wages ranging from sixteen lo thirty-two dollars 
 a week; but Anna was unthrifty and the contents of the pay envelope, which he 
 faithfully turned over to her every Saturday night, ran through her lingers with 
 
 "Eubank, E. E.: "A Study in Family Desertion." Chicago. 1910. p. 59. 
 "Brandt, Lillian: "Five Hundred and Seventy-Four Deserters and Their 
 Families." New York. 1905. pp. 52-54. 
 *Op. cit. pp. 47-4^
 
 INMATES OF COUNTY JAILS AND OTHER MISDEMEANANTS 69 
 
 little to show for it. A slovenly] ill kept house made a proper frame for a slatternly 
 wife. When the children began to come they fitted into the picture, their unwashed 
 little bodies and dirty clothing matching hi rs. Every night coming home from 
 work to a half-prepared meal and a disorderly household, Henry faced a volley of 
 abuse because he did not earn more than he did. 
 
 Henry patiently endured all this for ten long years. He drank a little occasionally, 
 but not to excess. The social conversation of the Polish saloon where he dropped 
 in for a glass of beer perhaps twice a week, was practically his only recreation or 
 diversion. Even this was made the subject of hitter abuse by his wife, fn and out 
 of his hearing she did not fail to inform those who would listen of how lazy he was 
 that he did not earn more, and of how he wasted that little in saloons and beer halls 
 while his neglected family bore the penalty. 
 
 Possibly Henry would have gone on to the end in this humble henpecked 
 existence had not Martin Pribiloff appeared on the scene. He came into the home 
 as a boarder; he remained as Anna's lover. Obviously Henry was in the way, so, 
 as meekly as he had been a husband, he became a deserter. 
 
 Here is a man guilty before the law of the identical offense of fam- 
 ily desertion. But instead of being himself an idler, drunkard, 
 gambler and thief, he has been for ten years the patient husband of 
 an extravagant, abusive, slatternly and unfaithful wife. It is clear 
 that the offense, the overt act, is a very inadequate basis for classify- 
 ing offenders. These eight case histories are suggestive of the many 
 different factors that may enter into the delinquency of persons 
 technically guilty of the same crime. 
 
 In conclusion — the evidence presented in this chapter seems to 
 show pretty clearly that misdemeanants do not constitute a well- 
 defined type. Even granting that such a distinct human type could 
 be established — which we do not grant — it will certainly have to be 
 based on some aspect of their lives other than those concerning which 
 we have data. 
 
 What different acts have made people misdemeanants! For one it 
 may be drunkenness, for another fishing out of season. One may have 
 stolen a hen, another "skipped" his board bill. 
 
 Most of the misdemeanants are men, but the number of women is 
 much too great to be ignored. 
 
 A large proportion is under thirty years of age, but a surprising 
 number is over fifty. 
 
 Most petty offenders are American-born, but the various foreign 
 groups contribute percentages which approximate their relative 
 importance.
 
 70 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 The negroes seem to commit an undue share of misdemeanors, but 
 the great majority of petty offenders in most states is white. 
 
 There is an excessive proportion of single persons, but on the other 
 hand there are very many who acknowledge marital relations. 
 
 Unskilled laborers represent a large fraction of the misdemean- 
 ants, but there are representatives of nearly all occupations, probably 
 in about the same ratio as in the general population. 
 
 Perhaps half are "repeaters," but there is a constant stream of new 
 recruits. 
 
 Very many belong to the transient population, but almost as 
 many are "old residents." 
 
 Physical defects seem to be about the same as may be found among 
 non-delinquents. They are so varied as to leave no distinct impres- 
 sion. So far as the evidence shows, they are no more numerous than 
 in the general population. 
 
 Native ability, intelligence and education all seem to average less 
 than in the non-criminal population. But the misdemeanants include 
 all grades of mentality from imbeciles to superior individuals, from 
 illiterates to college graduates. 
 
 Individual differences and a common humanity overshadow the 
 evidence which may seem to support the theory of a misdemeanant 
 type.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 Misdemeanants and Felons an Outgrown Classification 
 
 Classification of offenders and the definition of "criminal types" 
 have until quite recently occupied a large share of the criminologists' 
 attention. In the early days of criminology it was perhaps natural 
 that efforts to organize information about delinquents should take 
 the form of pigeon-holing. 1 For purposes both of explanation and of 
 treatment it appears to have been regarded as sufficient to group 
 criminals with reference to a single common characteristic. But it 
 was inevitable that out of the manifold classifications and the increas- 
 ing attention to offenders rather than to their acts a new view should 
 arise. Individualization has established its place in the juvenile 
 court, 2 and through the new Sing Sing 3 is assuming prominence in the 
 care of adult felons. But up to the present this idea has scarcely been 
 applied to misdemeanants. 4 Doubtless this results in part at least 
 from a policy of one thing at a time. But it is undeniable that hither- 
 to much more attention has been given to felons than to the so-called 
 petty offenders. Moreover, it is likely that such neglect may be 
 traced, among other causes, to the maintenance of this traditional 
 classification. 
 
 1 A number of such classifications, including those of Lombroso, Ferri, Havelock 
 Ellis and Garofalo, are discussed by Parmelee in his "Criminology" (New York, 1918). 
 It is curious that in criticising them he fails to take a cue from clinical studies such 
 as those to which reference was made in the preceding chapter. Instead of pointing 
 out the failure of the earlier classifications to stress the complexity of causal factors 
 in each individual instance, he glibly passes on to propose one more set of categories, 
 as formal and superficial as those he criticises. (See page 198 of his book.) 
 
 2 Healy,Wm.: "The Individual Delinquent." Boston. 1915. 
 
 Bridgeman, Olga: "An Experimental Study of Abnormal Children." Berkeley, 
 Cal. 1918. 
 
 Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. Chicago. 1910 — . 
 
 Journal of Delinquency. Whittier, Cal. 1916 — . 
 
 3 Glueck, Bernard, in Mental Hygiene, 2: 85-139. 1918. 
 
 The Prison and the Prisoner. A Symposium. Edited by Julia K. Jaffray. 
 Boston. 1917. 
 
 * See chapters I and II. 
 
 71
 
 72 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 It seems a bit strange that while engaged in overthrowing various 
 theoretical classifications of crime and criminals most writers 5 should 
 overlook the traditional, and possibly even more obsolete and confus- 
 ing legal classification, viz., into misdemeanants and felons. In 
 order that there may be no uncertainty as to the fact and nature of 
 this classification, let us turn to the codes of two representative states. 
 The Illinois law reads as follows: 
 
 Chap. 38. Sec. 277. A felony is an offense punishable with death or by 
 imprisonment in the penitentiary. 
 
 Sec. 278. Every other offense is a misdemeanor. 6 
 
 The definitions of the California Penal Code are almost identical. 
 
 Sec. 17. A felony is a crime which is punishable with death or by imprisonment 
 in the state prison. Every other crime is a misdemeanor. When a crime, punishable 
 by imprisonment in the state prison, is also punishable by fine or imprisonment in 
 a county jail, in the discretion of the court, it shall be deemed a misdemeanor for 
 all purposes after a judgment imposing a punishment other than imprisonment in 
 the state prison. 7 
 
 Obviously this is primarily a classification of penalties and 
 offenses, but it involves a corresponding division of offenders. If we 
 had here merely categories for arranging lists of proscribed acts, this 
 distinction would be relatively harmless. But correlated with it, 
 and possibly resulting from it are several difficulties. First, as already 
 suggested, misdemeanants are not getting the benefit of a good many 
 innovations in correctional methods. It should be clear from the 
 evidence already presented that, as contrasted with state prisons, 
 county jails are less sanitary, provide less segregation, less occupation 
 and less education. Repression rather than rehabilitation is their 
 principle and practise. Second, inasmuch as county care is more and 
 more admitted to be inherently ill-adapted to the needs of petty 
 offenders, state systems will probably displace it. But this would 
 mean two sets of institutions for adult delinquents, unless the distinc- 
 tion between felons and misdemeanants be abandoned. To be sure, 
 
 5 Notable exceptions are: 
 
 Stephen, Sir James Fitzjames: "A History of the Criminal Law of England." 
 London. 1883. 
 
 Train, Arthur: '•The Prisoner at the Par." New York. 1915. 
 1 Kurd's Revised Statuti of Illinois. 1917. 
 7 Deerin^'s Penal Code of California. 1 ( >()<>.
 
 MISDEMEANANTS AND FELONS 73 
 
 suchahoarylradilionslunihliKjt.be lightly ca^t aside. But unit 
 it is of some definite, practical value today, it may well be dropped 
 from our penal codes. Moreover, if it can be shown that its present 
 usefulness is negligible, and that it is really ill-defined and confusing, 
 then we should the more readily eliminate it from our thinking and 
 practise. That it is ill-defined and confusing, that it is a handicap to 
 prison reform and that whatever usefulness it may have had is long 
 since outlived seem to be the necessary conclusions from the data 
 which follow. 
 
 The Classification of Offenders as Misdemeanants and 
 
 Felons Grew Out of an Historical Situation Which 
 
 No Longer Exists 
 
 If one could view the present legal classification of offenders as 
 felons and misdemeanants in innocent ignorance of the tradition 
 which gives it life, he would doubtless regard the division as very 
 queer. But knowing that laws, unlike Athene, do not spring full 
 grown from Zeus's brow, he would seek for the origin of this, which in 
 the light of present conditions alone seems illogical and anomalous. 
 No one has described the history of these concepts — misdemeanor and 
 felony — more clearly than Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, once Judge 
 of the High Court of Justice, Queen's Bench Division. 8 Hence, 
 although his book is old, we venture to quote from it at some length. 
 
 The classification of crimes, as felony and misdemeanor, is very ancient. The 
 word "felonia," indeed, appears in Glanville, and is commonly used in Bracton. . . . 
 I do not, however, remember in Bracton any express classification of offenses as 
 being either felonies or misdemeanors. In later times the sense of the word came 
 to be definitely fixed, though it is not easy to give any exact definition of it. It is 
 usually said that felony means a crime which involved the punishment of forfeiture, 
 but this definition would be too large, for it would include misprision of treason 
 which is a misdemeanor. On the other hand, if felony is defined as a crime punishable 
 with death, it excludes petty larceny which was never capital, and includes piracy 
 which was never felony. Felony was substantially the name for the more heinous 
 crimes, and all felonies were punishable by death, with two exceptions, namely, 
 petty larceny and mayhem, which came by degrees to be treated as a misdemeanor. 
 If a crime was made felony by statute, the use of the name implied the punishment 
 of death, subject, however, to the rules already stated as to benefit of clergy. Thus, 
 broadly speaking, felony may be defined as the name appropriated to crimes punishable 
 by death, misdemeanor being a name for all minor offenses. There were, and, 
 indeed, still are a good many differences of considerable importance in the procedure 
 
 8 Stephen, Sir James Fitzjames: op. cit., especially 2: 192-106.
 
 74 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 relating to the prosecution of felonies and misdemeanors respectively. The most 
 important are, that as a rule a person cannot be arrested for misdemeanor without a 
 warrant; that a person committed for trial for a misdemeanor is entitled to be bailed 
 (speaking generally), whereas a person accused of felony is not; and that on a trial for 
 felony the prisoner is entitled to twenty peremptory challenges, whereas upon a trial 
 for misdemeanor he is entitled to none. 
 
 So long as the punishment of death and the law relating to benefit of clergy 
 were in force, the distinction between felony and misdemeanor was not only an 
 important but might also be described as an essential part of the law, but since the 
 substitution of milder punishments for death, the distinction has become unmeaning 
 and a source of confusion, especially as many offenses have been made misdemeanors 
 by statutes, which render the offender liable to punishments as severe as those which 
 are now usually inflicted upon persons convicted of felony. It is impossible to 
 suggest any reason why the offense of embezzlement should be a felony, and the 
 offense of fraud by an agent or bailee a misdemeanor, or why bigamy should be a 
 felony and perjury a misdemeanor, or why certain kinds of forgery should be felonies, 
 and obtaining goods by false pretenses a misdemeanor. . . . 
 
 Upon the whole it may be said that no classification of crime exists in our law 
 except one, which has become antiquated and unmeaning. 
 
 Sir Stephen then goes on to present from a purely legal point 
 of view his arguments not only for abolishing this particular classifi- 
 cation, but for doing without any classification whatsoever. Without 
 claiming that he has described just exactly what happened in the 
 development of the traditional categories, we are probably well within 
 the facts when we say that his statement is essentially correct. The 
 account of other historians 9 at least do not appear to conflict. Con- 
 sequently the conclusion may be drawn that the classification of 
 offenders as misdemeanants and felons grew out of an historical 
 situation which no longer exists; that reasons which account for its 
 origin are not sufficient to justify its continuance. Our problem 
 then becomes that of seeking to discover if there is a present service to 
 be performed, a function to be fulfilled by this classification. If not, 
 is it a harmless vestige of the past, or are there convincing arguments 
 for its elimination? 
 
 9 Holdsworth, W. S.: "A History of English Law." London. 1909. 
 
 Pollock, Sir Frederick, and Maitland, Frederic Wm.: "The History of the 
 English Law before the Time of Edward I." Cambridge. 191 1 . 
 
 I 'ike, Luke Owen: "A History of Crime in England." London. 1873. 
 
 Kocourek, Albert, and Wigmore, John H.: "Formative Influences of Legal 
 Development." Boston. 1918.
 
 MISDEMEANANTS AND FELONS 75 
 
 Offenses Which Are Sometimes M isdemeanors, Sometimes 
 
 Felonies 
 The dubious position and the confusing nature of our legal classi- 
 fication are indicated by the fact that what is a misdemeanor in one 
 state may be a felony in another. This is no new discovery. Nearly 
 thirty years ago Dr. F. H. Wines called attention to some startling 
 discrepancies between the laws of different states regarding certain 
 offenses. 10 This statement he repeated and brought up to date in 
 1910. u Taking a cue from Wines, Powers made a similar study 12 
 in 1918. Neither Wines nor Powers was concerned with the classifi- 
 cation of offenses. Therefore it has been necessary to revise their 
 data in order to present it with reference to the proposition that from 
 state to state there is no agreement as to what offenses are misde- 
 meanors and what ones felonies. Powers has prepared tables showing 
 the penalties for 110 different offenses under the laws in effect in 1918 
 in eleven states. He selected four northern states, four western 
 and three southern states. They are: Illinois, Massachusetts, New 
 York, Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Alabama, 
 Georgia, Louisiana. Within this group of only eleven states in a 
 single year one third of the offenses studied represent a sort of border- 
 land between misdemeanors and felonies. More exactly, 39 out of 
 110 offenses were punished in some states as misdemeanors, in other 
 states as felonies. If a larger number of states or a wider range of 
 time had been considered, the number of doubtful cases would almost 
 certainly have increased. However, the investigation has been 
 sufficiently extended to demonstrate pretty conclusively that there is 
 nothing inherent in an offense which makes it a misdemeanor or a 
 felony. 13 
 
 10 Eleventh United States Census. Vol. 3. "Crime, Pauperism and Benevo- 
 lence." 1890. 
 
 11 Correction and Prevention. Vol. 1. "Prison Reform and Criminal Law in 
 the United States." Chap. 4. "Possible and Actual Penalties for Crime." New 
 York. 1910. 
 
 12 Powers, J. Orin: "A Comparative Study of the Penal Codes of Representative 
 States in the American Union." Unpublished Thesis. University of Illinois. 1918. 
 
 13 The original sources of the data which follow are: 
 
 Massachusetts Revised Laws. 1902. Supplement 1902-1908. Massachusetts 
 Session Laws. 1909-1917. 
 
 New York Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure. Annotated by John T. 
 Cook. Albany. 1917.
 
 76 
 
 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 Offenses Misdemeanors en Some States, Felonies in Others 
 
 Offense and State 
 
 Classification 
 
 Imprisonment 
 
 Minimum 
 
 Fines 
 
 Maximum Minimum 
 
 Maximum 
 
 Arson of fences: 
 
 Arizona 
 
 Illinois 
 
 Georgia 
 
 Arson of woods, grain, 
 etc. 
 
 Georgia 
 
 Arizona 
 
 Alabama 
 
 Illinois 
 
 Embezzlement 
 
 Alabama 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 Illinois 
 
 Stealing horse, cattle or 
 hog: 
 
 Wisconsin 
 
 Illinois 
 
 Arizona 
 
 Extortion : 
 
 Nex Mexico 
 
 Alabama 
 
 Illinois 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 Misdemeanor 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor 
 Misdemeanor 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor 
 Misdemeanor 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 lyr. 
 lyr. 
 
 2 yr. 
 1 yr. 
 
 6 mo. 
 
 10 da. 
 3 yr. 
 lyr. 
 
 1 yr. 
 
 6 mo. 
 6 yr. 
 20 yr. 
 
 6 mo. 
 6 mo. 
 10 yr. 
 
 6 yr. 
 
 6 mo. 
 Life 
 10 yr. 
 
 1 yr. 
 20 yr. 
 10 yr. 
 
 30 da. 
 6 mo. 
 
 20 yr. 
 15 yr. 
 
 S 300 
 
 S5 
 
 1,000 
 300 
 
 100 
 
 Twice 
 
 amt. taken 
 2,000 
 
 20 
 
 100 
 
 250 
 
 500 
 
 5,000 
 
 5,000 
 
 Wisconsin Statutes. 1913. Lyman J. Nash, Revisor. Laws of Wisconsin, 1915. 
 
 Arizona Revised Statutes. Penal Code. 1913. Samuel L. Pattee, Code 
 Commissioner. Arizona Session Laws. 1915, 1916. 
 
 Nevada Revised Laws. 1912. Nevada Statutes. 1913, 1915, 1917. 
 
 New Mexico Statutes Annotated. 1915 Session. Laws as an Appendix. New 
 Mexico Laws of 1917. 
 
 Oregon. Lord's Oregon Laws, Annotated. 1910. Oregon General Laws. 1911, 
 1913, 1915, 1917. 
 
 Alabama Code. Adopted 1907. James J. Mayfield, Code Commissioner. 
 Alabama General Laws. 1 ( >0<), 1911, 1913, 1915, 1917. 
 
 Georgia, Park's Annotated Code. 1914. Georgia Paws. 1916. 
 
 Louisiana. Annotated Revision of the Statutes through the session of 1915. 
 Robt. M. Man. Louisiana Acts of 1916 
 
 Illinois. Ilurd's Revised Statutes. 1917.
 
 MISDEMEANANTS AND FELONS 
 
 77 
 
 Offense and State 
 
 Blackmail: 
 
 Illinois 
 
 Georgia 
 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 New York 
 
 Gambling 
 
 Illinois 
 
 Georgia 
 
 New York 
 
 Nevada 
 
 Drawing weapon: 
 
 Louisiana 
 
 Oregon 
 
 New York 
 
 Assault : 
 
 Louisiana 
 
 Arizona 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 Wisconsin 
 
 False imprisonment: 
 
 Louisiana 
 
 Georgia 
 
 Arizona 
 
 Abandonment of child 
 
 Georgia 
 
 Illinois 
 
 New York 
 
 Abandonment of wife: 
 
 Illinois 
 
 Alabama 
 
 Arizona 
 
 Wisconsin 
 
 Criminal libel 
 
 Alabama 
 
 Illinois 
 
 Nevada 
 
 New Mexico 
 
 Blacklisting: 
 
 Alabama 
 
 Oregon 
 
 Arizona 
 
 Illinois 
 
 Classification 
 
 Misdemeanor 
 Misdemeanor 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor 
 Misdemeanor 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felon} - 
 
 Misdemeanor 
 Misdemeanor 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor 
 Misdemeanor 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor 
 Misdemeanor 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor 
 Misdemeanor 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor 
 Misdemeanor 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor 
 Misdemeanor 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Imprisonment 
 
 Minimum 
 
 30 da. 
 
 lyr. 
 
 10 da. 
 10 da. 
 
 10 da. 
 
 1 yr. 
 
 10 da. 
 
 1 yr. 
 
 1 mo. 
 
 30 da. 
 lyr. 
 
 Maximum 
 
 6 mo. 
 
 6 mo. 
 Life 
 IS yr. 
 
 60 da. 
 
 6 mo. 
 2yr. 
 
 5 yr. 
 
 30 da. 
 
 6 mo. 
 
 7yr. 
 
 60 da. 
 3 mo. 
 3yr. 
 8 yr. 
 
 60 da. 
 6 mo. 
 10 yr. 
 
 6 mo. 
 3yr. 
 
 7yr. 
 
 1 yr. 
 1 yr. 
 5yr. 
 2yr. 
 
 6 mo. 
 
 1 yr. 
 5yr. 
 
 2 yr. 
 
 60 da. 
 90 da. 
 
 5yr. 
 5yr. 
 
 Fines 
 
 Minimum 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 300 
 
 100 
 
 200 
 
 50 
 50 
 
 Maximum 
 
 500 
 1,000 
 
 1,000 
 1,000 
 
 50 
 
 500 
 
 1,000 
 
 100 
 
 300 
 
 1,000 
 
 300 
 1,000 
 
 1,000 
 1,000 
 
 500 
 100 
 
 500 
 
 500 
 
 500 
 
 5,000 
 
 2,000 
 
 500 
 250 
 
 1,000 and up 
 
 2,000
 
 78 
 
 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 Offense and State 
 
 Classification 
 
 Imprisonment 
 
 Minimum 
 
 Maximum 
 
 Fines 
 
 Minimum 
 
 Maximum 
 
 Lewdness with a child: 
 Nevada 
 
 Wisconsin < 
 
 New Mexico 
 
 Louisiana 
 
 Enticing a female : 
 
 New Mexico 
 
 Alabama 
 
 New York 
 
 Illinois 
 
 Procuring inmate for 
 house of prostitution: 
 
 Wisconsin 
 
 Alabama 
 
 Oregon 
 
 New York 
 
 Keeping disorderly 
 house: 
 
 Oregon 
 
 Georgia 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 Wisconsin 1 
 
 Allowing minor in house 
 of prostitution: 
 
 Nevada 
 
 Oregon 
 
 Illinois 
 
 Alabama 
 
 Detaining female in 
 house of prostitution: 
 
 Alabama 
 
 New York 
 
 Illinois 
 
 Concealing death of 
 bastard: 
 
 Georgia 
 
 Illinois 
 
 New York 
 
 Misdemeanor 
 Misdemeanor 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor 
 Misdemeanor 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor . 
 Misdemeanor . 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor . 
 Misdemeanor. 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor. 
 
 Misdemeanor 
 Misdemeanor 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor. 
 Misdemeanor. 
 
 Felon} 
 
 6 mo. 
 
 lyr. 
 
 Life 
 Death 
 
 8 mo. 
 6 mo. 
 2yr. 
 lyr. 
 
 6 mo. 
 6 mo. 
 1 yr. 
 2yr. 
 
 30 da. 
 
 1 yr. 
 6 mo. 
 
 lyr. 
 
 2 yr. 
 
 2yr. 
 lyr. 
 
 2 vr. 
 
 lyr. 
 6 mo. 
 2yr. 
 
 lyr. 
 
 up 
 20 yr. 
 10 yr. 
 
 lyr. 
 
 up 
 20 yr. 
 20 yr. 
 
 lyr. 
 6 mo. 
 2yr. 
 
 3yr. 
 1 yr. 
 
 6 mo. 
 6 mo. 
 5 yr. 
 up 
 
 6 mo. 
 20 yr. 
 10 yr. 
 
 6 mo. 
 
 1 vr. 
 5 yr. 
 
 500 
 
 1,000 
 200 
 
 80 
 50 
 
 100 
 
 500 
 
 5,000 
 
 50 
 
 500 
 
 100 
 
 200 
 
 500 
 1,000 
 
 500 
 
 500 
 100 
 
 50 
 
 500 
 5,000 
 
 100
 
 MISDEMEANANTS AND FELONS 
 
 79 
 
 Offense and State 
 
 Misdemeanor. 
 
 Felony. 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor . 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor. 
 Misdemeanor . 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor. 
 Misdemeanor. 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Procuring miscarriage: 
 
 Wisconsin 
 
 New Mexico 
 
 Georgia 
 
 Selling drugs or instru- 
 ments for miscarriage: 
 
 Nevada 
 
 Alabama 
 
 Arizona 
 
 Adultery: 
 
 New York 
 
 Alabama 
 
 Illinois 
 
 Wisconsin 
 
 Notorious cohabitation : 
 
 New York 
 
 Oregon 
 
 Alabama 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 Bribery: 
 
 Georgia (a) 
 
 Arizona (b) 
 
 Oregon 
 
 (a) disqualified to vote or hold office. 
 
 (b) disqualified to hold office. 
 Accepting bribe: 
 
 Arizona 
 
 Georgia 
 
 Alabama 
 
 Nevada 
 
 Bribery of witness: 
 
 Georgia (a) 
 
 New Mexico 
 
 Wisconsin 
 
 Nevada 
 
 (a) disqualified to vote or hold office 
 Bribery of juror: 
 
 Georgia (a) 
 
 Louisiana 
 
 Oregon 
 
 Wisconsin 
 
 Classification 
 
 Misdemeanor . 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor . 
 Misdemeanor. 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor. . 
 Misdemeanor. . 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor . 
 Misdemeanor. 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Imprisonment 
 
 Minimum 
 
 1 mo. 
 3 yr. 
 Life 
 
 6 mo. 
 2yr. 
 2 yr. 
 
 lyr. 
 
 1 mo. 
 
 2 yr. 
 
 lyr. 
 1 yr. 
 
 yr- 
 
 lyr. 
 
 1 vr. 
 1 yr. 
 
 Maximum 
 
 6 mo. 
 Life 
 I teatb 
 
 lyr. 
 10 yr. 
 
 5yr. 
 
 6 mo. 
 6 mo. 
 Life 
 
 3 yr. 
 
 6 mo. 
 6 mo. 
 Syr. 
 3 yr. 
 
 6 mo. 
 14 yr. 
 10 yr. 
 
 6 mo. 
 
 6 mo. 
 10 yr. 
 10 yr. 
 
 6mo. 
 1 yr. 
 3 yr. 
 10 yr. 
 
 6 mo. 
 1 yr. 
 10 yr. 
 3yr. 
 
 lines 
 
 Minimum 
 
 500 
 
 200 
 
 50 
 
 100 
 100 
 
 Maximum 
 
 100 
 
 1,000 
 500 
 
 250 
 100 
 
 1,000 
 
 250 
 300 
 
 300 
 
 1,000 
 5,000 
 
 300 
 1,000 
 
 5,000 
 
 1,000 
 500 
 
 500 
 
 1,000 
 1,000 
 
 500
 
 80 
 
 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 Offense and State 
 
 Falsely impersonating 
 an officer: 
 
 Oregon 
 
 Nevada 
 
 Alabama 
 
 Georgia 
 
 False swearing: 
 
 Arizona 
 
 Louisiana j 
 
 Alabama 
 
 Illinois 
 
 Resisting an officer: 
 
 New Mexico 
 
 Nevada 
 
 Arizona 
 
 Alabama 
 
 Rescue of prisoner: 
 
 Nevada 
 
 Alabama 
 
 Oregon 
 
 Running gambling 
 house: 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 Arizona 
 
 Nevada 
 
 Illinois 
 
 Carrying concealed 
 weapon : 
 
 Arizona 
 
 Wisconsin 
 
 Oregon 
 
 New York j 
 
 Conspiracy: 
 
 Alabama 
 
 Wisconsin 
 
 Georgia 
 
 Illinois 
 
 Prize fighting: 
 Louisiana 
 
 Classification 
 
 Misdemeanor 
 Misdemeanor 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor 
 Misdemeanor 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felon}- 
 
 Misdemeanor 
 Misdemeanor 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor 
 Misdemeanor 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 M i -demeanor 
 Misdemeanor 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor 
 
 Misdemeanor 
 Misdemeanor 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor 
 
 Imprisonment 
 
 Minimum 
 
 3 mo. 
 6 mo. 
 2yr. 
 2yr. 
 
 6 mo. 
 
 2yr. 
 lyr. 
 
 lyr. 
 lyr. 
 
 1 yr. 
 2yr. 
 
 10 da. 
 
 1 yr. 
 
 Maximum 
 
 1 yr. 
 
 lyr. 
 5yr. 
 7yr. 
 
 6 mo. 
 
 2yr. 
 20 yr. 
 14 yr. 
 
 30 da. 
 6 mo. 
 Syr. 
 6 yr. 
 
 6 mo. 
 5 yr. 
 14 yr. 
 
 3 mo. 
 6 mo. 
 Syr. 
 5yr. 
 
 30 da. 
 6 mo. 
 
 5 yr. 
 
 7yr. 
 
 6 mo. 
 1 yr. 
 5 yr. 
 5 yr. 
 
 o mo. 
 
 Fines 
 
 Minimum 
 
 50 
 
 500 
 
 100 
 
 Maximum 
 
 500 
 1,000 
 
 300 
 
 200 
 
 500 
 
 5,000 
 
 500 
 
 50 
 100 
 
 100 
 500 
 
 1,000 
 
 1,000 
 500 
 
 5,000 
 
 500
 
 MISDEMEANANTS AND FELONS 
 
 81 
 
 Offense and State 
 
 Classification 
 
 Imprisonment 
 
 Fines 
 
 
 Minimum 
 
 Maximum 
 
 Minimum 
 
 M imum 
 
 New York 
 
 Oregon 
 
 Misdemeanor. 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor. . 
 Misdemeanor. . 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 Misdemeanor. . 
 
 Felony 
 
 Felony 
 
 1 yr. 
 
 1 yr. 
 
 .} mo. 
 
 2 yr. 
 5 yr. 
 
 lyr. 
 1 yr. 
 
 lyr. 
 
 5 yr. 
 10 yr. 
 
 6 mo. 
 6 mo. 
 
 5yr. 
 Death 
 
 6 mo. 
 10 yr. 
 10 yr. 
 
 1 ,000 
 100 
 100 
 
 500 
 5,000 
 
 1 1 1 i nois 
 
 Riot: 
 
 Illinois 
 
 200 
 
 Louisiana 
 
 500 
 
 Alabama 
 
 Georgia 
 
 Grave robbery: 
 
 Alabama 
 
 500 
 
 Georgia 
 
 Illinois 
 
 
 
 
 In the above tabulation extremes have admittedly been selected 
 for presentation. This has been done deliberately in order to empha- 
 size the confusion which exists as to what constitutes a felony and 
 what a misdemeanor. The differences cannot be lightly explained 
 away. The same state may have relatively light penalties for some 
 offenses, and yet be among those having the most severe penalties 
 for others. Thus Alabama makes abandonment of wife, criminal 
 libel and conspiracy misdemeanors; while arson of woods, selling 
 drugs for miscarriage and extortion are felonies. Similar differences 
 appear even within a single group of offenses — e.g. those pertaining to 
 sex. Thus in the same state of Alabama, adultery, enticing a female 
 and procuring an inmate for a house of prostitution are misdemeanors; 
 while selling drugs for miscarriage, allowing a minor in a house of 
 prostitution and notorious cohabitation are felonies. The race 
 problem does not wholly explain the situation. While false swearing 
 and resisting an officer may have been made felonies as a means of 
 controlling the negroes; impersonating an officer and extortion, which 
 are more apt to be offenses of white men, are also felonies. Explana- 
 tion in terms of race is further clouded by the fact that riot is a felony 
 in Alabama, but only a misdemeanor in Louisiana; conspiracy is a 
 felony in Georgia, but only a misdemeanor in Alabama. It is interest- 
 ing to note other differences of emphasis in adjoining states. Thus, 
 resisting an officer is a misdemeanor with a maximum imprisonment
 
 82 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 of thirty days in New Mexico, but in Arizona it is a felony with a 
 maximum of five years. Stealing a horse, cow or hog is a misdemean- 
 or with a maximum penalty of one year in Wisconsin, but in Illinois it 
 is a felony with a minimum of three years. 
 
 In the face of these discrepancies and this confusion, we may per- 
 haps be justified in suspecting that the rating of an offense as 
 misdemeanor or felony is simply an expression of the opinion of the 
 dominant element in a state legislature at some particular time. 
 We may further imagine that "log-rolling," "trading," compromise 
 and passion at times enter into the process. 14 
 
 Some Felons Less of a Menace than Some Misdemeanants 
 
 It is assumed, no doubt, by all who accept or defend the existing 
 classification of offenders that felons are usually, if not always more 
 dangerous to society than are misdemeanants. It is taken for granted 
 that the acts listed as felonies are in themselves more harmful, or at 
 least that they show their perpetrators to be more dangerous people. 
 Hence it would naturally follow that especially severe measures 
 should be taken to defend society against felons. 
 
 Presumably the penalty for any offense represents the concensus 
 of opinion of the whole people or, more likely, of the ruling element, 
 at the particular time this act was proscribed. But as time passes 
 and economic life changes, what is at one time a matter of grave 
 importance may become of less significance and vice versa. Thus 
 among the cattlemen of the West, particularly before the advent of 
 railroad and automobile, theft of a horse meant a really serious loss. 
 It might endanger a man's life. But when the stockman has his 
 automobile and the ranges are fenced, such an offense becomes of 
 considerably less consequence. On the other hand, so long as the 
 
 14 As an example of the practical problems which may arise out of this undis- 
 criminating discrimination between misdemeanants and felons, attention is called 
 to the debates of social workers as to whether family desertion should be placed in 
 one category or the other. See e. g., National Probation Association. 9: 90, 99- 
 lO.^. National Conf. Char, and Corr. 1911: 406. Eubank, E. E.: "A Study of 
 I mily Desertion." Chicago. 1916. p. 59. Eubank in 1916 found this offense 
 classified as a misdemeanor in 33 states, a felony in 15. This situation has created a 
 problem for case workers who are making a definite effort to individualize the people 
 with whom they are dealing. The relatively fixed penalty within any given state 
 and the variation of Legal status between States make it practically impossible to 
 I with family deserters in accordance with the spci itic fai tors in their several cases.
 
 MISDEMEANANTS AND FELONS 83 
 
 population consisted mainly of single men, whose gains and losses 
 directly affected no one but themselves, gambling might be treated 
 as a trivial matter. But with the establishment of families, loss of 
 a month's wages at roulette or faro might mean a bare home and 
 hungry children. Yet in each case the legal penalty may remain 
 unchanged. For the new generation these penalties would then 
 probably be the cause rather than the result of popular rating of the 
 offenses. The way in which such a process goes on with the growth 
 of industrialism is vividly suggested by Professor Ross. 15 
 
 . . . People are sentimental, and bastinado wrong-doing not according to its 
 harmfulness, but according to the infamy that has come to attach to it. Undiscerning 
 they chastise with scorpions the old authentic sins, but spare the new. They do not 
 see that boodling is treason, that blackmail is piracy, that embezzlement is theft, 
 that speculation is gambling, that tax-dodging is larceny, that railroad discrimination 
 is treachery, that the factory labor of children is slavery, that deleterious adulteration 
 is murder. . . . The mob lynches the red-handed slayer, when it ought to keep a 
 gallows Hainan-high for the venal mine inspector, the seller of infected milk, the 
 maintainer of a fire-trap theatre. The child-beater is forever blasted in reputation, 
 but the exploiter of infant toil, or the concocter of a soothing syrup for the drugging 
 of babies stands a pillar of society. The petty shoplifter is more abhorred than the 
 stealer of a franchise, and the wife-whipper is outcast long before the man who sends 
 his over-insured ship to founder with its crew. 
 
 That such misplacement of emphasis as Ross mentions really 
 exists may be seen from an exmination of the penal code of almost 
 any state. Let us take a few instances from the laws of Illinois. 
 The factory owner who fails to have dangerous machinery enclosed is 
 a misdemeanant, and may be punished at most by a fine of $200, 
 even though his neglect causes loss of life. But a man convicted of 
 "involuntary manslaughter" may be sent to the penitentiary for life. 16 
 Fraudulent advertising of an article of merchandise, which may lead 
 to wasteful expenditure of money by many needy families, is a 
 misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not over $1,000, or 60 days in 
 jail, or both. But the man who crawls through an open window to 
 take a single suit of clothes is a burglar, and goes to the penitentiary 
 for one to 20 years. 17 Whoever gives poison directly to another may 
 be convicted as a felon and sentenced to the penitentiary up to 20 
 
 15 Ross, E. A.: "Sin and Society." Boston. 1907. esp. pp. 14-16. 
 16 Hurd's Revised Statutes. 1917. Chap. 48, Sec. 89, 114. Chap. 38, Sec. 
 145-146. 
 
 17 Ibid. Chap. 38, Sec. 102c, 36.
 
 84 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 years. But the seller of impure milk, which may cause the death of 
 hundreds of infants, is only guilty of a misdemeanor, for which the 
 maximum penalty is a fine of $100, or six months in a county jail, or 
 both. 18 The man who sets fire to a house is convicted of arson and 
 sentenced to the penitentiary for one to 20 years. He is a felon. But 
 the owner or proprietor of a fire-trap lodging-house is at most guilty 
 of a misdemeanor, subject to a fine of $25 to $100, with the possibility 
 of staying in jail until his fine is paid. 19 Anyone who leads off a dog 
 worth more than $15 is a felon and is liable to imprisonment in the 
 penitentiary. But the cannery owner who robs children of the oppor- 
 tunity for education, who injures their health by long hours, who takes 
 away the privilege of play, is only guilty of a misdemeanor and sub- 
 ject to a fine of $5 to $25. 20 The same idea is clearly illustrated by a 
 former assistant district attorney of New York County. 21 
 
 Crimes bear no absolute relation to one another. A murderer may or may not 
 be worse than a thief — and either may be better than his accuser. The actual danger 
 of any particular offender to the community lies not so much in the kind or degree 
 of crime which he may have committed as in the state of his mind. . . . 
 
 There can be no general rule based merely on the name or kind of crime com- 
 mitted which is going to tell us which offender is really the worst. A misdemeanor 
 may be very much more heinous than a felony. The adulterer of drugs or the 
 employer of illegal child labor may well be regarded as vastly more reprehensible 
 than the tramp who steals part of the family wash. So far as that goes, there are 
 an alarming multitude of acts and omissions not forbidden by statute or classed as 
 crimes which are to all intents and purposes fully as criminal as those designated as 
 such by law. . . . 
 
 . . . Two drunken men become involved in an altercation and one strikes 
 the other, who loses his equilibrium and falls, hitting his head against a curbstone 
 and fracturing his skull. The striker is indicted and tried for murder. Now he is 
 doubtless guilty of manslaughter, but he is less dangerous to the community than a 
 professional thief who preys upon the public by impersonating a gasman or telephone 
 repairer and by thus gaining access to private dwellings steals the owners' property. 
 One is an accidental, the other an intentional criminal. One is hostile to society 
 as a whole and the other is probably not really hostile to anybody. Yet the less 
 guilty is denominated a murderer, and the other is rarely held guilty of more than 
 petty larceny. A fellow who bumps into you on the street, if he be accompanied by 
 another, and ^'ral)^ your cane, is guilty of robbery in the first degree — "highway" 
 robbery — and may get twenty years for it, but the same man may publish a malicious 
 
 "Ibid. Chap. .18, Sec. 230, 9. 
 
 "Ibid. ( bap. 58, Set . 13. Chap. 71, Sec. 12. 
 
 »/Wd. Chap. 38, Sec. 167. Chap. 48, Sec. 20, 21. 
 
 51 Train, Arthur: "The Prisoner at the Bar." New York. 1015. Esp. pp. 5-9.
 
 MIS DIM I. AN ANTS AND FELONS 85 
 
 libel about you, and by accusing you of the foulest practises rob you of your good 
 name and be only guilty of a misdemeanor. . . . 
 
 . . . Hence you may deduce a general principle to the effect that the charge 
 against the prisoner, even assuming bis guilt, indicates nothing definite as to his moral 
 turpitude, danger to the community, or ^cni-ral un<l<- inability. 
 
 Lest it be suspected that these statements are merely products of 
 lively imaginations, let us consider a few bona fide cases. The first 
 is that of a man convicted of felony and serving sentence in Sing 
 Sing. The case is reported by Dr. Glueck, until recently director of 
 the psychiatric clinic in that institution. 22 
 
 The policeman who arrested an ex-convict whom he believed had reformed, 
 admitted to us that he could not make up his mind whether to arrest the man but 
 finally concluded that, inasmuch as it was an unusual hour of the night for anyone 
 to be out, he might as well run him in. Incidentally it was the same police officer 
 who had sent him to state prison on a former occasion. This man had lost two 
 fingers while serving the last sentence and had fully determined never to expose 
 himself to a similar experience again. A thorough investigation revealed the fact 
 that the prisoner actually had been at work since his release from prison, that he 
 was on a legitimate errand on the night of his arrest, but that his previous record and a 
 threatening lecture by the judge intimidated him into confessing to an intent to 
 commit the crime and so he was returned to state prison to serve another four years. 
 
 The next two are also felony cases reported by Dr. Ordahl from 
 the penitentiary at Joliet, Illinois. 2 ' 
 
 An example of crime committed because of accidental circumstances is that of 
 a laborer who had lived a successful life and was supporting a home and family. 
 He had some bad habits, but in general was well behaved. He was attacked by an 
 intoxicated person, and in the light that ensued his assailant was killed. He was 
 sentenced for manslaughter, but paroled within a year. 
 
 Another example is that of a young locomotive engineer who, on a holiday, 
 became partially intoxicated and out of sheer sport made a bluff with two other 
 companions at holding up a Chinaman. He was sentenced to the penitentiary for a 
 term of from one to ten years. This prisoner was twenty-three years old, had a 
 family and was making good wages. His past life was free from crime and his habits 
 generally not bad; his mentality averaged normal. 
 
 Contrast with the felony cases just cited the following accounts of 
 misdemeanants. Ask the question fairly, which group of offenders is 
 the greater meanace to the safety and good order of the body politic? 
 The first two are reported by Mrs. Solenberger of the old Chicago 
 
 - Mental Hygiene, 2: 553. 
 
 23 Journal of Delinquency, 1:15.
 
 86 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 Bureau of Chrities. The men were not convicted at the time she was 
 dealing with them, but they were actually violating the vagrancy 
 
 law. 24 ~ 
 
 A lad who was a member of a tramp family became paralyzed when five years 
 old. Both of his parents begged and they used his pitiful condition as part of their 
 stock in trade. Very early in life he himself was taught to beg and to exhibit his 
 shriveled leg to compel pity. He was never sent to school, never trained for any 
 business but begging. This lad had an unusually bright mind, as well as a sunny 
 disposition and other attributes which, if he could have received different training, 
 might have assured him an honorable and useful position in life in spite of his physical 
 handicap. But at seventeen, the age when he first came to the attention of the 
 Bureau, he was, and today at the age of thirty-three he still is, a most accomplished 
 and successful beggar, and one who refuses to consider any other means of securing a 
 living although he has several times been offered opportunities to do so. 
 
 A. B. was a printer, aged 35; married and with four children. He had a good 
 work record in his home city; he drank occasionally but not to excess and he was 
 paying in installments for a home of his own when his wife, quite suddenly, died. 
 Being unable to find a capable housekeeper he soon broke up his home and placed 
 his children in institutions. In his intolerable loneliness following this action, he 
 thought he would be happier if he could go to some new place and find employment. 
 He set out with this intention, but failing to secure work, and even more restless 
 and lonely in this city than in his own, he went on to another. Still not finding work 
 he went to a third city, in the meantime drinking considerably and becoming daily 
 more shabby in appearance. When his money was exhausted he began to beat his 
 way from city to city, constantly associating with tramps both on the railroads and 
 in the cheap lodging houses. Within a few months he no longer even made a pretense 
 of seeking work but frankly dropped to the level of the men with whom he traveled. 
 
 When we knew him this man had been drifting and wandering aimlessly about 
 the country for four years. He was sodden with whiskey and so degraded physically, 
 mentally, and morally that it was difficult to believe that he had ever been the clean 
 and useful citizen, with a family and a home of his own, which correspondence with 
 his home city proved him to have been less than five years before. 
 
 The following instance is given by Miss Maude E. Miner, Secre- 
 tary of the New York Probation and Protective Association.-' 1 
 
 Catherine was sixteen years old when her mother died, leaving her in care of a 
 shiftless father. The father's stupidity was shown by his ignorance of the ages and 
 order of birth of his children, and his failure to remember about two who had died 
 in infancy. His only knowledge of his family was that three brothers had met violent 
 deaths and that his parents had "just died." One of Catherine's brothers was 
 described as "thick-headed"; and a sister, eleven years old, was "slow in school" 
 
 24 Solenberger, Alice Willard: "One Thousand Homeless Men." New York. 
 1911. Quotations are from pp. 158, 211-213. 
 
 Miner, Maude E.: "Slavery of Prostitution." New York. 1916. pp. 43-44.
 
 MISDEMEANANTS AND FELONS 87 
 
 and had most vulgar sex knowledge. Within a week after his wife's death, the 
 father had put the younger children in orphan asylums, had told the oldest boy to 
 leave home because he had no work or money for board, and had turned Catherine 
 out of the house. Catherine drifted from one place of work to another in an irre- 
 sponsible manner and at twenty-one years of age, became a tool in the hands of her 
 procurer-husband, soliciting for him on the streets and serving as his accomplice in 
 stealing. She had married him in spite of knowing that he had marri< :d hei friend 
 Vetta two or three years before. A physical examination proved that Catherine 
 was suffering from syphilis, and a mental examination showed that she had the 
 intelligence of a nine-year-old child, and was "slow, dull, stupid, gross and careless." 
 
 Here we have as felons: (1) a man "railroaded" to Sing Sin'j; 
 although trying to lead a law-abiding life, (2) a laborer of ordinarily- 
 good habits who accidentally killed another, (3) an engineer who 
 committed "highway robbery" as part of a holiday "lark." As 
 misdemeanants we have: (1) a professional beggar who refused all 
 opportunities to earn an honest living, (2) an habitual wanderer, 
 drunken and degraded, (3) a feebleminded, syphilitic prostitute. 
 Whic\of these groups constitutes the greater social menace? 
 
 It is not claimed that all felons or all misdemeanants are of the 
 kinds described above. All we wish to point out is that a person may 
 by reason of defective mentality, infectious disease, or habits of 
 idleness, wandering or inebriety, be constantly endangering the safety 
 or health of others, being himself a social parasite, without ever 
 technically violating a law which would make him a felon. On the 
 other hand, a person may become a felon by just once overstepping 
 certain bounds. Some misdemeanants are so defective mentally 
 or so firmly established in anti-social attitudes and conduct that it is 
 doubtful whether anything short of permanent custodial care will 
 suffice. On the other hand, some felons have such good mental and 
 physical equipment, so well fixed habits of industry and sobriety that 
 it is altogether reasonable to expect them to become good citizens 
 again within a relatively short time. 
 
 Similar Characteristics of Misdemeanants and Felons 
 
 Out of the evidence that has been so far presented two ideas seem 
 to stand forth rather clearly. There is nothing inherent in any act 
 which renders it a misdemeanor or a felony, for a good many offenders 
 are found in both categories. Moreover, a felon is not necessarily a 
 more difficult problem nor a greater source of danger than a misde- 
 meanant; in fact, the emphasis should sometimes be reversed. It
 
 88 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 remains to be seen whether there may not be in the offenders them- 
 selves some other criterion of division, some justification for this 
 classification. To anticipate — not only do we fail to find any such 
 basis of separation; on the contrary, some striking similarities appear. 
 First as to age: 
 
 Ages of California Prisoners, 1914 26 
 
 County Jails, State Prisons, 
 Age When Received 1914 1914-15 
 
 21 and under 13% 11% 
 
 22-29 31 37 
 
 30-39 26 31 
 
 40-49 17 14 
 
 50 and over 13 7 
 
 Totals 100', 100% 
 
 Not only is there very little difference between the ages of these 
 felons and misdemeanants, but such differences as appear are the 
 opposite from those which might be anticipated. If anyone has 
 harbored the opinion that misdemeanants are usually younger than 
 felons, and should be separated on that basis, the above table should 
 remove this misapprehension. 
 
 When we consider the matter of sex, it is equally clear that we are 
 not dealing with a basis for differentiation of misdemeanants from 
 felons. This appears from the exceedingly small percentage of 
 women in both groups. 
 
 Percentage of Female Offenders Among Felons and Misdemeanants" 
 
 Percentage of females among 
 Prisoners received in — ■ Misdemeanants Felons 
 
 California County Jails, 1914 3.4 
 
 California City Jails, 1914-15 5.8 
 
 California State Prisons, 1914-15 
 
 Ww York County Penitentiaries, 1916-17 2.7 
 
 New York County Jails, 1916-17 6.0 
 
 New York State Prisons, 1916-17 
 
 Rhode Island State Workhouse, 1914-15 19.9 
 
 Rhode kland State Prison, 1914-15 
 
 '■* A Study in County Jails in California, pp. 28-29. 
 
 California State Board of Prison Directors. Report. 1916:47, 179. 
 
 iii'ly in County Jails in California. 26. 
 
 State Board of Charities and Corrections (Cal.). 1916: 71. 
 
 New York State Commission of Prisons. I'M 7: 404, 426, 354. 
 
 Rhode Island Board of State Chariti< and Corrections. 1915:87, 103.
 
 MISDEMEANANTS AND FELONS 
 
 89 
 
 This table shows pretty clearly thai the number of women is 
 
 both absolutely and relatively greater among the misdemeanant- 
 than among the felons. But there is certainly no justification for 
 making sex a basis for distinguishing between misdemeanants and 
 felons. 
 
 The similarity of the two groups continues in the matter of nation- 
 ality. 
 
 Birthplace of California Prisoners, 1914 23 
 
 Birthplace County Jails State Prisons 
 
 California 5,251 20% 536 19% 
 
 Other states 12,395 46% 1,376 48% 
 
 Foreign countries 9,142 34% 928 33% 
 
 Totals 26,788 100% 2,840 100% 
 
 Birthplaces op Chicago Offenders, 1913 s9 
 
 Percentages of Misdemeanants and Felons Belonging to Various National Groups 
 
 
 MISDEMEANANTS 
 
 FELONS 
 
 Per cent distribu- 
 tion of male per- 
 sons in Chicago 
 21 years and over 
 
 Nationality 
 
 Arrests 
 
 Convic- 
 tions 
 
 Arrests 
 
 Convic- 
 tions 
 
 American 
 
 White 
 
 58.5 
 
 5.4 
 
 36.1 
 
 3.8 
 
 1.4 
 
 .2 
 
 8.0 
 
 1.8 
 .3 
 2.7 
 3.4 
 8.6 
 3.3 
 2.6 
 
 59.6 
 
 5.5 
 
 34.9 
 
 3.8 
 1.3 
 
 .2 
 7.5 
 2.4 
 
 .3 
 2.3 
 3.4 
 8.3 
 3.3 
 2.1 
 
 56.3 
 
 8.6 
 
 35.1 
 
 3.9 
 1.6 
 
 .2 
 8.0 
 1.4 
 
 .2 
 1.8 
 3.8 
 10.0 
 2.1 
 2.1 
 
 56.9 
 
 9.0 
 
 34.1 
 
 4.0 
 
 2.0 
 
 .3 
 
 9.3 
 
 .7 
 
 .2 
 
 2.5 
 
 2.7 
 
 8.4 
 
 2.4 
 
 1.6 
 
 43.1 
 
 Colored 
 
 2.6 
 
 Foreign 
 
 54.3 
 
 Austrians 
 
 11.2 
 
 English 
 
 5.2 
 
 French 
 
 
 Germans 
 
 12 6 
 
 Greeks . . 
 
 .6 
 
 Hollanders 
 
 .7 
 
 Irish 
 
 4.4 
 
 Italians 
 
 3.2 
 
 Russians 
 
 8.5 
 
 Scandinavians 
 
 6.7 
 
 Others 
 
 1.2 
 
 
 
 1-8. 
 
 28 A Study in County Jails. 30-31 . 
 
 California State Board of Prison Directors. Report. 1916: 45, 178. 
 
 29 Abbott, Grace: "Immigration and Crime." Delinquent. Aug., 1915. pp.
 
 90 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 In spite of some interesting variations, it may be stated that in 
 general each national and racial group furnished about the same 
 percentage of felons as of misdemeanants. Again, instead of a possi- 
 ble basis of distinction, we have found rather striking similarities. 
 
 Marital status proves no more available as a basis of division than 
 age or sex. Here let the New York figures stand for the entire situa- 
 tion. 
 
 Marital Status of New York Offenders, 1915 30 
 Percentage of married, single and widowed prisoners 
 
 Married Single Widowed 
 
 Total received from courts 40 57 3 Total 
 
 Transferred to state and extra-dept. institutions 32 66 2 Felons 
 
 Served time in city and district prisons 44 55 1 Msdmts. 
 
 Sentenced to workhouses 36 58 8 
 
 Apparently there were more married folks among the misdemean- 
 ants than among the felons, but the difference is relatively small. 
 Moreover, the fact that family desertion is a felony in New York may 
 possibly account for a good many prisoners' claiming to be single 
 when in reality they have wives somewhere. At all events the relative 
 similarity seems of more significance than the difference. 
 
 When we come to occupation, it seems that there is a considerably 
 larger percentage of unskilled laborers among the misdemeanants. 
 It is impossible to say how marked this difference really is, for the 
 methods of classification are so dissimilar. The following percentage 
 table for California offenders shows that there is a certain difference, 
 but the distribution of both groups among a wide range of occupations 
 makes this an impractical ground of distinction. 
 
 Occupations of California Prisoners, 19 14 31 
 Percentages of prisoners in various occupational groups 
 
 County Jails State Prisons 
 
 Agricultural 4 4 
 
 Professional 1 2 
 
 Domestic and personal 9 15 
 
 Trade and transportation 9 22 
 
 Mining and fishing 3 2 
 
 Manufacturing and mechanical 13 22 
 
 Common laborers 55 24 
 
 Miscellaneous 6 9 
 
 Totals 100 100 
 
 80 New York City Department of Correction. 1"15. 74. 
 n A Study in County Jails in California, pp. 46-53. 
 California State Ho;inl of Prison Directors. 1916:49, 176.
 
 MISDEMEANANTS AND FELONS 91 
 
 The classification of felons was made by the clerks at San Quentin 
 and Folsom, that of misdemeanants by the writer. In the latter case 
 a good many prisoners who might have been counted in some other 
 group were counted as common laborers, because that was obviously 
 where they belonged, if that category was to be used at all. The 
 reason for its use is its presence in the jail registers, and the absence 
 of more definite information as to the precise work in which the 
 prisoners had been engaged. 
 
 Similar statistics of other states have been studied. The following 
 table from New York shows a somewhat different distribution. 
 
 Occupations of New York Prisoners, 1915-1917 32 
 Percentages of prisoners in various occupational groups 
 
 City Workhouses State Prisons 
 
 Agricultural 4 
 
 Professional 1 2 
 
 Domestic and personal 34 13 
 
 Trade and transportaion 13 19 
 
 Manufacturing and mechanical 17 40 
 
 Common laborers 34 20 
 
 Miscellaneous 1 2 
 
 Totals 100 100 
 
 Again it seems that unskilled laborers are more numerous among 
 the misdemeanants, but without knowing the precise basis of classifi- 
 cation in each case, we cannot say how much more numerous they 
 are. Furthermore, it is pretty clear from the above tables that 
 misdemeanants as well as felons are distributed through almost all 
 occupational groups. 
 
 Percentage of Known Recidivists 33 
 In various institutions for misdemeanants and felons, respectively 
 
 Misdemeanants Felons 
 
 Allegheny County Workhouse 47 
 
 Chicago House of Correction 44 
 
 Holmesburg House of Correction ... 59 
 
 Rhode Island State Workhouse 50 
 
 Sing Sing 67 
 
 San Quentin 
 
 32 New York State Commission of Prisons. 1917: 373-376. 
 New York City Department of Correction. 1915: 57-64. 
 
 33 Data on misdemeanants taken from previous chapter. 
 Data on felons: Mental Hygiene, 2: 95. 
 
 California State Board of Prison Directors. 1916: 47.
 
 92 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 Recidivists Committed to New York State Prisons, 19 17 34 
 
 Actual Per 
 
 Previous sentences in: Number Cent 
 
 Prisons or penitentiaries 1,022 34 
 
 Reformatories 731 24 
 
 Refuges, jails, workhouses 620 21 
 
 Miscellaneous institutions 35 1 
 
 Total recidivists 2,408 80 
 
 On the surface it would seem that a larger proportion of recidivists 
 is to be found among the felons. But in view of the very inadequate 
 records of petty offenders this is by no means certain. We can, 
 however, state with assurance that there is a great deal of recidivism 
 in both groups of delinquents. 
 
 If we undertake to compare the physical condition of misdemean- 
 ants with that of felons, we must base our conclusions upon data 
 which are for the most part indefinite and incomplete. However, if 
 we should study the report of Dr. Stanley's examination of 1,000 
 prisoners at San Quentin, 35 and then turn to Dr. Sceleth's report as 
 medical superintendent of the Chicago House of Correction, 36 we 
 would be convinced of this much; viz., that there is need for many 
 different sorts of medical and surgical care of misdemeanants and 
 felons alike. More than that is hardly justified in view of our limited 
 information. 
 
 The data concerning the mentality of delinquents are perhaps 
 more numerous, but here the bases of judgment are so various that 
 we should hesitate to draw hasty conclusions. In the last chapter we 
 called attention to several reports which show that there is a consider- 
 able percentage of mental deviates among misdemeanants. ll 
 remains to examine the situation among the felons. In Dr. Glueck's 
 study of 608 admissions to Sing Sing he found 59% mentally abnor- 
 mal in some respect. 37 Dr. Edith R. Spaulding's examination of 400 
 
 34 New York State Commission of Prisons. 1917: .377. 
 
 35 California State Hoard of Prison Directors. 1916: 96-101. 
 x Chicago House of Correction. 1017: S4-44. 
 
 Mental Hygiene, 2: 85-1 39. 
 These defa tives were distributed as follows: mentally diseased or deteriorated 
 1 1' , . intellectually defective 28%, psychopathic 19* ,.. In the table which follows, we 
 have eliminated the second group so as not to include borderline and other doubtful 
 case .
 
 MISDEMEANANTS AND FELONS 93 
 
 inmates of the Massachusetts Reformatory for Women showed nearly 
 17% morons and another 27% subnormal. 38 Similar studies have 
 been made by Dr. and Mrs. Ordahl at Joliet, 3 ' J Dr. Haines at the 
 Ohio State Penitentiary, 40 Dr. Terman and Knollin at San Quentin. 41 
 As to the last, the classification of 155 "unselected subjects" was as 
 follows: 
 
 Feebleminded 27 17.4% 
 
 Borderzone 20 12.9 
 
 Dull-normal 39 25 . 2 
 
 Average-normal 59 38 . 
 
 Superior 8 5.2 
 
 Very superior 2 1.3 
 
 Totals 155 100.0% 
 
 Relative Number of Defectives Reported from Studies of Misdemeanants 
 
 and Felons 42 
 
 Percentage of defectives among offenders studied 
 
 .Misdemeanants Felons 
 
 Columbus (Ohio) Workhouse 33% 
 
 An Ohio Workhouse" 29-59 
 
 Philadelphia House of Correction. . 33 
 
 Sing Sing (New York) 31-59% 
 
 Massachusetts Reformatory for 
 
 Women 17-44 
 
 Joliet (Illinois) 19-67 
 
 San Quentin (California) 17-30 
 
 This table cannot in the nature of the case be satisfactory, because 
 the standards of measurement differ so greatly. But, crude though it 
 be, it serves to emphasize the fact that mental ability will not suffice 
 as a basis for distinction between misdemeanants and felons. 
 
 38 Journal of Criminal Law, 5: 704-717. 
 
 39 Delinquent. Sept., 1915: 1-6. 
 
 Journal of Delinquency, 1: 1-21. 2: 331-351. 
 
 40 Journal of Criminal Law, 7: 702-721. 
 
 41 Surveys in Mental Deviation in California. State Board of Charities and 
 Corrections. 1918. 6-19. 
 
 a For sources of data on misdemeanors see Chapter III. Data on felons cited 
 above.
 
 94 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 The conclusion that seems to emerge pretty clearly from the 
 evidence submitted may be stated paradoxically. Felons and misde- 
 meanants are very much alike, and yet each individual is different 
 from every other. Whether we classify them according to age, sex, 
 marital status, birthplace, occupation, recidivism or mental condi- 
 tion, we find no very significant differences in distribution. Minor 
 differences do appear, for example, in occupation and mental rating. 
 But while it is possible that there are more skilled workmen among the 
 felons, there are also many common laborers; on the other hand, 
 there are professional men and artizans among the misdemeanants. 
 While the average native ability of misdemeanants may be lower 
 than that of felons, a considerable proportion of the former rate higher 
 than the average of the latter. All in all, we find many reasons for 
 emphasizing their common humanity and individual differences. We 
 find in personal characteristics no adequate basis for classification as 
 misdemeanants and felons. 
 
 The Same Man Now a Misdemeanant, Now a Felon, Without 
 Fundamental Change in Himself 
 
 Statistical evidence is available, wherever suitable records are 
 kept, to the effect that many offenders are at one time misdemean- 
 ants, at other times felons. Thus the 1917 report of the New York 
 State Commission of Prisons shows that out of 2430 recidivists, 187 
 had previously been confined in refuges, 162 in jails, 274 in work- 
 houses. 43 Bonger cites Austrian figures comparing the proportion of 
 convicts previously convicted of a misdemeanor or contravention 
 with those found guilty of felonies. 44 
 
 Out of case histories we learn not only that the same person may 
 be now a misdemeanant, now a felon, but in addition that he is all the 
 while about the same sort of a human being. 45 A hitherto unpub- 
 lished case record illustrates this fact admirably. We are indebted 
 for it to Paul Wander, formerly associated with Dr. Glueck, as 
 sociologist in the Psychiatric Clinic at Sing Sing. 
 
 43 Page 377 of the report cited. 
 
 ** Bonger, W. A.: "Criminality and Economic Conditions." Translated by 
 Henry P. Horton. Boston. 1916. Page 522. 
 
 44 See cases presented by: 
 
 Glueck in the Delinquent. Feb., 1918: 6-10. March, 1918: 1-11. 
 Haines in the Journal of Delinquency, 1: 171-186. 
 Kirchwey in Journal of Criminal Law, M:.<27-340.
 
 MISDEMEANANTS AND FELONS 95 
 
 Job a no Matthkw C 
 
 I lie ancestors of Job and Matthew C , known in the region as of "moun- 
 
 tineer" stock, have for more than five generations lived as squatters in the Ramapo 
 Hills of New York State. The men are characterized as rugged, powerful of physique, 
 and generally free from disease. Their habitations were crude shacks in remote 
 mountain pockets, and their chief occupations chopping cordwood, cutting timber 
 and bark, weaving baskets, and carving scoops, ladles and similar domestic imple- 
 ments obtained in the forest. When the heavy timber was gone, and the brickyards 
 which they had been supplying with fuel began to substitute oil for wood, and the 
 village store no longer traded provisions for their baskets and trays, their principal 
 source of livelihood failed and idleness and strong drink supervening induced wide- 
 spread degeneracy among them. The farmers of the region made and fermented 
 "applejack" in large quantities and dispensed it with calculated liberality among their 
 helpers at harvest time. Drunkenness became endemic among the C, who have 
 been notorious for their intemperance ever since. . . . 
 
 The mother on account of her own obvious limitations has exerted only the 
 most feeble influence on the intellectual and moral development of Job and Matthew. 
 Indeed, by virtue of her ignorance and superstition she has been at least indirectly 
 responsible for their highly irregular school attendance, their social isolation and 
 retardation, their industrial inefficiency, and their moral immaturity. The same 
 general indictment applies to the father as well, whose gentle, easy-going manner 
 and lack of firmness disqualified him for the exercise of necessary parental authority. 
 
 Job is described as tractable and docile and easily governed, while Matthew 
 was inclined to rough fun, "cutting up," and lawlessness, especially outside the home. 
 Neither played much: Job less than Matthew, nor did they mingle freely with other 
 boys of the neighborhood. Job was quiet and somewhat seclusive, Matthew more 
 lively and sociable. They found few companions among their schoolfellows and seem 
 to have made no fast friends. Being required by their parents to work from early 
 childhood, they had little time for play, and what they had they spent at home. 
 Among strangers, especially among those of higher social and mental grade, they 
 have always felt ill-at-ease and awkward, and apparently for this reason Matthew 
 preferred the uncritical society of children younger than himself. 
 
 Aside from being backward and bashful in manner, Job and Matthew were 
 unattractive to other children by reason of their neglected if not disreputable appear- 
 ance and uncouth speech, and were avoided and looked down upon by most of their 
 schoolmates and neighbors as belonging to the despised "mountaineer" folk. Matthew, 
 in particular, felt the force of this ostracism at school, and neither he nor Job was 
 admitted to any genuine association with children from families of more progressive 
 standards of living and culture. As a natural consequence they turned for the 
 satisfaction of their sociability needs to their own poor kinship circle. 
 
 The family has never known a fixed abode. For generations the ancestors, 
 including the parents of Job and Matthew, squatted in mountain pockets until 
 dislodged by the passing of the woodland into private ownership in the form of large 
 estates. Within the lifetime of Job and Matthew alone the family has migrated 
 some twenty times. . . .
 
 96 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 Their usual habitations were rough shacks, sometimes constructed by them- 
 selves, and providing most unsanitary and unwholesomely congested quarters. 
 Except in one or two instances, where the family temporarily occupied as many as 
 three or four rooms, they have never enjoyed decent privacy or essential sanitary 
 and household conveniences. Bathtubs, water-closets, running water, have been 
 practically unknown luxuries at all times. All water has to be carried; sometimes 
 long distances. Toilet facilities are most primitive. . . . 
 
 Even though the family denies having suffered acute want for any length of 
 time, they admitted that "it took all they could earn to keep alive," and there is 
 abundant evidence pointing to a chronic state of want, a wretched hand-to-mouth 
 existence, a constant tendency to undernutrition, and periodic semi-starvation. 
 And this abiding condition of poverty may fairly be set down as due less to their 
 industrial inefficiency and correspondingly low wages as such, than to their prevailing 
 shiftlessness and improvident habits, and their lack of economic intelligence. 
 
 On several occasions, under severe economic stress, the family or some of its 
 members have so far overcome their native inertia as to migrate in search of an 
 improved livelihood. Usually they have followed the invitation of relatives estab- 
 lished elsewhere, who have reported better wages or opportunities of employment. 
 In several instances, on the other hand, notably in recent years, they have been 
 tided over periods of special hardship by securing credit from their employers. Any 
 other available sources of relief, both private and public, have been utilized, though 
 not until absolutely necessary to maintain existence. . . . 
 
 The brothers have found their pleasures chiefly and almost solely in hunting, 
 fishing and strong drink, the last of these seeming to yield them the keenest satis- 
 faction of all. They derived genuine enjoyment out of getting thoroughly soused, 
 and called this experience "having a good time." They rarely applied themselves 
 to hunting or fishing with sufficient zest to depend upon it largely for food: seemed 
 to lack the necessary power of concentration even in this direction of their primary 
 play interests. Incidental to their quest for game or liquor, they also exhibited a 
 taste for roving, but they seldom absented themselves from home for more than a 
 day or two at a time. A predilection for "loafing" is also to be noted. Job and 
 Matthew and their older brothers were practically confined for their sociable pleasures 
 to loitering and drinking with other idle men and boys. For the sake of this diversion 
 they would often leave their work in the middle of the week, and on the pretext of 
 poing hunting or of buying groceries in the village would spend their money on beer 
 and whiskey, usually returning home drunk. They consistently refrained from 
 attending any parties, dances, picnics, or neighborhood gatherings of any kind: 
 partly, no doubt, owing to their lack of presentable clothing, but in part also becau r 
 of their inherent lack of sociability and their general unpopularity. They are said to 
 feel no desire for such forms of recreation, nor for motion pictures, of which the)' 
 have seen but few: doubtless a case of sour grapes. They know nothing of theatres, 
 concerts, books, pictures, and next to nothing of magazines and newspapers. The 
 only trace of the aesthetic appears in Matthew, who is credited with a fondness for 
 making music on a harmonica. . . . 
 
 The family standards ind morals in sex matters arc so la\ that it is difficult to 
 speak of spe ifii i immorality. The men, i.e., the young nun of (Ik- family,
 
 MISDEMEANANTS AND FELONS 97 
 
 arc said to cohabit, largely regardless of marriage tics, with women of their own 
 blood, and sometimes with girls as young as 13 and 14. When a child is born, they 
 may arrange either voluntarily or by order of court to cover up the illegitimacy by 
 formal marriage, and cases of bigamy are not unknown. The women, especially 
 the feebleminded ones, arc quite as loose as the men. The presence of those of their 
 children who were born out of wedlock cannot but affect unhappily the moral tone 
 of their home life, although there seems to be no clear consciousness of wrong on the 
 part of the parent. Little definite information can be gained regarding the sex life 
 or habits of Job and Matthew, who seem on the whole to have had little contact 
 of any sort with women not of their own kin. 
 
 The scholastic career of Job and Matthew was irregular and abortive. Job 
 seems to have attended school between the ages of 12 and 14 — somewhat over two 
 terms. Matthew entered at 8 or 10 and continued with numerous interruptions up 
 to 16. . . . 
 
 Although Job's presence in school was relatively brief, it was sufficient to demon- 
 strate his inability to progress in the primary grades: he has never learned to read or 
 write even his own name. They are said to have forgotten from one day to the next 
 what they were taught in school. They learned to copy the letters of the alphabet, 
 but not to read them when written, nor to use them independently in words. Matthew 
 likes to scrawl and draw and is considered something of a penman. He reached the 
 third reader by the age of 16, while Job is believed by some to have attained to the 
 second reader. Needless to say, neither betrayed any positive interest or aptitude 
 in school except as noted above in the case of Matthew. As to their mathematical 
 ability, one saloonkeeper affirms that they are apt to accept whatever change is 
 returned to them without verifying the amount. It appears that their teachers, 
 while in general kindly and encouraging with reference to the material and social 
 handicaps of Job and Matthew, were inclined to be apathetic toward their intellectual 
 difficulties, probably from a recognition of these as insuperable defects. . . . 
 
 Job and Matthew have never acquired any specialized occupation or industrial 
 proficiency, but may be classed as agricultural laborers, most of their wage-earning 
 lives having been spent on the farm. They began to work casually for pay as quite 
 young children: "almost as early as they could walk" they were employed picking 
 strawberries in the field at 25 cents and up per day. But not until the age of 10 or 
 12 did they work with any regularity for wages. Matthew worked considerably 
 while still at school, assisting his elders on the farm. Beginning with 50 cents as a 
 day's wage, they advanced by the time of reaching maturity to SI. 50 per day, or 
 nearly the current rate of agricultural wages. Now and then they have earned as 
 high as $2.00 and $2.25 per day while employed on the state highway, erecting fences 
 for the railroad, shoveling coal from cars, etc. But not being adapted to such labor 
 on account of its orderly and continuous character, they rarely followed it for more 
 than a few days together. They either lost such employment through drunkenness 
 and irregularity in attendance, or were discharged on being discovered soldiering, or 
 abandoned it as too exacting. They have held no industrial employment long 
 enough to gain skill or advancement in it or to accumulate savings. The more 
 primitive routine of farm and orchard, including as winter chores woodchopping, 
 trimming trees, clearing brush, marked the level of their industrial capacity. . . .
 
 98 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 A search for criminalistic antecedents in Job and Matthew's history fails to 
 reveal any unambiguous evidence of an inherent disposition to criminal conduct of 
 the type of which they have been convicted. So completely foreign to their normal 
 character and behavior appeared the act of the murder of Henry Danziger, with the 
 brutal mutilation accompanying it, that those who have been in a position to be 
 most familiar with the everyday temper of the two found difficulty in believing them 
 guilty. But certain traits, tendencies, circumstances, by no means all of which were 
 admitted as evidence at the trial, throw at least an indirect light upon that otherwise 
 anomalous event. In the first place, as is admitted by the district attorney in 
 private conversation, both were "soused" when they committed the deed. They 
 would never, in the private opinion of the trial judge, have committed or conceived 
 of this murder, but for their profoundly intoxicated condition (in recognition of 
 which fact Judge Tompkins saw fit to commute the verdict of first degree murder 
 to one of second degree). There was neither plan nor premeditation nor any rational 
 motive involved in the act. It is supposed that, staggering home from a carouse and 
 meeting the old man, a stranger, said to be of a sour disposition, on the road, they 
 struck him upon provocation of some kind, and frightened by what they had done, 
 pursued him into the woods and finished him with the barrel of Job's gun. In any 
 case, the crime was perpetrated in a fit of madness, with Matthew probably playing 
 a primary and Job an accessory role, though both were jointly and immediately 
 implicated. 
 
 It appears that Job directly afterwards broke down and cried like a child, this 
 reaction being not uncommon with him when he is in trouble. It is known, moreover, 
 that he had eaten no regular meal for over 24 hours preceding the crime, and that 
 the four glasses of beer and pint of whiskey taken on an empty stomach had weakened 
 not only his powers of inhibition but his powers of independent locomotion as well. 
 
 Alongside of Job's phlegmatic and surly disposition, accentuated by the influence 
 of alcohol, we have Matthew's tendency to mischief and aggression, similarly exag- 
 gerated by drink. It is admitted by the family and borne out by the statements of 
 saloonkeepers that under liquor Matthew's childish and playful manner would readily 
 change to one of boisterousness and folly, and that further irritation or offense might 
 render him positively violent and dangerous. This underlying "temper" occasionally 
 came to the surface even in the absence of intoxication, as was shown by the case of 
 his savage attack on his school fellows at Haven; but it never assumed so vicious a 
 character as to indicate criminality. Job, on the other hand, while slower to anger, 
 is said to be even more ferocious when aroused. According to a very old man who 
 was personally acquainted with their ancestors for several generations, while all 
 these were heavy drinkers and fist-fights and drunken brawls were not uncommon 
 among them, none are known to have committed deeds of violence and aggression. 
 An isolated incident reported of Riley, the father, who is said in a drunken rage to 
 have thrown an axe at his son, Sheridan, has not been verified and can scarcely be used. 
 
 Such minor offenses against law and public peace as would constitute the criminal 
 record of Job and Matthew, seem in almost every case complicated if not induced by 
 intoxication. While exceedingly undignified, their conduct in the village was for 
 the mo I part sufficiently peaceful not to land them in the local jail for disorderly 
 
 conduct. The Justice of the Peace of S admits having heard complaints
 
 MISDEMEANANTS AND FELONS 99 
 
 about them, but remembers no arrest on this score having been made. The attorney, 
 however, who conducted Job's defense in the murder trial, recalls one instance of 
 Job being locked up over night for boisterous conduct while drunk. Outside the 
 village, at any rate, they were known to have quarreled among themselves, while 
 intoxicated, and once fought a bloody battle with rocks on the public highway. 
 When alone among strangers they were inclined to be timid and gentle, but in the 
 company of their kind, and especially after drinking, would tend to grow bold, 
 aggressive, and lawless in their relations to outsiders, ready to annoy neighbors of 
 like social station or even to do them injury. One inoffensive old man in particular 
 a mountaineer like themselves, seems to have been their favorite victim. He en- 
 deavored not to give unnecessary provocation but on the contrary to avoid them 
 when they appeared intoxicated. According to his story, he one day met Matthew 
 on the road with one E. Without any warning or apparent reason, Matthew, who 
 was drunk, struck the old man a violent blow behind the ear, almost knocking him 
 down, and was only restrained by his companion from doing further harm. 
 
 The only recorded case of overt conflict with the law prior to the murder is one 
 of disorderly conduct tried in June of last year by the local Justice of the Peace. 
 Had this case been handled by the authorities with proper energy and intelligence, 
 Job and Matthew would have been charged with felonious assault and promptly 
 convicted. According to all reports, they went to L. in quest of a pint of whiskey 
 on a Sunday evening, in company with one E., a feebleminded young alcoholic, 
 whom they commissioned to secure the whiskey for them at F.'s saloon, giving him a 
 quarter to pay for it. When E. returned without whiskey or money, they set upon 
 him and beat and bruised him unmercifully. W r hen haled into court the next day, 
 they were accompanied by nearly a dozen kinsmen, all of whom swore that they had 
 been at home and in bed at the time this assault had taken place. The injured man 
 having no witnesses, the perjured alibi of the defense was accepted and the case 
 dismissed. Since then Riley, the father, has admitted to the deputy-sheriff that 
 Job and Matthew did that deed. It is believed that they were in liquor when they 
 did it, and the circumstances of their victim's defencelessness is likewise significant. 
 
 Many times in their life these two men might have been arrested 
 and convicted of misdemeanors: drunkenness in public places, sid- 
 orderly conduct, vagrancy, assault. At least twice such arrests were 
 made; both times the case was dismissed, although there is no dispute 
 as to the fact of guilt. When finally they were found guilty of a 
 felony, it was not due to any important change in the men themselves, 
 but because they happened to perform an overt act which is punish- 
 able by death or by imprisonment in the state prison. At any time 
 previous to this they might have committed a felony, had circum- 
 stances been only a little different. On the other hand, it is conceiv- 
 able that in a slightly different combination of events they might 
 never have become felons. But all of the time they would have been
 
 100 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 what they are: comparatively insensitive and underdeveloped 
 morally and deficient mentally; as harmless as they are worthless 
 while sober, and a distinct public nuisance when drunk. 
 
 Common sense and every-day experience bear out the opinion 
 that the offender who is rated today as a misdemeanant, tomorrow as 
 a felon, probably has undergone no important change. Thus a prosti- 
 tute is frequently arrested on a vagrancy charge- — as such she is 
 a misdemeanant. If perchance the charge be that of selling liquor 
 without a license, or "soliciting," she is still a misdemeanant. But if 
 she should steal a gold watch from one of her "customers," she would 
 be a felon. What the present legal classification blinks at is that 
 she is primarily a sex offender, probably a center of infection, perhaps 
 mentally abnormal; and that she is this, quite regardless of whether 
 the particular overt act which immediately preceded and led to her 
 arrest happened to be classified as a misdemeanor or as a felony. 
 
 Economic Argument for Abolishing the Distinction Between 
 Felons and Misdemeanants 
 
 We have seen that the classification of offenders as felons and 
 misdemeanants grew out of an historical situation which no longer 
 exists. We have sought in vain for any element in the present situa- 
 tion which would render its continuance necessary or desirable. We 
 have found it a source of confusion in our thinking about delinquents. 
 There is a more immediate way in which it may interfere increasingly 
 with the most effective treatment of offenders. 
 
 It is coming to be more and more agreed that it is desirable to 
 apply the principle of individualization to misdemeanants as well 
 as to felons. If, now, we continue to handle offenders in two separate 
 i lasses, we must apply this principle through two sets of institutions. 
 If the handling of misdemeanants should be taken over by the state, 
 which seems likely in view of present tendencies, it would mean two 
 sets of state institutions, a double correctional system for adults. 
 Roughly speaking, to attain a given degree of individualization or 
 specialization, this will make necessary twice as many institutions, 
 and probably the expenditure of a good deal more money than would 
 be required if there were a unified correctional system. Or, approach- 
 ing it from the other side, the same number of institutions and the
 
 MISDEMEANANTS \M> FELONS 101 
 
 same expenditure of money, in a unified system, would make possible 
 a much higher degree of specialization and individualization. In 
 other words, the economical application of the principle of individual- 
 ization to misdemeanants (or to offenders in general) requires the 
 abolition of the ancient distinction between felons and misdemean- 
 ants.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 A Basis for Individualization 
 
 In our study of various ways of handling misdemeanants we dis- 
 covered a pretty definite tendency toward individualization. In 
 studying the misdemeanants themselves we found a reason for this in 
 the fact that each offender seems to be more or less different from 
 every other. Our examination of the classification of delinquents 
 into two groups — misdemeanants and felons — lent further strength 
 to the idea that practise as well as theory demands attention to the 
 fact of individual variation. However, we have also had a hint that 
 practical application of this outstanding principle will be no simple 
 matter. In order to solve this last difficulty it seems necessary to set 
 forth as definitely as we can just what we mean by individualization. 
 Clearness on this point is fundamental, if we are to work out a con- 
 structive program which is to be anything more than a "rehash" of 
 those already described. 
 
 The Fact of Individual Differences 
 
 If we could adequately describe each of a million human beings — if, for each 
 one, we would prophesy just what his response would be to every possible situation 
 of life — the million men would be found to differ widely. Probably no two out of 
 the million would be so alike in mental nature as to be indistinguishable by one who 
 knew their entire natures. Each has an individuality which marks him off from other 
 men. Each has not only a mind, the mind of the human species, but also his own 
 specialized, particular, readily distinguishable mind. Even in bodily nature, indeed, 
 men differ so much that it would be hard to find, amongst a million, two whose 
 features are just alike, who are equally susceptible to every disease, who have identical 
 bodily habits. The differences in intellect and character are Ear greater. 
 
 The study of the facts and laws applicable (o all men by virtue of their common 
 humanity gives us fundamental rules for the control of changes in intellect and 
 .-haracter. The study of the facts and laws of individual differences enables us to 
 apply these principles economically in the case of each individual whom we seek to 
 influence. . . . 
 
 I lie customary view has been thai "t) pes" <>r particular combinations of amounts 
 
 of human traits could be found so that any individual would be much like some 
 
 type and miK li less like any of the others. Hut no one has succeeded in finding 
 
 ii' b t . p' , and the more clearly the supposed types an defined, the surer it becomes 
 
 102
 
 A BASIS FOR INDIVIDUALIZATION 103 
 
 that intermediate conditions, equally like several of the types exist in great numbers. 
 Either new types have to be added until there are so many that one may as well 
 let each individual be his own type; or the number of individuals not falling readily 
 under any type is so large that the attempt to classify men by them hinders rather 
 than helps thought and practical control. Only very rarely can anything approaching 
 at all closely to an accurate and adequate account of a man's individuality be given 
 by the statement that he is of this or that "type." 
 
 In fact, there is much reason to believe that human individualities do not represent 
 ten or a hundred or a thousand types, but either one single type or as many types as 
 there are individuals, according to whether the thinker wishes to emphasize the common 
 humanity around which they vary or the exact nature of their variations from it. 
 By this view the effort to assign individuals to a number of classes, as we assign 
 animals to the classes "mammals," "reptiles," "amphibians," "fishes," etc., is doomed 
 to failure or incompetence. The first duty of the thinker is to learn the constitution 
 of the one type, man. His second duty is to learn each individual's variation from 
 this common humanity. In theory it means that man is mentally, as much as 
 physically, one species. In practice it means that each individual must be con- 
 sidered by himself. 1 
 
 This statement of Thorndike, the psychologist, so accords with 
 "common sense," that we almost wonder how there can be any 
 question about the fact of individual differences and the importance 
 of taking them into account. What is there to argue about anyway? 
 The problem lies in the antithesis between this proposition whose 
 truth seems axiomatic and the way we actually deal with offenders. 
 We have seen already, in Chapter I, that misdemeanants are usually 
 handled in a pretty mechanical fashion, that for a given "crime" a 
 given judge will mete out a certain relatively fixed penalty. Why is 
 this true? One answer may be found in the historical development 
 of the fixed penalty system. 
 
 Historical Background of the Fixed Penalty System 
 
 Tn his introduction to the English translation of Saleilles' Indivi- 
 dualization of Punishment, Roscoe Pound undertakes to account 
 for our present problem in historical terms. He ascribes the system 
 of fixed penalties, first of all, to a reaction against misuse of criminal 
 law by agents of the Crown both in England and in France; American 
 codes having their roots in these two European systems. 2 
 
 thorndike, E. L.: "Individual Differences." Psychological Bulletin 15: 148- 
 159. (May, 1918.) 
 
 2 Saleilles, Raymond: "The Individualization of Punishment." Translated by 
 Rachel Szold Jastrow. Boston. 1911. pp. xii-xv.
 
 104 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 Professor Saleilles' account of the relation of the classical theory to French penal 
 legislation should be of especial interest in America. Substantially all that he says 
 as to the Penal Codes of 1791 and 1810 applies equally to our criminal legislation. 
 For the New York legislators had the French Code of 1810 before them. Livingston's 
 discussions, based on French sources, were before them, and the theories on which 
 the French legislation proceeded were familiar and congenial. It follows that the 
 American criminalist has little to add. Perhaps two points deserve notice. In the 
 first place, the desire to preclude arbitrary judicial action was especially strong in 
 America, because in the hands of appointees of the Crown the criminal law had been 
 found an efficient engine of political and religious persecution. Unhappily, our law 
 as to misdemeanors had developed in the court of Star Chamber, and the contests 
 between the common law courts and the Crown in the seventeenth century had 
 convinced the next age that there was no safety except in hard and fast legal formulas 
 applied mechanically. . . . But in France also the classical theory was a reaction 
 against abuse of absolute power. In consequence the American reader will find the 
 author in sympathy with views which have come to us through our legal history. 
 For our experience has not been unique. It is an inherent difficulty in the adminis- 
 tration of punitive justice that criminal law has a much closer connection with 
 politics than has the law of civil relations. There is no great danger of oppression 
 through civil litigation. There is constant fear of oppression through the criminal 
 law. Not only is one class suspicious of attempts by another to force its ideas upon 
 the community under penalty of prosecution, but the power of the majority to visit 
 with punishment practices which a strong minority consider in no wise objectionable 
 is liable to abuse, and, whether rightly or wrongly used, puts a strain upon criminal 
 law and administration. All criminalists must reckon with this difficulty. Perhaps 
 American lawyers insist upon it unduly, to the exclusion of other points of no less 
 importance. But revolutionary France had the same ideas, and by consequence 
 the author canvasses the very objections and discusses the very requirements of 
 legal policy which we also must consider. 
 
 Secondly, Professor Pound points out the influence of the Puritans. 
 They felt keenly the abuses of unrestricted ecclesiastical and political 
 authority. But they substituted for the absolute bishop and king 
 merely another absolute, the letter of the law; for the tyranny of the 
 official, the tyranny of the code. The influence of all this upon penal 
 codes is a result of the dominance of Puritan ideas during the forma- 
 tive period of the common law. 
 
 Secondly, we must take account of the part played by Puritanism in the develop- 
 ment of Anglo-American law. The relation of Puritanism to the common law is 
 quite as important :i pari of the philosophical history of our legal system as the 
 relation of Stoic philosophy to Roman law is part of the history of that system. In 
 
 l cast we have to do with tin- dominant Fashion of thinking upon fundamental 
 questions during a critical period of growth. The two growing periods of our legal 
 system, the two periods in which the rules and doctrines tli.it obtain today were 
 formative, were the classical common law period, the end of the sixteenth and
 
 A BASIS FOR INDIVID1 U.IZATION 105 
 
 beginning of seventeenth century, and tin- America common-law period, the period 
 of legal development in America thai i omes to an end after the Civil War. But the 
 age of Coke was the age of the Puritan in England, and the period that ends v,ith 
 our Civil War was the age of the Puritan in America. Here he was in the majority 
 and made the institutions to his own liking. It is no ac cident, therefore, that common- 
 law principles have often attained their most complete logical development in America. 
 Hence the contribution of individualist religious dogma to the criminal law was much 
 greater in America than in France. The individualization in practice which was 
 permitted by the canon-law conception of searching and disciplining the conscience 
 was wholly alien to the Puritan. For above all things he was jealous of the magis- 
 trate. If moral questions were to be dealt with as concrete cases to be individualized 
 in their solution, subordination of those whose cases were decided to those who had 
 the power of weighing the circumstances of the concrete case and individualizing 
 the principle to meet that case might result. His idea of "consociation but not 
 subordination" demanded that a fixed, absolute, universal rule, which the individual 
 had contracted to abide, be resorted to. "Nowhere," says Morley, "has Puritani-m 
 done us more harm than in thus leading us to take all breadth and color and diversity 
 and fine discrimination out of our judgments of men, reducing them to thin, narrow 
 and superficial pronouncements upon the letter of their morality or the precise con- 
 formity of their opinions to accepted standards of truth." But this is exactly the 
 method of the classical theory in criminal law. Indeed, our common-law jurists 
 have taken it to be fundamental in legal theory. Thus Amos says: "The same penalty 
 for a broken law is exacted from persons of an indefinite number of shades of moral 
 guilt, from persons of high education and culture, well acquainted with the provisions 
 of the law they despise, and from the humblest and most illiterate persons in the 
 country." And, be it noted, he states this as a matter of course, with no hint that 
 we may attain anything better. Thus political events and the Puritanism of nine- 
 teenth-century America tightened the hold upon us of a theory which on other grounds 
 for a time was accepted everywhere. For to find a proper mean between a system 
 of hard and fast rules and one of completely individualized justice is one of the 
 inherent difficulties of all administration of justice according to law. And in the 
 movement to and fro from the over-arbitrary to the over-mechanical, the eighteenth 
 and nineteenth centuries stood for the latter. 3 
 
 This statement of Pound's may be supplemented by two other 
 ideas. McLaughlin points out 4 that the "social compact" was a 
 concept much used in our constitution-making. This doctrine is one 
 that would lend itself readily to the idea of establishing fixed penalties 
 for breach of the social contract. Locke and Rousseau had pro- 
 pounded a theory which was popular in America at the time our state 
 and national governments were being formed. It seems reasonable to 
 suppose that it influenced the penal codes as well. 
 
 * Pound, loc. cit. 
 
 4 McLaughlin, A. C: "The Courts, The Constitution and Parties." See 
 especially Chapter IV.
 
 106 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 The general suspicion of government, whether in the person of 
 executives or judges, was very real in early American history. The 
 origin of this attitude has already been suggested by Pound and is 
 further described by such historians as Taswell-Langmead. 5 This 
 resulted among other things in the "due process of law" of the fifth 
 amendment to the Federal Constitution and to similar clauses in 
 state constitutions. Taylor 6 shows how the reaction against Star 
 Chamber trials and similar abuses under Charles II and James II 
 were influential in giving prominence in American law to the two 
 ideas "due process of law" and "equal protection of the law." He 
 also makes it clear that these concepts had something to do with the 
 fixing of definite penalties in criminal law. 
 
 Thus the historians have helped us to account for the fixed penalty 
 system in terms of (1) the reaction against arbitrary and oppressive 
 judges, (2) the Puritan insistance upon fixed rules of conduct as a 
 means of escaping from episcopal domination, (3) the theory of a 
 social contract, (4) the doctrines "due process of law" and "equal 
 protection of the laws." This seems to explain pretty well the origin 
 of a penal system that does not harmonize with the "common sense" 
 observations of individual differences. It has restated our problem, 
 but has not given us any hypothesis for its solution. But here we have 
 the elements of our problem: on the one hand, fixed penalties for 
 given offenses; on the other, recognition of the fact of individual 
 differences. 
 
 Practical Difficulties of Individualization 1 
 
 The evidence presented to show what sort of people misdemean- 
 ants are would perhaps be for many an adequate basis of individuali- 
 zation, especially when correlated with a statement like Thorndike's. 
 Thus, we found misdemeanants, we well as felons, of both sexes, all 
 ages, both native and foreign born, black and white, married and 
 
 6 Taswell-Langmead, Thos. Pitt: "English Constitutional History. London. 
 1896. See especially pp. 464 ff. 
 
 • Taylor, Hannis: "Due Process of Law and the Equal Protection of the Laws." 
 Chicago. 1917. See especially pp. 55-6, 831-840. 
 
 7 These are stated in some detail by Parmelee in his "Criminology" (New York. 
 1918), especially on page 394 and following. We are leaving a full discussion of 
 these and an answer to Parmelee's "objections" until we shall have outlined our 
 own program of individualization. Suffice it to say here that we do not accept the 
 limitations set by Parmelee.
 
 A BASIS FOR INDIVIDUALIZATION 107 
 
 single, skilled and unskilled, recidivists and first offenders, old resi- 
 dents and transients, sick and well, f< eble minded and normal, illiter- 
 ate and college graduates. Moreover, ad thi m being arrested 
 for a wide range of offenses from fishing without a license to threaten- 
 ing death, from indecent exposure to i mbezzlement, from riding on 
 the sidewalk to habitual drunkenness. That is, it seems clear that 
 when we come to know these petty offenders with even an approach to 
 intimacy that there actually are so many different kinds of them — so 
 many different causal factors, and so many different combinations of 
 them — that classification is well-nigh impossible. On the other hand, 
 the practical requirements of administration compel us to resort to 
 something in the nature of classification. From the financial view- 
 point alone a separate scheme of treatment for each offender seems 
 to be quite impossible. Methods of going at the same problem in the 
 schools, however, suggest that individualization need not mean just 
 this But more as to that anon. Here we have a very definite problem 
 of financing a scheme of individualization. 
 
 There are a number of ways in which the financial difficulty may 
 be considerably modified. First of all, there is the possibility of unit- 
 ing the systems of handling misdemeanants and felons, utilizing 
 existing plants so far as possible, and turning money away from the 
 up-keep of congregate county jails into the maintenance of state 
 institutions established for the care of special groups of offenders. 
 In the second place, we may count upon the productive employment 
 of a large number of prisoners to reduce costs. Such experience as 
 that of the Detroit House of Correction and the Kansas City Munici- 
 pal Farm 8 indicates that the large expense of maintaining idle men 
 in county jails is unnecessary. Third there is the probability that 
 indeterminate sentences will reduce the amount of recidivism and 
 ultimately reduce the number of arrests and trials with their attend- 
 ant costs, thus making more money available for treatment. Also 
 when recidivists are counted only once, the total number of petty, as 
 well as serious, offenders will be found much smaller than now 
 appears. Fourth, we look for a saving to society by lessing the losses 
 due to theft, habitual idleness, etc., and also by immediate produc- 
 tivity while undergoing correctional treatment, as well as by rehabili- 
 
 8 Detroit House of Correction. Annual Reports. 1862 — . 
 Kansas City Board of Public Welfare. Annual Reports. 1910 — .
 
 108 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 tation of at least a fraction of those who are now parasites. We may 
 count also upon other factors such as "prohibition," more intelligent 
 economic legislation, segregation of mental defectives, educated 
 police, simplification of criminal procedure, etc., to reduce the number 
 of offenders and the costs of caring for them. 
 
 But after we shall have made all these changes for the purpose of 
 economy we will still have the problem of individualization. Clearly 
 these changes alone will not remove our difficulties. Perhaps the 
 trouble lies in us, in our definition of the individual. So far we have 
 spoken almost as though he were a distinct entity. We have empha- 
 sized his distinctive characteristics, but we have rather ignored those 
 respects in which he is like other people. We have emphasized men's 
 individual differences, but we have neglected their common humanity. 
 This suggests that a restatement of our problem in terms of social 
 relations will bring us nearer a solution. 
 
 The Problem in Terms of Social Relations 
 
 Among the people we know well we recognize marked personal 
 distinctions. We have no difficulty in stating their individual pecu- 
 liarities. Our relations with them may be described as concrete. 
 To us they are specific people, not types. Our mental imagery of 
 them is clear-cut and filled out in practically all details. We know 
 them as brothers and as parents, as merchants and as church-members 
 as members of lodges and clubs, and in nearly every capacity which 
 they may fill. We have in consciousness a relatively complete 
 picture of every member of our primary group. Perhaps this sort of 
 relationship is most clearly seen in some isolated community such as 
 may be found among the Cumberland Mountains of Kentucky. In 
 the more remote mountain valleys there are practically no strangers, 
 everybody knows everybody else, class distinctions do not exist, 
 poverty is there but not pauperism, criminal courts have very few- 
 cases. There is a delightful intimacy, a charming spirit of neighbor- 
 liness in such a primary group. In the large industrial community the 
 situation is distinctly different. Yet here too intimacy is possible. 
 Only, those with whom we are intimate may not have anything to do 
 with each other, and some of their best friends may be strangers to us. 
 Hut for each of us there is a primary group within which our relations 
 are concrete. Here genuine sympathy may grow up, because we are
 
 A BASIS FOR INDIVIDUALIZATION 109 
 
 able to put ourselves rather completely into each other's places. 
 Our contacts are simple, straightforward, definite, comprehensive. 
 
 But outside this inner circle, which seems to exist for each one of 
 us, we have relations of a different sort. There are, for example, the 
 relations of salesman and customer, lawyer and client, physic ian and 
 patient, social worker and "case." It is possible for us to know people 
 merely as customers, merely as clients, merely as patients, merely as 
 cases applying for relief. In that event, our relations may be <!< - 
 cribed as abstract. Such abstract relations may perhaps be best 
 illustrated by our ephemeral contact with the beggar, or by the 
 unyielding attitudes involved in race prejudice. Our attitude is 
 formal. We are considering types rather than specific human beings. 
 The imagery is more hazy, and many, if not most, details are lacking. 
 One phase of human life has been abstracted more or less completely 
 from all the rest. We have established habits of acting toward each 
 type, which make it possible to ignore individual differences. 9 
 
 Now our relations with delinquents are usually of the latter sort. 
 For the most part they do not belong to our group of friends and 
 acquaintances. Hence our attitudes toward them are pretty formal 
 and conventional. We do not bother about seeing them as complete 
 human beings. There is no conscious adjustment of a personal sort 
 between them and us. They are for us a type — or perhaps several 
 types. We ignore their individual characteristics and consider them 
 abstractly with reference to a single aspect of their lives. Thus we 
 rarely consider the possible relations of offenders as husbands, as 
 fathers, as neighbors, as workmen, as voters. They are to us simply 
 "criminals." We have fairly definite habits of acting toward them, 
 which relieve us of the necessity for exerting ourselves as we do in 
 social intercourse with those of our own group. 10 These established 
 habits and conventional attitudes correspond to the fixed penalties 
 of the law. 
 
 9 Perhaps it would be more accurate throughout this discussion to say that we 
 know a man's activity rather than his personality. That would mean that in these 
 abstract relations we respond to only one set of actions in the other person. We 
 respond merely to the purchasing, the requesting of legal advice, the seeking of 
 medical assistance, the appealing for financial aid. Rut if our relations were con- 
 crete, we would respond to every sort of activity in the persons with whom we deal. 
 
 10 Parsons, Elsie Clews: "Fear and Conventionality." New York. 1914.
 
 110 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 One aspect of our problem, then, may be put thus: Offenders are 
 neither members of the larger social organization, nor are they com- 
 pletely outside of it. We are not willing to thrust them out entirely, 
 but we have no suitable technique for taking them in. Perhaps our 
 unsuccessful dealings with them are due to this anomalous situation. 
 Can we extend our truly concrete relations so as to include delin- 
 quents? Is it physically possible for us to know intimately an indefi- 
 nite number of people? Are there not more or less definite limitations 
 upon primary groups? It seems that for those beyond the range of 
 personal acquaintance we must fall back upon abstract relations. 
 But what sort of abstractions will enable us to sovle this problem? 
 Are they to be the abstractions of social caste, religion, race, or 
 something of that sort? or can we acquire attitudes which will make 
 all men potential members of our primary group? Specifically, with 
 reference to offenders, what technique will make it possible to develop 
 concrete relations between a delinquent and one who has never broken 
 a law? 11 This does not imply any expectation that everyone shall 
 become intimate with everyone else. But it does anticipate a situa- 
 tion in which there is as much possibility of a "criminal" and a 
 "law T -abiding citizen" "getting together," as there is of two "hoboes" 
 sharing their coffee, or of two business men joining the same club. 
 
 Another phase of our attitude toward delinquents is important 
 in this connection. They are, to all intents and purposes, enemies. 
 We make allowances for our friends, but not for our enemies. We 
 "understand" our friends. We balance one trait, or one activity, 
 against another. Because we know their lives in the large, we are not 
 unduly impressed by single acts or single habits. Thus, if a man 
 belongs to our political party, we excuse him for stuffing the ballot- 
 box; we see no harm in his frequenting houses of ill-fame; we pass 
 lightly over his bribery of a city council on the ground that he is a 
 
 11 This is not an attempt to blink the fact that the relations between prison 
 officials, for example, and prisoners are necessarily somewhat abstract and formal. 
 It is an attempt to state the sort of thing that must happen if the offender is to be 
 delivered from the attitude of an outcast and enemy of the social order. Perhaps 
 the prison officials, perhaps even the parole officer will never be really intimate with 
 the delinquent. But somehow, it seems, there should be a way for the erring one 
 to come into close personal relations with the "ninety and nine." At least, we may 
 fairly raise the question: Is it possible to develop concrete relations between a delin- 
 quent and a law-abiding citizen? And if so, how can it be done?
 
 A BASIS FOR INDIVIDUALIZATION 1 1 1 
 
 good father; we pardon his occasional drunken sprees because lie is a 
 good fellow. But woe (o him, if he be of the opposition. In our 
 political enemies, ballot-box graft is an unpardonable crime sexual 
 vice is an unforgiveable offense, bribery is a felony, drunk< nness is a 
 sign of degeneracy. Observation of any such trait in an enemy spurs 
 us (o violent denunciation. Of course, this is most obviously true in 
 the case of national enemies. We boil with righteous indignation at 
 the harsh deeds of the foe, and condone the same acts on the part of 
 our compatriots. Pillaging and ravaging Northern France was a 
 horrible crime against humanity on the part of the Germans, but the 
 rape and destruction in Posen was a necessary incident of the war as 
 carried on by the Russians. 
 
 This does not mean that the excusing of crimes and the coddling 
 of criminals is desirable. It is simply emphasizing a difference that 
 really exists between our attitude toward comrades and our attitude 
 toward enemies. There is, of course, still another situation in which 
 we do not expel or destroy the offender, but neither do we condone 
 his action. We want to retain him as a member of the group; we 
 recognize that he can render valuable services. But we find it neces- 
 sary to prevent certain actions on his part and to make him conform 
 more completely to the customs of the group. 
 
 To state it in another way — if we object to some trait or action of 
 a member of our own group, we do not forthwith break loose in 
 unchecked fury. On the contrary, we are restrained by other con- 
 siderations which bind him to us. The real conflict is not between 
 him and us; it is between opposing impulses within us. The same 
 thing seems to be true with reference to rivalry and competition 
 within the group. It may take place so long as it is of possible value 
 to the group, but it must not be permitted to injure the group in its 
 competition or conflicts with outsiders. Thus, members of a political 
 party or church may debate among themselves, but they must present 
 a united front to opposing parties or rival churches. Meat packers 
 may compete with each other so long as their position against the 
 government is not weakened. Here again there is an inner conflict. 
 Each debater or competitor is checked and restrained in his opposi- 
 tion by considerations of group welfare. All the impulses, including 
 those of hostility, are organized, because of our intimate relations and 
 our comprehensive knowledge of our fellows. This may be described 
 in one aspect as social control, in another as self control.
 
 112 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 But when it is the outsider or enemy who meets our disapproval, 
 the disapproval has full sway. The impulse to condemn is not 
 inhibited by other impulses, such as might be involved in considera- 
 tion for his family, his business, his political party, his church, etc. 
 There is nothing to which we have a common loyalty. We do not 
 feel the need of settling our differences in such manner that we can 
 work together against another and common foe. Consequently 
 we "let ourselves go." We are exhilarated in the feeling of unre- 
 stricted activity. There is nothing we may not do to the enemy. 
 Moreover, this intense excitement of turning our energy loose is 
 enormously heightened when we find the other members of our group 
 doing the same thing. We attain an enlarged self-feeling and enthu- 
 siasm in this identification of ourselves with the group. The lid is 
 off! self control and social control are removed. We have here all the 
 typical phenomena of the crowd or mob. 12 All this may be said to 
 grow out of the fact that the object of our fury is hardly a person, but 
 a type; scarcely a real human being, but almost an impersonal danger. 
 Lynch law is the best example of unhampered reaction against those 
 who do not "belong." 
 
 Now this is very much like our attitude toward offenders. We 
 treat them as the enemies of conventional and respectable society. 
 If there is a quarrel between a rancher and his "hands," and if some- 
 body is hurt or killed, we round up every "blanket stiff" in the 
 county and either lock him in jail or run him down the road. We are 
 not concerned with underlying causes of the disturbance. We simply 
 let ourselves go. The worst that we can do to those beyond the pale 
 of "good society" is regarded as less than they deserve. 
 
 On the other hand, our treatment of delinquents seems well calcu- 
 lated to make them feel themselves the enemies of "organized socie- 
 ty." They feel every man's hand against them. The idleness of a 
 congregate county jail affords an excellenl opportunity for a group 
 spirit to develop among the prisoners, and this group spirit is pretty 
 sure to define itself in opposition to the group life represented by the 
 sheriff, the rancher, the hanker, the whole list of those who "belong." 
 Then, of course, the organization of the criminal group excites still 
 more their enemies, and so the thing grows. 
 
 12 Mc.id, (Wnrw II.: "The Psychology of Punitive- Justice." American Journal 
 of Sociology, 23: 577-602. (March, 1«>1 X- > 
 
 Ross, E. A.: "Social Psychology." New York. 1908. 
 
 Davenport, F.M.: "Primitive Traits in Religious Revivals." New York. 1°06.
 
 A BASIS FOR INDIVIDUALIZATION 113 
 
 Our problem of individualization the discrepancy between "<om- 
 mon sense" interpretation of individual differences and actual penal 
 practise — grows out of the necessary limitations upon really intimate, 
 concrete relations, and the necessity of finding a technique for dealing 
 with people who are outside of our " primary" group. It is, of course, 
 physically impossible for us to be intimate with everybody. But that 
 need not force us to the opposite extreme of hostility toward all who 
 do not belong to our circle. Abstract relations are to concrete rela- 
 tions as habits are to problem-solving activities. Both are essential 
 to life. The problem is, then, one of establishing a good working 
 balance between the two. 
 
 The solution which this statement suggests is this. If we cannot 
 have concrete relations with everybody, we can at least stand in such 
 relationship with someone else who in turn is also intimate with the 
 one farther removed from our immediate circle. It means that we 
 need to recognize in every person the facts of individuality and of 
 common humanity. It compels us to find some correctional system 
 which will put every offender in a group which includes non-offending 
 as well as offending persons (if not within prison walls, at least on 
 parole). It stimulates us to prevent the formation of a criminal 
 group, and at the same time indirectly breaks up the group which is 
 formed over against the delinquents. 
 
 Perhaps the question has arisen: Why attempt to take the offen- 
 der back into our civic order at all? Why not simply let him go? 
 Or, perhaps, reestablish the old custom of banishment. Would it not 
 be simpler to send all criminals away or to kill them than to undertake 
 the task of making good citizens out of them? What are they to us 
 anwyay? 
 
 As a matter of fact, the problem of rehabilitation arises only when 
 the delinquent is one of us; when he is not an enemy from without, but 
 a rebel from within. Then to eliminate him by banishment or death 
 is to weaken the group, perhaps to adopt a policy of social suicide. 
 Abandonment of correctional efforts would mean destruction of social 
 control and annihilation of the group. If group life is to continue at 
 all, it must be by adjustments between members, not by the ejection 
 of those who deviate from the ways of the majority or the powerful. 
 This is why our problem is fundamentally one of finding a technique 
 for bringing offenders to full participation in our common life.
 
 114 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 The Problem in Terms of Activity 
 
 Our original statement of distinctive characteristics as a basis for 
 individualization we found to be inadequate, because it failed to take 
 account of the collective aspect of life. In still another way it was 
 one-sided. It emphasized influences which contribute to delinquency, 
 but ignored the activity of the offender himself. 
 
 Suppose, however, we regard that statement as representing only 
 one aspect of the offender. Let us not consider him as a puppet 
 played upon by external powers, a human machine operated by 
 "social forces." But neither let us jump to the opposite extreme and 
 look upon the transgressor as one who, standing at the parting of 
 the ways, deliberately and with perfect freedom of choice, elected to 
 do the forbidden deed. Rather let us behold him as an active agent 
 responding to stimuli in a situation which in one sense makes him 
 and which in an equally valid sense is made by him. 
 
 Our earlier statement emphasized predisposition and stimulus — 
 to use terms of the psychologist — but it neglected response. The 
 criminal act, just as any other act, involves all these. They may be 
 regarded as aspects of the act, which cannot really be taken apart 
 into separate elements. Neither offense nor offender can be under- 
 stood adequately — adequately, i.e., for successful correctional treat- 
 ment or social protection — unless account be taken of (1) predisposi- 
 tion, by which we mean instinct and habit as well as general bodily 
 conditions, such as fatigue, hunger, etc., (2) stimulus, which may be 
 the smell of whiskey, a threatened blow or the sight of a passing 
 freight train, (3) response, which includes not only the overt act 
 described and forbidden in the penal code, but also repressed impulses 
 and unsuccessful efforts. 
 
 Take for example, the case of a vagrant who is a habitual wan- 
 derer. He is arrested, let us say, for stealing a ride on a freight t rain . 
 We might say that the man had deliberately — with full knowledge 
 of the fact that he was violating the law, and with equal possibility 
 of deciding not to be a social parasite— decided to "hop" the freight. 
 We might, on the contrary, seek to find out the causes for his stealing 
 the ride, the origin of liis wandering habits. We might say that , given 
 a certain congenital equipment, a certain set of surroundings and 
 consequently established habits, there was no possibility of the man's 
 behaving otherwise than he did. The latter position is apt to be more 
 carefullv stated than the former and more helpful in dealing with the
 
 A BASIS FOR INDIVIDUALIZATION 115 
 
 offender. Yet it, too, is inadequate. There is a measure of truth in 
 each view. We are properly very much interested in learning what 
 sort of an organism came into the world when the man was born and 
 what has happened to it since that time. We are properly concerned 
 in possible feeblemindedness, epilepsy, dementia praecox, parental 
 neglect, playmates' ridicule, "Wild West movies," associates urging 
 to drink, necessity of travelling in search of work, habits of inter- 
 mittent labor, ease of securing food by begging. But more than that, 
 we find it important to emphasize the fact that he has done some- 
 thing. He was not passively played upon by external causes. He 
 acted; he responded to stimuli. That his action may have been 
 unreflective is in no way inconsistent with this view. 
 
 If this habitual wanderer is to be changed into a steady workman 
 or a contented inmate of a custodial institution, several things must 
 happen. For one, the habit of securing his meals by back-door 
 begging must be displaced by the habit of earning money and paying 
 for them. Or, if that be impossible, the habits involved in institu- 
 tional life must be acquired. Neither change is likely to occur as the 
 result of mere repression. Assume, in order to simplify the problem, 
 that the man has an intelligence and a physique not far from what we 
 regard as normal. It may be that confinement in a county jail for 
 six months will produce such a change that the present vagrant will 
 henceforth be a reliable laborer. But the statistics of recidivism 
 indicate that this is very unlikely. Will the chances of rehabilitation 
 or "habilitation" be greater if, instead of idling in jail, he is required 
 to work on a public road? Probably so. But this alone is no guaran- 
 tee of the desired result. Our observation is that road gangs are more 
 useful for diverting vagrants than for curing them. 
 
 Suppose, instead of either of these, the man were placed in a 
 group where, under definite limitations controlled by state officers, he 
 would have the opportunity and the incentive to develop working 
 relations with his associates and his physical environment. Here 
 would be recognition of the man as an active agent, choosing, decid- 
 ing, adjusting. But here would be also a recognition of the man's 
 hereditary equipment, his habits and the sort of stimuli to which he 
 responds. The factors which had a part in his becoming a habitual 
 wanderer and in the particular offense of stealing a ride would be 
 partially eliminated. New influences would be substituted. But in 
 the midst of these changes the man himself would be acting, adapting
 
 116 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 himself to his new surroundings and associates. If he were successful 
 in solving the problems which this involved, he might go on to the 
 solution of more difficult problems, adapting himself to more complex 
 situations, learning to get along with more and different sorts of 
 people. At the beginning there would be a high degree of direct 
 control by the state officers. This would be relinquished in propor- 
 tion as there was developed that which is in one aspect self control 
 and in another aspect social control. 
 
 Individualization means for us, then, something like this: the 
 assignment of a delinquent to the group and to the set of living conditions 
 in the midst of which he is most apt to succeed in "finding himself." 
 So far as the management is concerned, this particular group may be 
 subjected to a common set of living conditions. But it will not be on 
 the assumption that all members of the group are alike. The fact 
 of individual differences will be accepted and recognized. These 
 very differences will be the basis for development of the group as a 
 whole and of the separate members. The purpose of the grouping 
 will be partly to limit the numbers, thus producing an artificially 
 small society; and partly to limit the degrees of difference, e.g., 
 between the feebleminded and the mentally normal, the physically 
 sound and those suffering from infectious diseases. But within the 
 limited group and under the more or less controlled conditions of liv- 
 ing and working the offender will have the privilege of "working out 
 his own salvation." 
 
 The first task of individualization is, then, to study each offender 
 so as to learn, so far as possible, in what sort of a group and under 
 what other circumstances he is likely to make successful adjust- 
 ments. The second task is to form groups of prisoners likely to devel- 
 op together, and to establish progressive conditions under which 
 their development is likely to take place. 
 
 Perhaps it will be helpful to restate this in terms of choice. This 
 is not to reopen the obsolete question of free-will versus determinism. 1,1 
 
 u We wish to guard against entering into the old controversy of freewill versus 
 determinism. Wc regard each position simply as a different aspect of the same 
 problem; each position supplementing the other; each inadequate and misleading 
 without the other. It is hard to see how a genuinely tree will could he moulded by 
 any corra tional system. It is equally bard to believe that an offender can be made 
 
 .1 good I ili/.cn through a sort of moral osteopathy, to which he may passively submit. 
 For a more complete statement sic: ( 'ooley, Chas. II. - "Human Nature and the 
 Sodal Order." New York. 1910. "Social Process." New York. 1918.
 
 A BASIS FOR IMU\ ID! ALIZATION 117 
 
 It is simply to study our problem from another angle. Choice is 
 determined by a multitude of influences — hereditary, developmental, 
 mcterological, economic, social — hut still there is choice, unless the 
 act performed is instinctive or reflex. Even if the act be a habitual 
 response to familiar stimuli, there must have been a time when a 
 judgment of some sort was made. 
 
 In practically dealing with offenders, some officials have learned 
 empirically the necessity of giving the prisoner opportunities for 
 making decisions. At first in a very limited way, with the conditions 
 carefully controlled, and then in larger and larger measure, decisions 
 may be made which affect the prisoner's personal comfort and rela- 
 tions to other people. Admittedly he is not exercising a "free will," 
 but neither are his decisions made for him. He must and does choose 
 between alternative courses of conduct. He is influenced by privileges 
 which may be granted or withheld, prospects of release, the opinion 
 of fellow prisoners, objective processes such as stock-raising and 
 furniture-making, desire to serve his family, etc. But the important 
 thing is that he does choose and that the practise in making choices 
 is the process through which he becomes a good citizen or a confirmed 
 criminal. 
 
 Various aspects of the "honor system" present situations in which 
 prisoners must make choices for themselves. Thus we have seen 
 men working on the streets and highways of California without any 
 guards. Convicts in many prisons may earn the privilege of writing 
 letters, seeing visitors, attending "movies" or ball games, or enroll- 
 ing in prison schools. This principle of choice under controlled 
 conditions has been variously expressed by prison officials. Warden 
 A. J. G. Wells of the Kentucky State Prison put it thus: 14 
 
 Good prison discipline is such wise and orderly daily procedure as is reasonably 
 calculated to lead each individual prisoner to think the best, to aim the best and act 
 the best, during the period of his confinement and after his release. 
 
 Chaplain Orville L. Kiplinger of the Indiana State Prison has a 
 clearer statement. 15 
 
 Why are men in prison? Because they lacked self-control. There is yet in 
 most prisons entirely too much of the "thou shalt not" to bring men to self-control. 
 In the training of a child it is not enough to make him do certain things that are 
 
 M American Prison Association. 191 I. 67. 
 "Ibid. pp. 246-249.
 
 118 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 right. Successful training makes him want to do the things which are right. Under 
 the heavy and inflexible force of prison discipline whose central tenet is "thou shalt 
 not," if a man becomes a good prisoner it is too often the result of fear. . . . Unless 
 he is taught to see the advantages of right living as its own reward the so-called 
 "discipline" is a total failure. . . . 
 
 Perhaps the deepest longing of the prisoner is for the right of self-expression. 
 Little opportunity for self-expression is given in most of our prisons. In the average 
 prison no prisoner would dare express his real feelings toward certain of the prison 
 rules. And the objection which most prisoners would voice toward most of the 
 prison rules is that they had no part in making them. Men will submit to almost 
 any set of rules if they have a part in making them. 
 
 Perhaps still more to the point are the words of Dr. Kenosha Ses- 
 sions, Superintendent of the Indiana Industrial School. 16 
 
 From the hour a girl arrives in our institution, she is given to understand that 
 while we will do all we can to help her, after all she is the one who must direct her 
 motives from the inside and find her way out of the institution through her own 
 efforts. We give the girl a task to do the hour she enters, and she is held steadily 
 to that task. No girl comes out of our institution until she has finished a definite 
 course of training in all sorts of domestic work, and has continued in this course 
 because of good conduct. 
 
 Not only is the principle of stimulating interest, giving oppor- 
 tunity for making choices, and eliciting the co-operation of the 
 prisoner, utilized more and more in dealing with normal offenders; 
 it is also acquiring widely recognized validity for the treatment of 
 the insane. From diagnosis to discharge the modern hospital staff 
 deals with an insane person not as an object to be moulded by his 
 surroundings and attendants, by medicine and restraint, but as a 
 human being with an active will, capable at least in a few elementary 
 matters of making choices. 17 
 
 This begins with the first conference of physicians for the purpose 
 of diagnosis and is carried clear through to the final conference to 
 consider the question of discharge. In those institutions which we 
 have visited we have found the patient appealed to. He told his 
 own story without interference, no matter how confused it might be. 
 If his ideas were obviously distorted, he was then helped to clear 
 them up, to see things in the relations recognized by "normal" per- 
 sons. If he was "violent," mechanical restraint was used only as a 
 
 16 American Prison Association. 1916: 72-73. 
 
 17 Hunl ft ;il : "The Institutional Care of the Insane in the United States and 
 Canada." Baltimore. 1: 217-257. 
 
 Beers, C. \Y.: "A Mind that Found [tself." New York. 1913.
 
 A BASIS FOR INDIVIDUALIZATION 119 
 
 last resort. Even sedative drugs were rarely employed. At first 
 baths and massages were applied, but as soon as possible the patinet 
 was interested in something outside himself. In gardening and 
 basketry, in games and dances, he was put in positions where he must 
 make choices. He could not simply drift, passively receiving thera- 
 peutic treatment. Finally, in the "curable" cases there was often a 
 trial absence from the hospital. In other words, there was deliberate- 
 ly employed as a policy, stimulation of the patient so that, beginning 
 perhaps with adjustments to physical objects, and leading up to 
 more or less complex social situations, the patient had to exercise 
 his power of judgment. The conditions under which judgments 
 might be made were definitely limited by the physicians and attend- 
 ants — limited in accordance with the capacity of the patient for 
 making judgments — but the making of judgments was expected, 
 encouraged and regarded as an essential aspect of the treatment. 
 
 Attempted Solution in Terms of Group Life 
 
 To summarize — we have established pretty definitely the fact of 
 individual differences. We have seen why the present penal systems 
 do not harmonize with this fact. We have found some practical 
 difficulties in the way of recognizing individual differences in a 
 correctional system. But we have restated our problem in such 
 manner that we have a notion as to where the solution is to be found. 
 We have come to look upon our task as that of finding a technique 
 for bringing offenders to full participation in our common life — not 
 through treatment to which they shall passively submit, but — 
 through their active participation in a restricted social organization. 
 We have found evidence that prison and reformatory officials are 
 working their way empirically toward this very idea. The limited 
 extent of their accomplishment, however, has been pointed out by 
 Warden Osborne. 18 
 
 As a matter of fact, even at the best there is nothing fundamentally new about 
 the Honor system; the differences between it and the old Auburn system are purely 
 superficial. One threatens punishment; the other offers reward; but so far as the 
 ultimate success of the prisoner is concerned, there is not much to choose. Both 
 systems leave altogether out of sight the fact that when the man leaves the shelter 
 of the prison walls there will be no one either to punish or reward. Unless he has 
 learned to do right on his own initiative, there is no security against his return to 
 prison. 
 
 18 Osborne, Thos. M.: "Society and Prisons." New Haven. 1916. p. 216.
 
 120 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 The Mutual Welfare League, which Osborne organized, is rich 
 in suggestions. But there is another experiment, less well known 
 perhaps, which has had a much greater measure of success. In re- 
 organizing the Preston School of Industry at lone, California, Calvin 
 Derrick has probably gone farther than anyone else in consciously 
 developing a system of socialized individualization of offenders. 
 For a description of this effort and accomplishment we shall use an 
 abbreviated statement of Derrick's own account. 19 
 
 . . . Through the study of the Binet work and through other sources of 
 information, we sift out those who can not, or should not, be permitted in a self- 
 governing community. As, for instance, the moral perverts and those afflicted with 
 venereal diseases which are in a dangerous stage, or those having records as sodomists 
 and who are not known to us to have overcome the disease. These are under the 
 study and control of adults. Finally, we have a small number of unbalanced, defiant 
 boys who by reason of their disposition cannot live peaceably or efficiently except 
 under rigid control and restraint. These, too, are excluded from the self-government 
 company. All of these exclusions represent about ten per cent of our population. 
 
 Fully realizing that one of the most important, and indeed scientific, sides of 
 the work is that of discipline or the proper methods of correction, we have placed 
 the following safeguards about the question: Every complaint against any boy for 
 anything trivial or serious by either cadets or state officers, passes through the hands 
 of a state officer, my second assistant, a university bred man, who has made a special 
 study of discipline and is fairly well grounded in applied psychology. Complaints 
 dealing with immorality between the boys, or those requiring a pathological study, 
 also those peculiar deviations which could not, or in justice to the boy, should not, 
 be handled by the cadet courts, are put aside for special care and disposal by the 
 state. All complaints against those who are excluded from self-government, as 
 referred to a moment since, are similarly treated. The others all go to the clerk of 
 the court and are disposed of by the cadets themselves. As a further safeguard to 
 the cadets, it is granted that any and all defendants before the court have the right 
 of appeal to the supreme court, over which the superintendent presides. There has 
 been but one appeal in over three years. 
 
 I have now shown that from the scientific, humane, pedagogical and industrial 
 standpoints, we have fully guarded the interest and welfare of the boy. Self- 
 government has nothing to do with any of these matters. We all recognize the folly, 
 yes, even crime, of putting such matters into the hands of untrained adults, to say 
 nothing about boys. Still, in the average state institutions these vital matters are 
 in the hands of untrained adults who are little, if any heller equipped to handle them 
 than immature boys. 
 
 Let us now examine the field left open for the exercise of self-government. It is 
 a rather restricted field to be sure, but from the viewpoint of (lie hoy it is the most 
 
 19 Preston School of Industry. Biennial Report. 1916. 
 
 hcrrii k, Calvin: "Segregation, Self Government and State Control." American 
 Prison Association. 1916: 77-94.
 
 A BASIS FOR INDIVIDUALIZATION 121 
 
 important, leaving just about the same activities to his discretion as are left to the 
 discretion of boys at large, namely, the social, including home, playgrounds and 
 their interrelations, all club work, home study and discipline, the military affairs, and 
 certain unskilled lines of manual labor. It is within this field somewhere that boys 
 fail before coming to us; because they were anti-social, or else the people charged 
 with the responsibility of their training fail to understand them, that is: they fail 
 to make the boys see the necessity or at least the desirability of conforming to the 
 set order of things. The first, last and only business of the state school is to enable 
 the boy to return to free society fully understanding his social relations and respon- 
 sibilities toward others — socially, morally and industrially. In other words, we are 
 asked to roform boys. . . . 
 
 Reformation is accomplished through a change of mind, a new viewpoint, and 
 new and wholesome interest in life, and a growing consciousness of one's power to 
 succeed. To successfully direct and train a boy, you must start with his viewpoint. 
 It may be all wrong, and probably is, but it is his view of things, and either you must 
 make your plans coincide with his views or else change his views. In the beginning 
 it is generally easier to do the former. In the next place the boy must be made a 
 concrete factor in a variety of interests and activities where the unavoidable cir- 
 cumstances of his life force him to accept and continue to carry ever-increasing 
 responsibilities, which, however, become his as a result of deliberate choice, never by 
 force. I am not to be understood as saying that you cannot train a boy through 
 force. One may, but such a training is negative. The boy does not develop; he 
 submits and becomes colorless, or rebels and becomes hardened. If he develops, he 
 develops excuses and cunning rather than effort and reason. These boys do not 
 understand our civilization, or at least they do not fit into it. Self-government 
 starting with the boy's view enables him to work out a civil and social order of his 
 own, which he approves and understands. He has just as many opportunities for 
 wrong decisions as for right ones, just as many chances to go wrong as to go right. 
 If he goes wrong he is not combatting the social order of his mental and social superiors 
 in a civilization which he cannot respect, but he is combatting his social and mental 
 peers whom he understands and must respect. His comfort, happiness and progress 
 depend upon his social relations; his social relations depend upon his free choice 
 of conduct in the field of self-government. This, then, is the starting point for the 
 boy: to make him conscious that he is a free moral agent and that his every decision 
 affects his own life and status, and at Preston he makes that start the day he arrives. 
 
 Let me now get before you clearly two things: first, that self-government, as 
 interpreted and applied at Preston School, is not an end, but a means to a very definite 
 purpose. In his many tours and lectures, as well as in his two books, Mr. William 
 R. George, the founder of juvenile self-government, so emphasized the courts and the 
 jail system that most people came to feel that self-government among boys was 
 concerned chiefly with their prosecuting one another. This is not the main object 
 of self-government, although it serves a very definite purpose and affords a splendid 
 training in a variety of ways. The second thought is this: that these boys all failed 
 in our civilization. We did not understand them nor they us. The home, school, 
 church and city have each in turn failed to make the boy fit into the approved and 
 established civilization. The boy either could not or would not fit. Does it not
 
 122 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 seem to you absurd to suppose that we can place him in an institution which forces 
 a much higher and more nearly perfect social order upon him, and is wholly repressive 
 in its application, and expect him to develop a character and individuality which will 
 allow him to succeed any better upon his return to our social order in which he had for 
 years failed? The sole object of self-government is to furnish a medium in which 
 the boys may develop a civilization of their own with as many degrees and gradations 
 as is necessary to meet their needs and interests, the ideal being to come as close 
 to our standard of civilization as possible. 
 
 We started in basements with boys under the strictest state control. They 
 were granted two hours a day of self-government under the eyes of officers. A very 
 brief and faulty constitution was given them. Each company's constitution differed. 
 They could not agree as to a set of rules, each company being actuated by purely 
 selfish motives in securing everything it could for itself at the expense of the other 
 companies. They could not even agree among themselves that civil government 
 is a good thing, but two companies insisted on a military government and were 
 allowed to work this experiment out and compete with the civil government com- 
 panies. Civil government companies won, and at the end of fourteen months the 
 military companies applied for a constitution and admission to the Republic. 
 
 Time will not permit me to show the development of the movement. I wrote 
 and placed in operation the first constitution and administered the first court, training 
 the boys in a crude way. The constitution was intentionally very faulty. A casual 
 reading carried the impression that a great deal of liberty had been granted, but in 
 the court, the judge, and out of the court, the citizens, were very closely restricted 
 when they came to study the document. This was intentional on my part. It 
 was not long before I had a committee visiting me, asking for a more liberal constitu- 
 tion. This was what I was aiming at — the development of their initiative. I 
 prescribed certain limits, territories and restrictions, and told them to do as they 
 liked within this field. They did so. Within eighteen months we had four con- 
 stitutions, each a great improvement over the former. 
 
 A difference of opinion as to the interpretation of the constitution gave rise to 
 political parties; the confusion resulting in courts by reason of each company having 
 different laws and penalties for the same offense gave birth to the House of Congress; 
 congressmen could not agree as to which laws should be abolished and which retained. 
 This resulted in the formation of a commission to draw up a code of civil and penal 
 procedure, and a body of uniform law. The commission developed, after its purpose 
 had been accomplished, into a bar association, after which time, all boys who became 
 applicants for the position of judges, district attorneys, or clerks of court, as well as 
 those who wished to practice law before the courts, were obliged to pass an examina- 
 tion before the bar association. 
 
 The code of laws caused the formation of a prison to enforce the mandates of 
 the court. Political graft by the warden showed the necessity of some reform in the 
 matter of appointments to office. A civil service commission and law were enacted 
 by the succeeding congress. Because the government now had prisoners to care for, 
 it had to have work to busy them with; therefore, a commissioner of labor was created 
 and made a member of the president's cabinet, and a certain field of rough, unskilled 
 labor put under the jurisdiction of the government.
 
 A BASIS FOR INDIVIDUALIZATION 123 
 
 A certain politician among the boys, who was running for office, was ele< ted by 
 crooked work in the receiving company, the members of which were not well vei 
 in the politics of the place. The next congress created a Board of Naturalization 
 and made it a part of the department of labor. All boys entering the school after 
 that time had to be naturalized before they could vote, the naturalization calling 
 for the completion of a certain course of study which requires three months to complete. 
 The civil service law and the recall made the officials much more careful and ambi- 
 tious in the performance of their duties, but it took practically all of their time. 
 The next congress passed the compensation act, which allowed these officials extra 
 credits for their official duties. 
 
 The third congress made application for the control of the military training of 
 the school. It was granted and a secretary of military affairs was added to the 
 president's cabinet, and acts as an aide-de-camp to the military instructor. The 
 congress then passed military inspection laws by the terms of which every member 
 of a company became responsible for every other member's inspection. That is, if 
 one boy in a company lost a certain number of credits for any infraction, like loss of 
 button, dirty rifle, etc., every member in the company suffered the same loss. That 
 is, they had now arrived at a stage where they realized, as a group, that the liberty 
 and safety of all depended upon each inidividual doing his part, while the individual 
 had learned that he could not do as he pleased without injury to everyone else in his 
 group. I considered the passage of these laws a marvelous advance in social and 
 moral responsibility and understanding of the boys. 
 
 The government began to feel an interest in the possibilities of the new material 
 arriving at the school, and asked permission to establish night school in the receiving 
 company. This, of course, was granted. Out of this grew the Commission on 
 Social Affairs. The commissioner of social affairs met with the president's cabinet, 
 though not a member thereof. He established clubs, organized orchestras, glee 
 clubs, etc., until there are now twelve such organizations, three orchestras and two 
 quartets. The social commissioner is allowed to draw upon the commissary and 
 kitchen each evening for sufficient cocoa, sugar, cookies, sandwiches and other neces- 
 sary material to make a real sociable time for the club he is visiting that evening. 
 Needless to say, the social commissioner is the most popular man in the government. 
 
 The present administration has placed before mc a proposition to permit the 
 government to operate a store for the benefit of the boys and to put into operation 
 a system of coinage. I have agreed to permit it, if they can work out a feasible plan 
 that I can with prudence approve. 
 
 In the three and a half years I have been at Preston, I have never once interfered 
 in their field of government. If a company becomes lax or indifferent toward its 
 duties and obligations, and its standards of citizenship fall below a certain fixed line, 
 it automatically loses its constitution and goes under state control, thereby giving 
 up a great many of its privileges. This has happened twice. It takes a company 
 from six months to a year to regain its charter. We have little trouble in this respect. 
 
 I have never vetoed a law, reversed a judgment, altered or set aside any proclama- 
 tion of the president, adjourned a congress, or declined to consider any kind of a 
 proposition whatsoever, nor have I pornv'tt?d any of my officers to do any of these 
 things. . . .
 
 124 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 . . . It is, of course, to be expected that the superintendent as well as many 
 other officers frequently suggest things, frequently encourage initiative, and in every 
 way foster its application to new fields of endeavor, but the accomplishment, the 
 advancement, the actual thinking out and getting into operation the desirable thing, 
 is always and under all circumstances, the work, ingenuity, and push of the boys. . . . 
 
 Let me now detail just for a moment the life of the new boy. It must be evident 
 that the average boy arriving at the institution comes in a nervous and unsettled 
 state of mind, full of apprehension and dread, and uncertain of his present status or 
 his future opportunities. He is taken in charge by a cadet official and while he is 
 being bathed, shaved, inspected, and clothed, the boy official and the new arrival 
 become acquainted. The boy official starts the arrival off on the right foot, advising 
 him of the advantages and disadvantages of life under the government, or life in the 
 companies under the state. He is made aware that his release depends upon his 
 record and his ability to earn 7,000 credits. He is placed in a receiving company with 
 a certain amount of privileges, and allowed to earn seven credits a day for the first 
 month. Below him is a company with less liberty and five credits a day; above 
 him, companies with much greater liberty and earning up to twenty credits a day. 
 He must remain in the receiving company three months, then he automatically moves 
 up or down. In order to go up, he must have completed a course of study in Preston 
 School citizenship, pass an examination, and be naturalized under the laws of the 
 self-government. 
 
 Now, note that he is not obliged to take this course of study, but if he is to 
 advance his own interests, gain more privileges and more credits, live under better 
 conditions, he must exert himself from the very start and take advantage of the first 
 opportunity offered by the state and the self-government. Almost every boy will 
 quickly do this because it becomes his selfish interest to do so. He is able to see 
 quick return from his effort. The spirit, determination and excellence with which 
 he undertakes and completes this first set of examinations greatly influence his school, 
 cottage and trade advancement. If, therefore, he proves unstable, sulky, or displays 
 the qualities of a quitter, he is responsible to himself alone for a smaller number of 
 credits and delay in entering a trade. But if he succeeds, the fourth month he may 
 earn eleven credits a day. However, at any time he fails to maintain either his work 
 or conduct record as thus established by the three months' effort, he may slide back 
 to third class and five credits a day. He is not required by us to do either, but it 
 is greatly to his interest to constantly advance his standards. 
 
 Don't you see that the only thing we, the system, really require of any boy is a 
 choice, a decision — he musl de< ide something, up or down; he cannot drift, but 
 which it shall be is always "up" to the boy; not even a question of advice from us 
 unless he asks it, in these particular matters. If he chooses the opposite course, he 
 must remain longer; he will not be sure of parole when he earns 7,000 credits; he will 
 not learn a trade; he will not enjoy much of the privileges of Preston; he must live 
 under very strict rule and do the most disagreeable work. 
 
 In other words, if we can surround him with the proper conditions, we find 
 that the defective and delinquent boy will respond to precisely the same appeals 
 and selfish interest which keep you and me at work; that is: the love of better living 
 conditions, entertainment, distinction, hope of greater personal rewards, etc. The
 
 A BASIS FOR INDIVIDUALIZATION 125 
 
 self-government supplies every one of these desirable- elements for our purpose, 
 because it presents a large number of well graded opportunities, requires constant 
 effort, quickly rewards the effort, appeals to the ambitious, offers a clear and very 
 broad field for initiative, fosters personal distinction, requires a declaration of prin- 
 ciples, a high standard of ideals, a reasonable devotion to duty for the good and 
 comfort of others, a responsibility toward the community and a definite interest in 
 the public good. 
 
 This is the most successful instance, of which we know, of prac- 
 tical individualization. First there is a social diagnosis, including 
 physical and mental examinations, study of heredity and environ- 
 ment of the offender. On the basis of this diagnosis he is assigned to 
 a group — not a mere collection of delinquents, but — a social organiza- 
 tion. 20 He is a vital part of the group, influencing and being 
 influenced by the other members. He is not the passive recipient 
 of treatment, but is actively cooperating with his associates in solving 
 his immediate social problems, and in gradually working himself 
 out into the larger and more complex society in which he had pre- 
 viously failed. 
 
 His assignment within the institution is not based on his being like 
 the others in his company, although it is important that differences 
 should not be too great at first. It is recognized that he is a distinct 
 personality. The very fact of his individual characteristics make- 
 possible the process of reformation which has been described. It is 
 necessary for him to learn to get along with other people, to make 
 social adjustments. Life outside institution walls consists in one of 
 its aspects in just this. 21 
 
 Now on such a basis as this, individualization becomes practicable. 
 The fact of individual differences, which is a matter of every-day 
 observation, gave us our cue, but did not provide us with a working 
 
 20 It is a small and more or less externally controlled group, to be sure, but never- 
 theless, a genuine group. The life together in a cottage, in school, at work, at play, 
 and most of all as a relatively self-governing "state," makes a social organization 
 that means something. Compare this concrete situation with the general statements 
 of: 
 
 Cooley, Chas. II.: "Social Organization." New York. 1911. 
 Ross, Edward A.: '-Social Control." New York. 1901. 
 
 21 The way in which these adjustments are made, or better, the way in which the 
 individual participates in and is himself made by the group life is simply stated by: 
 
 Cooley, Chas. II.: "Human Nature and the Social Order." New York. 1910. 
 Thomas, Win. I.: "Source Book for Social Origins." Chicago. 1909. 
 Dewey, John, and Tufts, Jas.H.: "Ethics." New York. 1909.
 
 126 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 program. But in the social nature of the individual, in group life, we 
 have not only a more adequate theoretical statement, we have also a 
 very definite basis on which to proceed in practise. 
 
 Perhaps we may be helped by an analogy. A physician indivi- 
 dualizes his patients more or less both in diagnosis and treat- 
 ment. Dr. Cabot has shown 22 how the same symptoms may prove to 
 be due to widely different combinations of causal factors. So it is 
 probable that no two patients will be just exactly alike. However, 
 they will have points of similarity, and the same diagnosis may be 
 made in many cases. But after the diagnosis has been made and the 
 case has been pronounced, e.g., one of tuberculosis, it is necessary to 
 vary the prognosis and treatment in accordance with numerous 
 factors. The outlook for recovery will depend on age, habits, econo- 
 mic status, etc., of the patient. The treatment likewise must be 
 varied, especially to meet varying social conditions. The willingness 
 and ability of relatives and friends to help intelligently must be 
 considered quite as much as the bodily condition of the sick man him- 
 self. If his home does not provide a suitable social situation, the 
 patient may be removed to a sanitarium. There he will have not 
 merely medical facilities and attendance; he will (it is hoped) be in a 
 group whose members are bent on recovery of health. The hours for 
 eating, sleeping and perhaps exercising are organized there in a way 
 that might be impossible in the home. Competition with well persons 
 is removed. So far as possible, a social situation has been created 
 in which the patient can make adjustments and through solving the 
 relatively simple problems can become able to meet difficulties of 
 increasing complexity. 
 
 Individualization has at least three aspects: (1) individualiza- 
 tion in diagnosis, (2) individualization in prognosis and prescription 
 — estimating the outlook for recovery and planning a course of 
 treatment, (3) individualization in treatment, letting the delinquent 
 "be somebody" in a restricted society. 
 
 We may well emphasize again the fact that this does not mean a 
 separate program, separate room, separate care-taker for each 
 offender. It does not treat the individual as an isolated unit. On the 
 contrary, it studies the individual delinquent in his social relations, 
 because the problem which he presents is after all one of social 
 
 "Cabot, Richard C: "Differential Diagnosis." Philadelphia. 1911.
 
 A BASIS FOR INDIVIDUALIZATION 127 
 
 relations. Medical and psychological examinations and field studies 
 are made for the purpose of learning to understand the offender in his 
 social as well as in Ids individual aspect. In the treatment similarly 
 he is no longer dealt with according to the old "Pennsylvania sys- 
 tem." He is pla< id in a new social group. New social relations are 
 substituted for those which presented the problem of his delin- 
 quency. In both the old and the new situation his social relations 
 are distinctive and unique, which is just another way of saying that 
 he is an individual. 
 
 In other words, individualization of offenders is only one aspect of 
 their reformation. 'J' lie other side of it is socialization. These are not 
 two distinct entities. They are simply different ways of getting at 
 the same thing. Because man is what he is, we cannot have the one 
 without the other.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 A Unified Correctional System 
 
 We may summarize the outcome of our studies down to the pre- 
 sent in the following four propositions: 
 
 1. The county jail system is unutterably bad, but it seems to be 
 giving way in two directions — individualization and centralization. 
 
 2. Individual misdemeanants present so many different traits 
 and so many different problems, that no set of fixed penalties can meet 
 their various needs. The things worth emphasizing are their indivi- 
 dual differences and their common humanity. 
 
 3. In no important way can misdemeanants be distinguished 
 from felons as a group. Hence there seems to be no good reason for 
 maintaining two distinct sets of institutions — state prisons and local 
 jails. 
 
 4. These facts seem to point the way very definitely toward 
 individualization through a unified correctional system. 
 
 In the last chapter we indicated the sort of individualization that 
 appears both feasible and w r orth while. The problems of its practical 
 application are: 
 
 1. To study each offender in order to learn, so far as possible, in 
 what sort of a group and under what other circumstances he is likely 
 to make successful adjustments, i.e., to get along with other people. 
 
 2. To form groups of prisoners likely to develop together, and to 
 establish progressive conditions under which their development is 
 likely to take place. 
 
 Fortunately we do not have to proceed altogether in the dark. 
 There are several suggestive precedents to guide us. Perhaps the 
 most important is New York's new clearing-house plan for felons. 1 
 
 1 Lane, Winthrop ]).: "Sing Sing's Swan Song." Survey, 39: 186-7. 
 (.lueck, Bernard: "Types of Delinquent Careers." Mental Hygiene, 1: 171-195. 
 "The Rebuilding of Sing Sing Prison." Delinquent. Sept., V)\7. pp. 3-5. 
 Jaffray, Julia K. (Editor): "The Prison and the Prisoner." A Symposium. 
 Boston. 1 «> 1 7 . 
 
 Lewis Burdette G.: "The Offender." New York. I'M 7. 
 
 128
 
 \ [INTEIED CORBECTIONAL SYSTEM 1 2<> 
 
 The plan of utilizing Sing Sins; as a Reception Prison wa firsl promulgated by 
 the New \'ork State Commission on Prison Reform in its preliminary report published 
 in 1914. The Commission recommended that the Sing Sing site should be abandoned 
 as a prison, and that to it all prisoners sentenced in New York State should be sent 
 for medical examination, observation, and for study of their character and aptitude, 
 before being disposed of in pursuance of the sentence of the court. 
 
 The proposition passed through a period of discussion to its recognition in the 
 law of 1916 which provided for a new Sing Sing prison and the conversion of old 
 Sing Sing into a scientific receiving station. Psychiatric and medical exp 
 have already taken up their abode at Sing Sing. . . } 
 
 Sing Sing, then, is lo serve as a receiving station or clearing-house 
 for all persons committed to the state prisons of New York. Here 
 they are to receive physical and mental examinations. They are to be 
 detained while field workers secure their social history. They are to 
 receive such medical, dental and other treatment as may be necessary 
 or practicable while awaiting more final disposition. Dr. Glueck 
 indicates that the receiving station will have (1) administrative 
 functions, (2) medical department, (3) psychiatric clinic, (4) voca- 
 tional guidance, (5) educational guidance, (6) religious guidance. 
 He anticipates that the offenders will be classified into five large 
 divisions: (1) the normal, who are capable of learning a trade, (2) 
 normal, especially suited for agriculture, (3) insane delinquents, 
 (4) defective delinquents, (5) psychopathic delinquents. These will 
 all go from the courts to the receiving prison, from which they will be 
 distributed, after staying perhaps three to six months, to five institu- 
 tions: the first group (vide supra) to Clinton and Auburn, the indus- 
 trial prisons; the second group to Great Meadow, the farm prison; 
 the third and part of the fifth to Dannemora, to be the institution for 
 criminal insane; the fourth and the rest of the fifth to a new institu- 
 tion for defective delinquents. 
 
 Already the administration of penal institutions within many slate 
 has been centralized in the hands of a single officer, board or commis- 
 sion. 3 But with the very few exceptions noted in the second chapter, 
 
 1 Jaffray. Op. cit. p. 30. 
 
 ' See reports of: 
 
 Iowa State Board of Control, Wisconsin State Board of Control, Illinois Depart- 
 ment of Public Welfare, Rhode Island Board of State Charities and Corrections, 
 New York State Commission of Prisons, California State Board of Prison Directors. 
 
 These represent some of the most significant forms of centralization of adminis 
 tration of state penal institutions, either as a distinct correctional system, or in 
 connection with other institutions.
 
 130 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 only institutions for felons are included. Indiana has perhaps come 
 nearer than any other state to making the care of misdemeanants a 
 part of the state correctional system. But the significant feature of 
 the New York plan for felons is that something far more important 
 than business management is centralized. The treatment of the 
 offenders is being put on such a basis that genuine individualization 
 will be practicable. 
 
 To appreciate the full significance of the New York forward step, 
 it will be well to contrast it with some other policies already adopted 
 or projected. First, let us see how it differs from the use of "expert 
 testimony" in trials; second, from clinical examination as part of the 
 court procedure; third, from clinical examination in the institutions. 
 
 We need not base any argument on the possible venal character of 
 some "experts" which brings the fields of medicine, psychiatry and 
 psychology into disrepute. We may rest our case on a more funda- 
 mental defect pointed out by Dr. Glueck. 4 
 
 Many of us are still willing to stake our reputation as physicians on the witness 
 stand when engaged by an obliging prosecuting attorney to assist him in proving 
 the responsibility of the accused for his act. Although we are disposed to grant 
 that there might be some mental abnormality in the case, we are quite certain that 
 his madness had not progressed far enough to exclude a knowledge of the difference 
 between right and wrong. The law, dealing as it does with the problem of crime in 
 a wholly impersonal manner and concerned as it is with the administration of the 
 criminal act rather than with the understanding of the criminal back of the act, is 
 satisfied with such conception of mental disease. In the legal mythology, an offender 
 is either a free rational agent, acting deliberately and in full consciousness of con- 
 sequences, or he is demonstrably demented. 
 
 The difficulties of "expert testimony" are further set forth by Dr. 
 Paul E. Bowers, Medical Superintendent of the Indiana Hospital for 
 Insane Criminals, in presenting the "necessity for medical examina- 
 tion of prisoners at the time of trial.'"' 
 
 The medical examination of prisoners would correct, in a large measure, the 
 evils that attend the employment of medical experts. Much of the criticism that is, 
 unjustly and malignantly, heaped upon the qualified psychiatrist would be done away 
 with and many of the unqualified practitioners, who are posing as mental experts 
 and thereby bringing ill repute upon the medical profession, would be eliminated 
 from court practice. It is the height of medical absurdity to permit a general prac- 
 
 4 Mental Hygiene, 2: 548-549. 
 
 •American Prison Association. 1 ( >1(>: 114-122.
 
 A UNIFIED CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM 131 
 
 titioncr who is without knowledge and experience in psychiatry to give opinions and 
 statements in courts which arc likely to affect the life or libert) of an individual. 
 Our present method of employing expert testimony is productive of but little good, 
 and a great deal of harm. Our present system makes it impossible for the alienist, 
 no matter how well qualified and honest, to give testimony that is entirely Si 
 factory to his own conscience and to the merits of the case in hand. 
 
 The physicians are hired by the plaintiff and the defendant and pitted against 
 one another in a wordy battle for the display of wits by lawyers who are skilled 
 rhetoricians, and who, cunningly and skillfully, by use of dialectics, suppress medical 
 facts dangerous to their own purposes and lay undue stress on non-essentials if they 
 can thereby gain any advantage over their opponents. Very equivocal, hypothetical 
 questions are presented which are often not supported by salient facts, and the doctor 
 is required to answer the unproved statement- without the privilege of due and 
 careful consideration. The individual of the hypothetical question and the person 
 on trial often seem to bear only the faintest traces of kinship to one another. 
 
 To correct some of the wrongs which I have enumerated, the court should 
 appoint a physician who is qualified by training and experience in the science and 
 practice of psychiatry. This physician should be a part of the personnel of the court; 
 and it should be his duty to sociologically, physically and mentally examine every 
 prisoner at the time of his arrest and trial. A careful, written, detailed report should 
 be made and presented to the court for the instruction of the judge and jurors. 
 
 Reasons such as these pointed out by Dr. Glueck and Dr. Bowers 
 are probably responsible for the fact that some courts have as part of 
 their regular personnel physicians, psychologists or psychiatrists. 
 Thus there are clinics in connection with the municipal courts of Chi- 
 cago, Boston, Philadelphia and doubtless several other cities. 6 But 
 there are several difficulties which the court clinic has to face. Even 
 if it is successful in making a satisfactory medical-psychological-social 
 diagnosis of the accused, the court is limited — if the prisoner be found 
 guilty — to commitment, usually for a more or less definite period, to a 
 single institution, or at most a choice of two or three. In other words, 
 there is a gap between the diagnosis and the treatment. The only 
 chance to follow up the diagnosis and to make specific use of it occurs 
 when the prisoner is put on probation. Then he remains under the 
 jurisdiction of the same court. But when he goes to an institution, 
 which may or may not be adapted to his particular needs, there is 
 great likelihood of the clinical record's burial in some document file. 
 
 • Chicago. Report of the Psychopathic Laboratory of the Municipal Court of 
 Chicago. 1914-1917. 
 
 Boston. Ninth National Probation Association. 46-52. 
 Philadelphia. National Conference of Social Work. 1918: 132-9.
 
 132 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 But even more fundamental — every diagnosis is tentative, subject 
 lo revision as treatment proceeds; and it is impossible for the court 
 clinic to foresee with certainty what changes in treatment must be 
 introduced as the rehabilitation goes on. This difficulty might con- 
 ceivably be met by periodic review of cases by the committing court. 
 This happens in some juvenile courts — e.g., the California Juvenile 
 Court Law requires that court orders of payment for the care of 
 committed children must be renewed every six months. But another 
 effort to deal with the situation has resulted in the establishment of 
 clinics in various institutions. 
 
 Examples of institution clinics are to be found in the Chicago 
 House of Correction, Westchester County Penitentiary, and the 
 Massachusetts Reformatory for Women. 7 The trouble here is that 
 the offender has been sent to the institution, usually without possibil- 
 ity of recall, before the clinic gets hold of him. This means inevitably 
 that many prisoners will be found who cannot take advantage of the 
 facilities of the institution, or who interfere with the progress of other 
 inmates. Neither "expert testimony," court clinics nor institution 
 clinics meet the situation with anything like the degree of success 
 which the New York plan promises. 
 
 It seems, then, that the clearing-house system devised for New 
 York is the most satisfactory yet considered. But it fails utterly to 
 help the misdemeanants. If we have found correctly that there is no 
 important difference between misdemeanants and felons as a group, 
 the same correctional organization might well deal with all adult 
 offenders. Unification and centralization are being more and more 
 accepted as working principles for dealing with felons. We have 
 found no valid reason for doubting their applicability to misdemean- 
 ants as well. 
 
 In the pages which follow we shall outline a unified correctional 
 system for California. In order to make our proposition concrete 
 and definite it has seemed necessary to select some particular situa- 
 tion; and because our own personal experience and the data presented 
 in the first chapter have most to do with California conditions, thai 
 state has been chosen. However, if the principle is valid for Califor- 
 nia, it should prove applicable to other states as will. 
 
 7 Chicago. Journal of Criminal Law, 8: 837-84.?. 
 Westchester. Mental Hygiene, 2: 59S 604. 
 
 Massachusetts. Journal of Criminal Law, 5: 701 717.
 
 A I Mill I) < (>Kkl.( I ION \l. SYSJ KM 1 ^ J 
 
 .1 Plan Proposed for California 
 
 In presenting this plan for California ii is importanl to empha 
 two ideas: (1) this plan is by no means regarded as perfect or final; 
 ii is offered primarily for the purpose of provoking discussion; (2) 
 although it is California about which we are speaking, we arc inter- 
 ested in the applicability of this -(heme to any stale. With these 
 considerations in mind we shall proceed to outline the possible organi- 
 zation of a unified correctional system and the successive steps which 
 it might take in handling an offender. 
 
 As to organization we propose a single state department to be known 
 perhaps, as the department of correction. Our precedents for this are 
 the existing state departments, already referred to, which centralize 
 the business management of correctional institutions, together with 
 the clearing-house scheme being developed in New York. 
 
 The final authority and responsibility within the department 
 would be vested in an unpaid, nan- partisan board, appointed by the 
 governor. This board might well be constituted, as is the present 
 California State Board of Charities and Corrections, of six members, 
 of both sexes, never more than three of one political party, represent- 
 ing various geographical, religious, occupational and other social 
 interests. The appointments would be so arranged that not more 
 than two members of the board would go out of office in the same 
 year. 
 
 The board would have the duty of determining the general policies, 
 reviewing the work of its employes, appointing the executive officer 
 and passing on his appointments of subordinates. One of its most 
 important tasks would be to decide upon the uses to which institu- 
 tions should be put, rearranging and reclassifying as experience might 
 dictate. Thus, if the enforcement of the Harrison Drug Act and the 
 National Prohibition Amendment should be so successful as to reduce 
 greatly, if not practically eliminate, the number of inebriates, institu- 
 tions now devoted to their care could, without legislative enactment, 
 be made to serve other purposes. The existence of such a board wit h 
 the powers suggested would, we believe, make for flexibility and 
 much more effective work than we have at present. 
 
 Under this single department of correction we propose to central- 
 ize the administration of the stale prisons, local jails, receiving 
 stations, clearing houses, probation and parole for all adult offender-. 
 Naturally an unpaid board could not possibly carry the details of so
 
 134 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 extensive an organization personally and would have to depend very 
 much upon its executive officer. 
 
 In view of this fact, the question may be raised: why have the 
 unpaid board at all? In advocating this we are expressing a personal 
 preference, recognizing the fact that there is no agreement among 
 "experts." Such unpaid boards have been tried in many states, but 
 so also have paid boards and paid executives appointed directly by 
 the governor. Our own opinion, based on four years' experience and 
 a study of the systems of various states, is that such an unpaid board 
 will attract the services of our highest type of citizens. Thus, Califor- 
 nia has unquestionably had in its State Board of Charities and Cor- 
 rections, free of charge, the invaluable counsel, the public spirit, the 
 broad outlook of men and women whose time could not be bought. 
 
 The membership of the board has included ministers, physicians, 
 lawyers, business men, university professors and social workers. It 
 has at all times had representatives of the three great faiths, Protes- 
 tant, Catholic and Jewish. Being thus composed of men and women 
 of various occupations, religious beliefs and political connections, 
 the board has inspired confidence in practically all elements of the 
 population. It seems to be pretty generally felt and accepted as 
 a matter of fact that the Board of Charities and Corrections stands 
 for fair play. 
 
 The provision of an unpaid board with a paid executive appears 
 to be the best way of combining democratic control with administra- 
 tion by specialists. The absence of salary or fees for the board 
 members will tend to limit their interference with matters of adminis- 
 tration, in addition to making their positions relatively unattractive to 
 party politicians. On the other hand, the existence of the board guar- 
 antees a hearing for many interests in the discussion of policies. It is 
 a safeguard against more rapid development than public opinion 
 justifies, for if the executive cannot convince the majority of his 
 board, how can he hope to have the support of the public which they 
 represent? 
 
 The executive officer would be responsible to the board for the 
 carrying out of its policies. He would appoint the heads of sub- 
 depart ments or divisions, and they would be accountable to him, 
 subjeel , however, to confirmation by the board. Among the functions 
 of the exe< utive would be: (1) transmitting decisions of the board to 
 the appropriate division i hiefs, (2) holding frequent conferences with
 
 \ UNIFIED CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM 1 15 
 
 the division chiefs or directors in order to correlate their work and 
 make the unity of the system real, (3) presenting problems of the 
 
 various divisions and of their interrelations to the hoard, assembling 
 information concerning matters about which questions might be 
 raised, (4) preparing a budget for the board's consideration. The 
 appointment and tenure of office for the executive as well as for the 
 remainder of the staff would be on some sort of a merit basis. At least 
 qualifying examinations, probationary appointment and prohibition 
 of removal except for cause would be elements of the system. 
 
 The department would have thirteen divisions, whose chiefs or 
 directors would be appointed by the executive officer, subject to 
 confirmation by the board. They would be: director of the detention 
 houses or jails, director of the receiving stations, director of the 
 northern clearing house, director of the southern clearing house, 
 director of prisons, director of transportation of prisoners, director of 
 probation and parole, director of the bureau of identification, pur- 
 chasing agent (or liaison officer between the department of correction 
 and the state purchasing department), director of construction, 
 attorney, director of research, chief clerk. The titles of these division 
 chiefs indicate roughly the organization and the extent of work the 
 department would have. 
 
 There would be a central office, say, in Sacramento. One of the 
 clearing houses would be located in or near San Francisco, the other in 
 or near Los Angeles. Receiving stations would be located at conven- 
 ient points, possibly thirteen in number, over the state. In the 
 central office would be the executive, the director of jails, director of 
 transportation, director of receiving stations, director of prisons, 
 director of probation and parole, chief of identification bureau, direc- 
 tor of research, purchasing agent, attorney, director of construction 
 and chief clerk. 
 
 The division of jails and houses of detention would take over the 
 control and administration of all jails now managed by local authori- 
 ties. The actual ownership would better be vested in the state, but 
 it might be necessary to commence with leasing. The director of this 
 division would appoint all jailers, who would be state officers. As 
 jailers, they would not have, as at present, any connection with the 
 office of sheriff or chief of police. However, in cases where the number 
 of prisoners would be very small the jailer might have some other 
 public duties. He might be a town or county officer as well as a state
 
 136 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 officer. But for his management of the jail he should be responsible 
 to the state department directly. 
 
 The jails, then, would be used exclusively for the detention of per- 
 sons temporarily while awaiting or undergoing trial. As soon as 
 judgment should be rendered, the prisoners would be released (if 
 acquitted), turned over to a probation officer, or to an officer of the 
 division of transportation for conveyance to a receiving station. This 
 would mean a totally different type of jail building. Complete 
 separation of every prisoner from every other would probably be wise 
 for the relatively brief time that would elapse between arrest and 
 judgment. 
 
 The division of transportation would be a distinct innovation. At 
 present persons committed to a California state prison are taken by a 
 deputy sheriff to San Quentin or Folsom, the officer receiving a five 
 dollar per diem in addition to all expenses and his regular salary. It 
 is commonly regarded as a junket trip. In place of this, we propose 
 to have officers specially designated for the duty of transporting pris- 
 oners between jails, receiving stations, clearing houses and state 
 prisons. In order that the work of these officers might be correlated 
 and done with the greatest efficiency, they would be organized into a 
 separate division and made subject to a director of transportation. 
 This would have the added advantage of relieving probation and 
 parole officers of the unpleasant task of conducting a prisoner to an 
 institution. 
 
 Let us next consider the division of receiving stations. In the 
 courts, prisoners would either be released or made wards of the depart- 
 ment of correction. If, in the opinion of the court, probationary 
 supervision would be the wisest policy for a given offender, he might 
 be turned over to the nearest probation officer as a representative of 
 the state department. But if the court looked forward to institu- 
 tional care or expressed no opinion in the matter of treatment, the 
 next step would be for the court to notify the division of transporta- 
 tion through the jailer that a prisoner was awaiting transportation to 
 a receiving station. 
 
 In the receiving station the offender would receive a medical and 
 !• etiological or psychiatri< examination. He would then pass 
 through the hands of an identification expert. Social field workers 
 would seek to learn his personal and family history — education, occu- 
 pation, sicknesses, hereditary defects, etc. These facts would be
 
 A UNIFIED CORRECTION A 1. SYS1 EM 137 
 
 added to those supplied by the court to make up a case record. For 
 convenience let us tall this proces- and result a "diagnosis." 
 
 In the meantime, the offender might be receiving needed medical, 
 surgical, dental or other treatment. He should be provided with 
 some occupation. If lacking in education, he might be given some 
 instruction. 
 
 With the diagnosis made, the offender might possibly be released, 
 although this would doubtless be exceedingly rare. He might be put 
 on probation and turned over to the district chief probation officer 
 associated with the receiving station. Or he might present problems 
 of such difficulty that he would be sent to a clearing house for further 
 diagnosis. No person would be sent to a state prison for confinement 
 except upon the decision of the staff of one of the two clearing houses. 
 
 In the receiving station the decision as to the disposition of a case 
 would be made by the superintendent in consultation with the spe- 
 cialists on his staff — physician, psychologist, identification expert, 
 social worker, attorney. In all cases of serious disagreement, as well 
 as those for which imprisonment seemed wise, the prisoner would be 
 sent to a clearing house with his full case history so far as it might 
 be worked out. 
 
 For California we would suggest such receiving stations at San 
 Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Sacramento, Stockton, Fresno, Bakers- 
 field, Eureka, Redding, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Bernardino, 
 Santa Barbara. This distribution would seem to meet approximately 
 the distribution of population and geographical divisions of the state. 
 
 The two clearing-houses would be the only gateways to the state 
 prisons. One of the clearing houses would be in or near San Francisco, 
 the other in or near Los Angeles. Both would be associated with the 
 state university because of their value for research and clinical instruc- 
 tion. The organization of the staff would not differ greatly from that 
 of the receiving stations, except that more capable officers should be 
 secured and larger salaries paid. Also use could be made of university 
 students, and the specialists might give instruction in the university. 
 The identification men would probably not be needed here. But 
 psychologists, psychiatrists, physicians, laboratory assistants, social 
 field workers, attorneys would all have a place in the clearing house. 
 
 The primary function of the clearing house would be to make fur- 
 ther diagnosis of those prisoners sent to it from the receiving stations. 
 The decision would be rendered by the director in consultation with
 
 138 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 the specialists on his staff. When a decision is reached, the offender 
 might possibly be released, although this would be even rarer than 
 in the receiving stations; he might be put on probation, being turned 
 over to one of the district probation officers; or he might be sent to 
 one of the state prisons, the one believed to be best adapted to his 
 needs. 
 
 The clearing houses would also serve other functions. They 
 would arrange the transfer of prisoners from one institution to another 
 either as a form of promotion or demotion or as a means of rectifying 
 a mistake. They would also arrange the transfer from institution to 
 parole or vice versa, or from probation to institution. Some of these 
 transfers might well be managed without the prisoner going in 
 person through the clearing house, although in some cases — possibly 
 a good many — such contact and opportunity for further study might 
 prove a considerable advantage. 
 
 The division of state prisons would not be an innovation at all, for 
 the administration of the state prisons in California is already in the 
 hands of the Board of Prison Directors. Their functions, with the 
 exception of parole, would simply be transferred to this division of 
 the proposed department. But there might well be some important 
 changes in the prisons themselves. What we have in mind here is a 
 number of institutions, smaller than a good many penitentiaries, 
 specialized to deal with different problems. In each institution 
 would be teachers, physicians, guards and possibly some other offi- 
 cers. A warden would be in charge, and over all these institutions — 
 including some for feebleminded, and some for insane prisoners — 
 would be a director of prisons. The number and character of the 
 separate institutions would change in response to changing needs and 
 to increasing knowledge of the whole "criminal group." We shall not 
 go into possible details here. The preceding chapter states in general 
 the sort of policies that we should expect to see carried out. 
 
 California already has a state bureau of identification. Funda- 
 mentally the only change that we would suggest is that this bureau 
 be made a part of the proposed department of correction. All records 
 would be kept in the central office at Sacramento. But most of the 
 original work would be done by identification experts assigned to the 
 several receiving stations. While a large part of their work would be 
 done in their offices, they would be subject to call to any criminal 
 court in the district served by the receiving station to which they
 
 A UNIFIED CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM 139 
 
 might be attached. They would be subject to the superintendent of 
 the receiving station, but they would also be responsible to the direc- 
 tor of the central bureau for carrying out his general instructions as 
 to methods of work and the data to be forwarded to him. 
 
 The division of probation and parole would be in one phase some- 
 thing quite new, but in another merely the carrying over of what 
 already exists. The parole officers at the present time are under the 
 Board of Prison Directors who control the state prisons. But the 
 probation officers today are county officials. We would suggest a 
 director of the division to appoint district officers, who in turn would 
 appoint local officers to work in different parts of the district. All 
 would be state officers and integral parts of the correctional system. 
 Then uniform methods of work could be developed — although there 
 need not be excessive interference with individual initiative — and 
 responsibility could be definitely fixed. 
 
 A person on probation or parole would be a ward of the depart- 
 ment of correction, a legal status corresponding to that of the child 
 committed under the juvenile court law. (The child is described in 
 the law and is in fact a "ward of the court"). The probationer would 
 be in the immediate charge of a local officer who would give his ward 
 personal attention and supervision. He would make recommenda- 
 tions to the district chief as to termination of the probation either by 
 release or by return to a receiving station or clearing house. The 
 decision would not rest in the hands of the local officer. 
 
 As to termination of probation, the decision might be made in 
 different ways. If the probationer had been turned over to the officer 
 by the court, the decision might be rendered by the district chief 
 probation officer upon request and recommendation either of the 
 committing judge or the local officer. If he had been sent from a 
 receiving station, the decision might be given by the district officer 
 and the superintendent of the receiving station acting in conjunction. 
 In case of disagreement, appeal might be made to the director of the 
 nearest clearing house. If the probationer had come from a clearing 
 house, the decision should be made by the district chief and the 
 director of the clearing house acting together. But in case of disagree- 
 ment, the opinion of the director of the clearing house would be 
 decisive, except that the district probation and parole officer would 
 have the right of appeal to a committee of three — director of proba- 
 tion and parole, director of the other clearing house and director of
 
 140 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 research. Their judgment would be final, except for possible review 
 by the board itself. 
 
 As to termination of parole, the decision might be made by the 
 director of the clearing house through which the prisoner had come, 
 but upon objection from the district chief probation and parole offi- 
 cer, a conference should be held between these two and the warden of 
 of the prison of which the man had last been an inmate. If there were 
 still lack of agreement, the matter might be appealed to the same 
 committee of three suggested to deal with matters of probation. 
 
 All such decisions would be subject to review by the board itself 
 or by its executive officer. All final releases would involve a restora- 
 tion of citizenship. As to the relation of this system to the governor's 
 pardoning power, we have not been able to reach any conclusion. 
 
 One of the most important divisions of the department would be 
 devoted to research. To this division would come all statistical reports 
 from the several offices and institutions, and all case records after 
 the discharge of prisoners. Handling this body of data would itself 
 be an enormous task. But in order to use it for the solution of scienti- 
 fic and practical problems, other and supplementary information 
 would have to be secured from time to time. 
 
 The division might publish certain more or less routine statistical 
 reports. But this rather perfunctory duty would fall into the back- 
 ground in favor of research work upon definite problems connected 
 with causes of delinquency, administration of correctional systems, 
 etc. 
 
 The staff of the division would include a statistician, statistical 
 clerks, record clerks, field workers, and perhaps from time to time 
 outside specialists. Members of the staff might do teaching in the 
 -late university and students might be utilized as research assistants. 
 Other divisions need not detain us long at this point. The duties of 
 the attorney, chief clerk and director of the construction are more less 
 self-explanatory. It might, however, be added that an attorney 
 would probably be a necessary member of the staff of each receiving 
 station and clearing house. As such he would sustain certain direct 
 relations to the attorney for the department as well as to the superin- 
 i endent of the receiving station or clearing house to which he might be 
 attached. The purchasing agent would be primarily what the army 
 people call a liaison officer. It would be his task to straighten out 
 dilin ulties between the offices and institutions of the department of
 
 A UNIFIED CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM 141 
 
 correction and the purchasing department, which is a distinct unit oi 
 the California state government. 
 
 It remains to indicate briefly the place of the police and the courts 
 in a state which should adopt such a system as we have outlined. The 
 state department of correction might or might not have direct rela- 
 tions with the police. We have assumed that, for the present at least, 
 the police would remain under municipal and county governments. 
 
 The question may be raised: why put people who are merely 
 technical offenders through the elaborate processes of the proposed 
 department of correction? The answer is that such procedure would 
 not always be necessary. 
 
 We have already provided that the court might place a convicted 
 offender directly on probation. Thus, where it seemed wise to impose 
 a fine for the purpose of restitution, supervision of the restitution 
 might well be left to the probation officer, especially if it were to be 
 through partial payments. The only occasion for sending the con- 
 victed man then to a receiving station would be failure to comply with 
 the conditions of probation. Even then a lecture from the judge 
 might accomplish all that would be needed. 
 
 There is another problem involved in the violation of more or less 
 technical ordinances such as riding on the wide walk, parking in for- 
 bidden places, etc. In so far as they are due to ignorance or 
 occasional carelessness, an arrest may not be necessary at all. In 
 many cases a reprimand from the police would seem sufficient. In 
 other words, it would be possible for the police to assume such an 
 attitude that this problem would become relatively insignificant. If 
 the police were rewarded for preventing offenses and for dealing with 
 certain offenders otherwise than by arrest, the number of persons who 
 really need probation or institutional care would probably show a 
 marked decrease. Another way in which the police could be trained 
 to render great service would be through early recognition of mental 
 defect and aberration. Both of these policies are already in operation 
 in the city of Berkeley, 8 where chief Vollmer has a notable record of 
 accomplishment in the prevention of crime through educating the 
 police. 
 
 8 Journal of Criminal Law, 7: 877-898.
 
 142 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 The function of the court would be limited pretty definitely to the 
 determination of fact. It would have practically nothing to do with 
 treatment. If a person had done some forbidden deed and thereby 
 put himself out of harmony with his fellow citizens, the determination 
 of that fact would be the task of the court. With the exception of 
 probation in certain cases — e.g., damage to property through trespass 
 where restitution might appear to be the only necessary "treatment" 
 — that would be its sole task. "Floaters," prison sentences and even 
 fines would be abolished in their present form. Fines might occasion- 
 ally be imposed in connection with probation. Definite prison sen- 
 tences would give way to the flexible system of institutional care 
 already outlined. "Floaters" would disappear forever. 
 
 After finding that a person has done something that is forbidden 
 by the penal code, the court would declare him a ward of the state 
 department of correction. In the vast majority of cases that would 
 complete the court's task, except for turning over the prisoner togeth- 
 er with the record of his case to the appropriate officer. This would 
 mean genuinely indefinite sentences. Prisoners could be kept in 
 custody for life, if necessary, even though their "crime" might be no 
 more "heinous" than begging. They could, on the other hand, be 
 released as soon as they might prove able to take their part in the 
 normal social life again, even though their crime had been murder. 
 Only by such a system as this does it seem possible to deal with the 
 offender as a man. 
 
 The accompanying charts indicate graphically the organization 
 of the proposed department of correction and the possible stages in 
 dealing with an offender. 
 
 Answers to Possible Objections 
 We have now presented our thesis, which is fundamentally an argu- 
 ment for individualization through a centralized correctional system. 
 We have set forth in outline form a very concrete plan which should at 
 least serve as a starting point in devising something better. It 
 remains to give some attention to objections that may be raised to our 
 general proposition and its concrete application. Perhaps this can 
 best be done through paying our respects to the "limitations upon 
 individualization" discussed in Parmelee's "Criminology," to which 
 reference has already been made. 9 
 
 •Parmclce, Maurice P.: "Criminology." New York. 1«>1S. p. 394 ff.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 146 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 (1) Parmelee insists that for financial reasons alone individualiza- 
 tion is impracticable except to a very limited degree. In the previous 
 chapter we showed that this might be true of a system which endea- 
 vored to provide a distinct type of treatment for each separate 
 offender. But we also showed that not only was such individualiza- 
 tion unnecessary; we also showed it to be undesirable, if not, indeed, 
 impossible, because based on a misleading concept — namely, the 
 assumption of the individual as an isolated unit. The sort of indivi- 
 dulization that we propose would not necessarily be any more expen- 
 sive than existing penal systems. Especially might the anticipated 
 expense be cut down by unification, by reducing recidivism, and by 
 preventive work. Moreover, what if the immediate expense should 
 be greater? It would be more than justified, if it promised adequate 
 returns in the future. But the more we study it, the more we are 
 convinced that the socialized individualization of an industrial 
 institution correlated with intelligent probation and parole work 
 would at least prove no more expensive than present-day care of 
 offenders. Admittedly, our answer to Parmelee is little more than the 
 expression of opinion. But so is Parmelee's "objection" an expression 
 of opinion, and an opinion based on a misconception of the individual. 
 
 (2) Parmelee's second "limitation" indicates very clearly that his 
 notion of individualization is not at all the same as ours. 
 
 Such a high degree of individualization would, as a rule, have no utility. It 
 is, therefore, necessary to establish a more or less detailed classification based upon 
 the three points of view designated above (origin of the criminality, type of the 
 criminality, intensity of the criminality). The individualizing would then consist 
 in determining the class of each criminal. Such a classification should be developed 
 out of the experience of the courts and of the penal administration, and experience 
 tested and controlled by statistics of recidivism and of the extent of crime. 
 
 Just what does his statement assume individualization to be? 
 Would he have criminals sent from the clearing house to the institu- 
 tion tagged "dementia praecox," "accidental murderer," "incorrigi- 
 ble," etc., to be put through corresponding mechanical processes? 
 Whatever his notion may be, it has little in common with what we 
 have outlined. Under our plan, prisoners would be grouped in 
 accordance with the probability of their responding successfully (not 
 necessarily identically) to the same general social and physical 
 environment. They would be sent to take their place as members of 
 groups and to live under conditions which afford the largest probabil-
 
 A UNIFIED CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM 147 
 
 ity of (a) immediate adaptation, and (b) development of capacity for 
 conduct in more complex and difficull situations. They would not be 
 put into a given institution or ward to be manipulated in the same 
 manner as all others in that place. They would be put there to find a 
 place for themselves in a group life and a physical environment 
 artificially simplified and in a high degree controlled by others, with 
 the hope that solving the problems which they must face here, they 
 will become able to solve more difficult problems, until perhaps they 
 will no longer require the careful tutelage of a correctional system. 
 With such a point of view clearly in mind, it is hard to believe that 
 "such a high degree of individualization would, as a rule, have no 
 utility." 
 
 (3) Parmelee's third proposition is that individualization is 
 dangerous to personal rights. 
 
 Furthermore, it would be dangerous to individual rights and personal liberty if 
 unlimited powers of individualization were put into the hands of the courts and 
 penal administration. However efficient these may become, errors will always be 
 possible. Ordinarily these errors will be unintentional. In some cases political 
 reasons may lead judicial and administrative officials to incarcerate indefinitely 
 persons who are objectionable to them. Consequently maximum limits should 
 always be placed upon the powers of these officials, and rights of appeal should 
 always be maintained. However desirable individualization of punishment may be 
 for penological reasons, it would not be worth while to risk endangering fundamental 
 democratic principles for this reason. Excessive enthusiasm for the principle of 
 individualization on the part of reformers is likely to give rise to this danger, especially 
 when they are ignorant of the history of human liberty and personal rights. 
 
 Postponing for just a moment the "evolution of human liberty and 
 personal rights," let us face the problem that lies immediately before 
 us. Our belief is that the individual will be in no more danger of 
 arbitrary handling under the proposed scheme than at present. In 
 our study of the California county jails we found that in some com- 
 munities the peace officers were inclined to arrest or "float" every 
 man who lacked a receipt for room rent or a meal ticket, while in 
 others they ignored, so far as possible, a large number of men who were 
 actually violating laws against begging, disturbing the peace, drunk- 
 enness, etc. Of those who were arrested, we found some courts 
 indiscriminately convicting nearly everyone, while other courts 
 dismissed a major portion of the cases. On those convicted of any 
 given offense, some courts uniformly pronounced long jail sentences, 
 while others just as regularly gave short sentences or fines. If
 
 148 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 by danger to "personal rights" Parmelee means arbitrary treatment 
 based on personal inclinations of judges, peace officers and prison 
 officials — which is the only tangible meaning we are able to derive 
 from his statement — then surely those "rights" are in great danger 
 under our present system. 
 
 Parmelee's argument is based on an assumption of something 
 that does not exist. He assumes that justice is always done under the 
 present system, that personal feelings and political influences are 
 excluded from the courts. If that be true, how can he account for the 
 Mooney case in San Francisco, 10 the trial of the I.W.W. 11 at Sacra- 
 mento, or a case like the following: 
 
 An instance has recently come to light in New York City in which one John Gill 
 has been in jail since last June for refusing to answer a question before the grand 
 jury. Mr. Gill has recently demanded of the judge to know why he, a poor laboring 
 man, should be in jail for refusing to answer, when Senator-elect Newberry of 
 Michigan, who committed the identical offense, was released in the custody of his 
 counsel. n 
 
 Now what would be the difference under the plan we propose? 
 The decision as to what shall be done with a man after conviction, at 
 least, will be in the hands of a non-political group of scientifically 
 trained people. The matters of arrest and conviction would not be 
 directly affected at present. But wrongs done a man by conviction 
 are more apt to be discovered and righted through his treatment by a 
 clearing house than through executive clemency or special considera- 
 tion in a present-day prison. Moreover, the "personal rights" of the 
 rest of us — rights to protection against theft, arson, murder, annoy- 
 ance by drunkards and beggars — are much more apt to be intelligently 
 guarded under the new system than the old. The "right of appeal" 
 need not be abolished, although it would have to be changed. Admit- 
 tedly "errors will always be possible," but we cannot bring ourselves 
 to believe or fear that the suggested change will "risk endangering 
 fundamental democratic principles." 
 
 10 Survey, 38: 124, 305, 355, 460. 39: 28, 295, 349, 497, 712. 40: 512. 
 
 New Republic, 14: 203. 
 
 Sunset, 38: 28. 
 
 International Socialist Review, 17: 013, 675. 
 
 " Nation, Jan. 25, 1919. 
 
 "Public, 22: 52. (Jan. 18, 1919.)
 
 A UNIFIED CORRECTION \L SYSTEM 149 
 
 Returning to the "evolution of human liberty and personal 
 rights," we recall that they had their origin in struggles against 
 monarchical and ecclesiastical tyranny. They assumed doctrines 
 such as those of Hobbes, Locke or Rousseau concerning the individual 
 as a separate and distinct ent ity. They were set forth in the American 
 Declaration of Independence and guaranteed in the Federal and stale 
 constitutions. But what has happened to them? The social order 
 which created and presented these rights has taken many of them 
 away. Within the past two years we have established sumptuary 
 laws, compulsory military service, censorship of the press, govern- 
 mental operation of railroads, telephone and telegraph, fixing of 
 prices and national prohibition. We have enforced an espionage 
 act which has abolished the free press and free speech. If Parmelee's 
 argument against individualization is sound, then, indeed, all the 
 activities of the United States for the last two years "risk endangering 
 fundamental democratic principles." 
 
 Professor Pound has pointed out a legal precedent for individuali- 
 zation in the courts of equity. 13 
 
 What we have to achieve, then, in modern criminal law is a system of individualiza- 
 tion, and that this is possible we have the warrant of the experience of courts of 
 equity. In equity we have a system of legal individualization. Ever}- rule has a 
 margin, more or less wide, which admits of discretion in its application to individual 
 causes. As Lord Eldon puts it, the doctrines of equity "ought to be as well settled 
 and made as uniform almost as those of the common law, laying down fixed principles 
 but taking care that they are to be applied according to the circumstances of each 
 case." In equity, too, we have a system of judicial individualization. There is not, 
 as at law, a stereotyped form of judgment which must needs be rendered in every 
 case; but the court has wide powers of adapting the decree to the concrete cause and 
 of doing what will most subserve the ends of justice therein. For the individualiza- 
 tion in equity in our system is in its administration rather than in its substance, 
 except as its substance allows this. That rights of property, which are constantly 
 involved in our equity litigation, have not suffered in any wise under such a regime, 
 argues that rights of personal liberty, of which we are at least no less tender, do not 
 require hard and fast formulas administered mechanically in order to receive full 
 protection. We must not overlook the fact that today publicity is the most effective 
 check and balance upon the magistrate. There is much less need of the elaborate 
 tying down to which our fathers subjected him. 
 
 (4) Parmelee's next point is that there is danger of discrediting 
 criminal justice in the eyes of the public. 
 
 13 Saleilles, Raymond: "Individualization of Punishment." Introduction by 
 Roscoc Pound, pp. xvii-xviii.
 
 150 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 There is also a serious objection to individualization which indicates a further 
 limitation upon the application of this principle. To many persons it appears as if 
 individualization causes great injustice, because it results in an inequality of punish- 
 ment for equal crimes. Consequently, there is danger that criminal justice will be 
 discredited in the eyes of the public, and measures should be taken to avert this 
 danger. 
 
 This "limitation" rests upon a number of erroneous assumptions 
 which need to be removed. First of all, it assumes that there is a 
 common measure of crimes and another measure for punishment, so 
 that we can really have "equality of punishment for equal crimes." 
 What are those measures with which we can perform this magical 
 feat of measuring and balancing crimes and punishments? But, sup- 
 pose for a moment that we have such tools at our disposal, clearly we 
 must have a new set for each state. In fact, we will have to have a 
 different set for each community, each court, and each judge. There 
 actually are so many different ways of dealing with people who do 
 what superficially is the same thing that it would be hard to show that 
 we are now free from this dreaded "inequality of punishment for 
 equal crimes." 
 
 Secondly, it is assumed that the public has confidence in "criminal 
 justice" as now administered. The popular appeal of such books as 
 Miss Field's "Story of Canada Blackie," Lowrie's "My Life Out of 
 Prison," Osborne's "Within Prison Walls," and others indicates that 
 there is not that naive confidence in our penal system which would be 
 shattered by the proposed changes. Thousands of people read in the 
 Chicago Tribune of April 12, 1919, a long account of a man charged 
 with murder, who was discharged because the police had forced a 
 confession from him. Not only the fact that such things can happen 
 under our present system, but the additional fact that the people 
 know they happen, and that therefore they make good newspaper 
 stuff should suffice to disillusion Parmelee on this point. 
 
 However, it is a fact that the man on the street would feel some- 
 thing lacking in the proposed scheme. It is the same sort of thing 
 that the evangelist misses in the liturgical churches, that the stock- 
 gambler misses in "scientific management," that the cowpuncher 
 misses in tilling the soil, that Lady Bountiful misses in social diagno- 
 sis, that the fireman misses in concrete buildings. Excitement is 
 lacking. The excitemenl of the revival meeting, of the rodeo, of the 
 "pit," of the man-hunt and of the hanging— this has no place in the 
 new order.
 
 A UNIFIED CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM 151 
 
 Our program implies the definite abandonment of punitive justice 
 both in theory and practi>e. For the negative definition of right in 
 terms of prosecution and punishment it means the substitution of a 
 positive definition in terms of prevention and reformation. Instead of 
 the ephemeral moral enthusiasm centered on the destruction of 
 criminals, it suggests a consistent effort to offset wayward tendencies 
 and to reinstate delinquents in the social order. It calls for a restate- 
 ment of moral values including the worth of the individual as well as 
 the importance of group solidarity. It demands a new conception of 
 group solidarity with reference to purpose or function, in place of the 
 old conception which had reference merely to opposition to other 
 groups. 14 
 
 (5) Criminals would feel themselves unjustly treated! This is 
 Parmelee's fifth objection to individualization. 
 
 It is probable that criminals sometimes feel that they are being treated unjustly 
 when others who have been guilty of the same crime receive a lighter penalty. This 
 can be obviated in part by the merit system in the penal institutions. A criminal 
 should be made to feel that the severity and duration of his punishment depends 
 largely upon himself, and that others are released with less punishment because they 
 have earned more lenient treatment. But it might also be desirable if, on the occasion 
 of every sentence, the judge would state publicly the reasons for the sentence, thus 
 indicating its justice both to the criminals and to the non-criminal public. In this 
 fashion both the criminals and the public at large might, in the course of time, be 
 educated up to the point of appreciating the justice of individualizing punishment. 
 
 Parmelee's own statement indicates that he does not take this 
 "limitation" very seriously. He also intimates that such sense of 
 injustice exists at present. Consequently we might ignore this argu- 
 ment. But as a matter of fact, we have never walked into a jail or 
 penitentiary, or for that matter an almshouse, home for feebleminded 
 or hospital for insane, without finding someone to complain that he 
 was being unjustly detained. Such beliefs, real or pretended, will 
 perhaps always be found, but the correctional system may be mea- 
 sured in part by the degree to which such expressions are not manifest. 
 We do not mean that they should be repressed, but that the incentives 
 to such remarks must be removed before real reformation can occur. 
 However, the removal of the incentives to complain will not be 
 brought about by establishing "fixed penalties." The prisoner who is 
 
 14 Mead, George H.: "The Psychology of Punitive Justice." American Journal 
 of Psychology, 23: 577-602 i March, 1918).
 
 152 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 trying to learn a trade, to acquire an elementary education, to make a 
 piece of furniture, to get on well with his fellow prisoners and officers, 
 will be too busy to worry much about the sort of injustice feared by 
 Parmelee. 
 
 (6) Finally, our critic falls back upon "the public's desire to pun- 
 ish according to a graduated scale of severity." 
 
 There undoubtedly exists in the public consciousness a desire to punish crimes 
 according to a graduated scale of severity. It has been suggested above that the 
 public may be educated up to the point of accepting individualization without 
 demanding punishment for the crime. However, it is doubtful if the public can ever 
 be induced to accept thorough-going individualization. Furthermore, the public 
 demand for a graduation of penalties according to the gravity of the crimes has some 
 social justification which must be recognized. 
 
 I have shown in the preceding chapter that the original sources of punishment 
 are the powerful emotions of fear and of anger. These emotions are prone to lead 
 the individual and society to acts of excess in repressing the objects toward which 
 these emotions are directed, and therefore are in need of regulation and restraint. 
 The principle of individualization should furnish one of the methods of regulating 
 the primitive manifestations of these emotions. But it will always be necessary to 
 permit public vengeance, as manifested through the penal law, to stigmatize the 
 graver crimes effectively by attaching heavier penalties to them. Thus will these 
 crimes be made to appear more odious even to those who have no thought of com- 
 mitting them, and the standard of public morality can thereby be raised. In this 
 fashion the public can display its displeasure against dangerous anti-social conduct 
 as personified by the criminals who commit these acts. 
 
 It is evident, therefore, that the principle of individualization must be adjusted 
 to the need for indicating the relative gravity of crimes. 
 
 We have shown earlier that the system of fixed penalties, graded 
 according to the assumed gravity of the offense arose as a reaction 
 against the arbitrary procedure of royal and ecclesiastical courts in 
 Europe. It was believed that this system would correct the ancient 
 evils, and its relative success has caused the sanctity of tradition to 
 gather around it. But that is no reason for believing that this will 
 persist forever. The very fact that the public, which once accepted 
 the arbitrariness of feudal, royal or ecclesiastical courts as a matter 
 of fact and looked upon these hoary institutions with awe, came to 
 oppose them and accepted new dogmas and traditions which per- 
 meate the present system — this fact is sufficient reason for believing 
 that this too will be cast aside when its shortcomings are fully appre- 
 ciated and faith has been attached to something new. Public opinion 
 may change slowly, but that it does change is a fact so obvious that
 
 A UNIFIED CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM 153 
 
 we hardly see how Parmelee's skepticism can be regarded as an 
 argument. 
 
 He has merely set for us one part of our problem, viz., how can we 
 direct public attention to faults of the present system and to possible 
 remedies? Or, to state it differently, there is more or less vague 
 popular dissatisfaction with criminal procedure. We who are students 
 of social phenomena have tried to make scientific statements of the 
 problem. We have hit upon an hypothesis. If the public finds that 
 our analysis corresponds with general experience, it may be sufficient- 
 ly interested in our hypothesis to test it through legislation. If, in the 
 trial, the proposal is found to "work," it will probably be retained as a 
 part of the correctional system, and — who can tell — it may in turn 
 become the bearer of venerable and hoary traditions which will 
 impede further progress. 
 
 In advocating this radical change in our correctional systems it is 
 fully recognized that legislatures will not pass the necessary laws all at 
 once, and that even if they would, there would still be the difficulty 
 that public opinion is so far from understanding the principle of 
 individualization that it would not support the new order. It is, after 
 all, a good thing that the moulding of public opinion and the reorgani- 
 zation of our institutions must go hand in hand. 
 
 Our proposal of individualization through a unified correctional 
 system is not at all imagined to be a panacea. With it must go impor- 
 tant developments along other lines, such as: (a) preventive legisla- 
 tion, e.g., measures designed to minimize unemployment, to protect 
 children, to segregate the feebleminded, (b) periodic revision of the 
 penal codes so as to maintain relative uniformity between the formal 
 law and the mores, eliminating "freak legislation" and "dead letters," 
 (c) police trained and rewarded for avoiding unnecessary arrests, as 
 well as better equipped to catch really dangerous offenders, (d) sim- 
 plification of court procedure, (e) making the care of delinquents a 
 profession or a group of professions with special training and assur- 
 ance of a career. 
 
 Conclusion 
 
 It must be clear that we have placed the treatment of delinquents 
 on a totally different basis from that of punitive justice. However, 
 we have not tried to set up one absolute standard or ideal in place of 
 another. In urging a new program we have simply proposed it as an
 
 154 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 hypothesis, a suggested solution of a group of problems which have a 
 very real existence. 
 
 Probably there is no one who would not be glad if crime could be 
 prevented. Hence we may fairly state the problem: How can we 
 prevent crime? How can we keep delinquents from repeating their 
 offenses, and how can we prevent the making of future offenders? 
 Probably there is no one who would not be glad if offenders could be 
 made into good citizens. Hence we may state the second problem: 
 How can we enable those who have broken our laws to live peaceably 
 with the rest of us? How can we build up in delinquents that social- 
 self-control which is the essence of good citizenship? 
 
 With these problems before us we have assembled evidence bear- 
 ing on a number of hypotheses. We have not speculated in our 
 closet about the nature of crime and criminals. We have gone forth to 
 draw as widely as we could upon human experience. We have col- 
 lected data for the purpose of testing various proposals. We have 
 concluded with one which, in the present state of our knowledge, 
 seems most likely to advance the solution of our problems. 
 
 The hypothesis which we have offered will doubtless strike many 
 people as lacking in something. It does lack something — something 
 which we can now very well do without. Let us illustrate by an 
 analogy. 
 
 Many social groups — perhaps all — have come into existence 
 through conflict. It was opposition to a common foe that brought 
 their members together. It was in terms of hostility to some enemy 
 that the group took form and was defined in the minds of its members. 
 Thus the Christian church arose in opposition to the many religions of 
 the Roman Empire. The Protestant movement was a conflict with 
 the Church of Rome. The various protestant sects have organized 
 and perpetuated themselves by contrast and opposition, more or less 
 modified, to other sects. Now so long as the sense of hostility is alive, 
 there is enthusiasm for the sect. But so long as this is true, the 
 organization emphasizes its negative aspect. Its positive function 
 is thrust into the background. Its successful competition with other 
 groups stands out vividly, while there is but faint recognition of the 
 constructive work, which may be undertaken through the co-operative 
 effort of its members. 
 
 So it is in the nation. The United States was formed in a conflict 
 with Great Britain. The war against a common enemy brought
 
 A UNIFIED CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM 155 
 
 together the thirteen separate and none too friendly colonies. All 
 through its history the nation has typified to most of its citizens 
 organized defense against foreign aggression. We have defined it 
 negatively in terms of its power to prevent injury from without. We 
 have thought relatively little of its power to do work within. Hostility 
 rather than function has permeated our patriotism. But after the 
 shadow of this last war has passed, it seems likely that blatant chau- 
 vinism will give way more and more to constructive patriotism. The 
 Pharisee who finds satisfaction in cheering the flag and military 
 parades, but who sells milk at enormous profits to the poor, will miss 
 something in the new situation. The man who is eager to die for his 
 country, but who has not learned to live for it, will not feel at home in 
 the new order of things. 
 
 So it is with the institution of private property. Our property is 
 apt to be that from which we exclude other people rather more than 
 it is that with which we accomplish results. It is because of this nega- 
 tive conception of property that we react with such spirit to the cry 
 of "stop thief." We resent any infringement upon the "majesty of 
 the law" because it protects us in our exclusive possession of some- 
 thing. But if it be possible for the positive aspect of property to over- 
 shadow the negative, we will deal with it as a means to an end rather 
 than an end in itself. We will be less interested in "no trespassing" 
 and more concerned with "scientific management." Some Socialists 
 and some Christians have already spoken of property as held in trust 
 for the service of mankind. But this attitude involves little of the 
 thrill that goes with stock gambling and cutthroat competition. 
 
 Now to return from our analogies to the treatment of offenders — 
 do we not have here about the same contrasts? Does not respectable 
 society define itself in terms of hostility to the delinquent rather than 
 in terms of social service? Does not patriotism consist more in 
 maligning things foreign than in helping our own fallen brothers? Is 
 not property a source of pride and power more than a means of enrich- 
 ing human life? The element of hostility in our conventional atti- 
 tudes is much more exciting, far more exhilirating than the element of 
 constructive purpose. Social diagnosis and the quiet, unobtrusive 
 processes of reformation do not thrill us nearly so much as the man- 
 hunt and the murder trial. But is it not conceivable that we may 
 learn to get along without these "emotional sprees," and devote 
 ourselves earnestly to the serious business of life? In giving up retri-
 
 156 THE PASSING OF THE COUNTY JAIL 
 
 butive justice, as in giving up chauvinism, revival meetings and 
 predatory wealth, we will miss something. For a time we may feel 
 lost without the thrill that comes from the hanging, the regimental 
 review, the heresy-hunt, the stock exchange. But in this transition 
 from the negative to the positive values of life may we not find our 
 way to something finer and richer?
 
 [NDEX 
 
 Ages of misdemeanants, 45, 88 
 Alabama, jails of, 16 
 American Prison Ass'n, 39 
 Arrests, 1, 3 
 
 Beggars, 31, 65 
 
 Belgium, 32 
 
 Birthplace, 46, 89 
 
 Bowers, Paul E., 130 
 
 Brockway, Zebulon, 25 
 
 California State Board of Charities and 
 
 Corrections, v, 133 
 Chicago House of Correction, 25 
 Classification of crimes, 71 ff. 
 Clearing-House, 128, 137 
 Collins, Jas. A., 22 
 Connecticut, 17 
 Contract Labor, 17 
 Convictions for misdemeanors, 4 
 Correction, House of, 24 
 County jail system, 1 ff. 
 Court procedure, 21 
 
 Derrick, Calvin, 120 
 
 Deserters of families, 37, 68 
 
 Detention awaiting trial, 21 
 
 Detroit House of Correction, 25 
 
 Discipline in jails, 10, 117 
 
 Disease, 56 
 
 District of Columbia Workhouse, 27 
 
 Education, 61 
 Expert testimony, 130 
 
 Family deserters, 37, 68 
 Farm colony, local, 26 ff. 
 Farm colony, state, 28 ff. 
 Fee system, 13 
 Felons, 71 ff. 
 Fines, 18, 22 
 
 Fixed penalty system, 103 
 "Floater" custom, 7 
 
 Glueck, Bernard, 85, 130 
 Great Britain, jails of, 20 
 
 Identification of prisoners, 138 
 
 Illinois, jails of, 15 
 
 Indiana State Farm, 30 
 
 Indianapolis City Court, 22 
 
 Individualization, 102 ff., 146 ff. 
 
 Inebriates, 34 
 
 Iowa State Hospital for Inebriates, 35 
 
 Jail, system, 1 ff. 
 
 Jails, physical condition, 8 
 
 "Kangaroo Court," 11 
 
 Los Angeles Co., Cal., 23 
 
 Marital status, 49, 90 
 Massachussets State Farm, 29, 35 
 Mental condition, 58, 92 
 Merxplas-Wortel, Belgium, ^ 
 Miner, Maude E., 37, 86 
 Misdemeanants, 41 ff. 
 Missouri, 11 
 
 National Conference of Charities and 
 
 Corrections, 38 
 New Haven County Jail, 17 
 New York City Hospital and Industrial 
 
 Colony, 36 
 New York State clearing-house plan, 128 
 New York State Farm for Women. ; 1 
 
 Oates, W. H., 16 
 Occupations, 50, 90 
 
 Offenses, 43, 75, 83 
 Orange County Jail. 2.i 
 Outdoor work, 23 
 
 Parmelee, Maurice 1 46 ff. 
 Parole, 21, 139
 
 Physical condition of misdemeanants, 56, 
 
 92 
 Pound, Roscoe, 103, 149 
 Preston School of Industry, 120 
 Probation, 21, 139 
 Prostitutes, 36, 66 
 Psychopathic work, 25, 131 
 Punishment, origins of, ix 
 
 Race, 48 
 
 Receiving stations, 128, 136 
 
 Recidivism, 52, 91 
 
 Residence, 54 
 
 Retributive justice, x, 154 
 
 Rhode Island State Workhouse, v, 29 
 
 State control of jails, 20 
 Stephen, Sir James Fitzjames, 73 
 Supervision of jails, 14 
 Suspended sentence, 7, 22 
 Switzerland, 31 
 
 Thomas, W. I., ix 
 Thorndike, E. L., 62, 63, 103 
 Train, Arthur, 84 
 Transportation, 13, 136 
 
 Unified correctional system, 128 fT. 
 
 Vagrants, 31, 64 
 Vermont, 24 
 
 San Bernardino County Jail, 23 
 
 Sentence, 6 
 
 Sex, 44, 88 
 
 Sing Sing, 94, 128 
 
 Solenberger, Alice W., 62, 65, 86 
 
 Specialization, 31 
 
 Wander, Paul, c >4 
 Washington County Jail, 24 
 Waverly House, 37 
 Witzwyl, Switzerland, 32 
 Work, outdoor, 23 
 Workhouse, 24
 
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