THE JOYS OF SING SING

Hokitika Guardian, 13 July 1926, Page 1

THE JOYS OF SING SING

n- CONVICTS WORK LESS THAN ■nl FREE, MEN. k’e- NEW YORK, May 20. id Why in a single vein- there should it- be 12,000 murders in the United States is while there aro only 140,' in: Great ix Britain is a question which American ;h publicists are discussing with increasing alarm, Every yepr, it seems, tlie chances a murderer in the United States has of escaping scot free are multiplying U with terrifying, rapidity. Thirty years ago one man was hanged to every six- *' teen murdered. To-day tlie odds in favour of tlie murderer are 110 to 1. Tn Chicago the situation >is infinitely ’* worse. It is estimated that, in tiia' n city 30,000 professional criminals aro * permanently at large. e CRIMINAL’S LOOPHOLES. Not only in murders, but also in crimes of violence of every description, the American record is sensationally greater than that of Great Britain. It is conceded that compared with British methods of criminal jurispru- * deuce those of the United States are amazingly lax. The American crimi- ; nal has many advantages which the British criminal does not enjoy. He is, able to'arm himself with ease. He has at his beck and call expert practitiou- ’ ers of the law whose solo aim seems to ' be the exploitation of its innumerable loopholes for the frustration of justice. 1 When arrested ho can always, on the payment of a fee, secure bail from a surety company. ' He can delay his trial on a thousand 'and one ingenious pretexts while employing his liberty, as often as not, for tlie commission of. new crimes; and when lie appears in court- lie can, through his own-counsel, secure a jury largely of his own choosing. And ' [ when he is convicted lie can, thanks to laws framed for tlie protection of the ' individual a hundred years ago, carry 1 appeal after appeal based on the most triviali grounds to tlie Higher Courts without thereby lengthening his eventual term of imprisonment. RELEASED “ON PAROLE.” ! When finally he goes to gaol lie does so in the confident expectation of serving loss than half his sentence, for lie can lie—and in a. large percentage of cases is—released “on parole” by the Parole Boards, and if this source of relief fails him lie can rely on enjoying the full benefit of an indeterminate sentence whose minimum, is never more than half the maximum prescribed by the law; and to this benefit is added further mitigations in the shape of “commutation” and “compensation for services rendered.” Tt is true that not all American gaols are conducted in philputlirorm lines. Tn many of them, indeed, the system is extraordinary harsh and is credited by reformers with converting ■ the youthful criminal into a hardened enemy of society. But in many of the : leading pennl institutions of the country the idea of reforming the criminal by soft treatment has been given full sway for a number of years. Hence the contention that punishment of crime in America does not punish. Tn Sing Sing, the great convict gaol of the StMte of New York, for instance, 1 the inmates until recently were allow- j ed, if they had the wherewithal, to purchase their own food and to have it specially cooked and privately sen - ] eel. All kinds of entertainment are provided to relieve the tedium of their j incarceration. They have their own baseball grounds equipped with a.fine, j grandstand whence they can witness d the prowess of their own teams in competition with visiting teams. f The best theatrical shows are per- ; formed for their amusement once ( a week, and almost every night they are able to visit the picture house. Their J hours of work are shorter than those 1 of the ordinary working man, and after their labours shower-baths are provided to freshen'tlieir bodies before 1 the evening meal.