Professional Documents
Culture Documents
By GEORGE B. VOLD
fact that this question has been Characteristic of this whole frame of
THE
included appropriate title
as an
in 1954
for reference is the basic principle of some
kind of scale of severity increasing with
analysis and elaboration a sym-
posium on prison reform is of itself per- the seriousness of or the repetition of
haps more important than any simple the offense. As a normal consequence,
yes or no answer that might be given. imprisonment was first used as a substi-
It is well to remember that there was tute penalty in the punishment of petty
a time’when such a question would not crimes. Vagrants and &dquo;sturdy beggars&dquo;
have been asked because the prison was were incarcerated in &dquo;workhouses&dquo; or
not expected to serve a reformatory jails as a substitute for whipping, brand-
function. ing, and other mutilations long before
Imprisonment came into penal prac- imprisonment began to be used as a
tice as a substitute for corporal and suitable punishment for more serious
capital punishments and not as a device offenses. When imprisonment began to
to make men good. Apparently it was be used for many kinds of offenses, it
conceived of as softer, less painful, less was nevertheless on the general as-
horrifying for the convicted criminal sumption that it was less severe as pun-
than the otherwise familiar and tradi- ishment than the penalties for which it
tional brutalities of crude and savage was substituted.
abuse of the body. The object of pun-
REFORMATION BY IMPRISONMENT
ishment, then as now, was to frighten
the culprit through painful experience The transition from the idea of im-
so that he would not again yield to prisonment as a form of punishment to
temptation and commit crime. Impris- one of imprisonment as a device for the
onment as a substitute penalty there- reformation of criminals constitutes a
fore had to be a sufficiently unpleasant large chapter in the history of penology
and disagreeable experience so that the that need not be reviewed here. It
inmate would be as thoroughly fright- should be noted, however, that always
ened at the evil consequences of his there has been the persisting problem
criminality as if his punishment had of repeaters in crime. Undoubtedly the
been an agonizing ordeal of physical failure of the system of increasing se-
pain. verity of punishments, both corporal
Yet concern for the consequences of and institutional, to control recidivism
punishment is implicit in the very idea had a considerable part in bringing
itself. Theoretically, punishment should about the so-called reformatory move-
lead to a change in behavior so that the ment.’
individual who has been properly pun- It is a well-established fact that the
ished will not again become involved in
misdeeds. If he continues to misbe-
1 Those unfamiliar with the general story of
a changing penology may get a good orienta-
have, it has usually been taken to mean tion in a book like H. E. Barnes and N. K.
that the punishment was somehow in-
Teeters, New Horizons in Criminology (2d
appropriate, principally that it was not ed.; New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1951),
sufficiently severe. Chaps. XVI-XXXVIII.
42
savage punishments of earlier days were preme aim of prison discipline is the
notoriously ineffective in keeping those reformation of criminals, not the inflic-
punished from repeating their miscon- tion of vindictive suffering.&dquo;5 Since
duct.22 A single short account may that time there has been increasingly
serve as a useful illustration: general acceptance, in verbal expression
at least, of reformation as the desired
In spite of the absence of modern identi- end product of imprisonment. Contro-
fication procedure, the recidivist was often
versy continues over how to promote or
recognized.... In 1617 a woman who achieve reformation, but there is no dis-
was strangled at Amsterdam was found to
have been arrested previously twenty-one pute about its desirability as an end ob-
times-seven times in Amsterdam, three jective. The terms &dquo;prison&dquo; and &dquo;re-
times in Leiden and in Delft, twice in formatory&dquo; persist but with no real dif-
Haarlem, and once in Alkmaar, Middel- ference in purpose between the two
burg, Dortrecht, Wesop, Enkhuisen, and institutions.
The Hague. Altogether, she had been ex- This present-day emphasis on the
posed on the scaffold eleven times, whipped need for the rehabilitation of criminals
eight times, branded five times, and her makes the question of whether prisons
ears cut off. She had been banished for
do accomplish reformation one of cru-
life seven times. During 1603-6, one
cial importance for modern penology.
Amsterdam offender was whipped six times
and branded five times; in 1614-16, one For the past several decades the prison
was whipped eight, times and branded four -that historic institution that whatever
times; in one year, 1616, one man was four else it sought to do must always guaran-
times whipped and thrice branded; while tee the secure confinement of its in-
during 1614-18, one had a record of eleven mates-has been the central unit or
whippings and five branding. The pris- principal device for the implementation
oner who in 1617 had his eyes pierced, re- of whatever &dquo;treatment&dquo; our society has
covered the sight in one eye, but within a
few years he had been six times whipped
sought to carry out on its convicted
offenders. As such it is the visible
and thrice branded.3
symbol of the entire penal system. If
Few will quarrel with Professor Sel- the prison fails to reform, then it fol-
lin’s interpretative conclusion that &dquo;the lows as a necessary logical inference
ineffectiveness of public and severe pen- that the present penal system, as a
alties was becoming obvious to those whole, fails in any major accomplish-
who imposed them and to other thought- ment of its declared purpose and ob-
ful citizens.&dquo; 4 jective.
The historic &dquo;Declaration of Prin- Enthusiasm for the ideal of reforma-
tion as the objective of penal practice
ciples&dquo; of the Cincinnati, Ohio, meeting must not be permitted to color judg-
of the First Prison Congress in 1870
therefore comes as climax to a long ments about actual accomplishments in
the realization of the ideal. If reforma-
process of change in thinking about
crime and punishment. One of the tion is taking place, it should be appar-
ent in terms of factual data about those
&dquo;principles&dquo; mentioned above includes involved in crime and subjected to penal
the famous statement that &dquo;the su-
treatment. Information about the out-
2 See George Ives, A History of Penal Meth- come of prison treatment must be ex-
ods, London, 1914. amined with impersonal objectivity re-
3
Thorsten Sellin, Pioneering in Penology
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania 5
Quoted by F. H. Wines, Punishment and
Press, 1944), p. 15. Reformation (New York, 1895, 1910, 1919),
Loc. cit.
4 p. 205.
1934, Connecticut Jail Study,8 nearly results in the kind of error that un-
80 per cent had records of previous derstates, rather than overstates, the
criminality. amount of recidivism involved. The av-
1937, District of Columbia Jail Sur- erage proportion of prisoners with previ-
vey,9 about 77 per cent had records of ous commitments in all institutions re-
ice, reports only 2 5.0, per cent as with to keep alive some of the more immedi-
no previous commitment, while 39.9 ately needed administrative series. It
per cent had previous prison commit- has not attempted to publish informa-
ment and 35.2 per cent had been previ- tion on currently received reports on
ously committed to jails or juvenile in- prior commitments. In its own report 13
stitutions. Comparable information for on federal prisons for 1952 only 38.9
New York State is: 40.6 per cent, no per cent are shown as without previous
prior commitment; 24.6 per cent with commitment. In other words, 61.1 per
prior-prison commitment; 34.8 per cent cent had already experienced institu-
with jail or juvenile institution com- tional treatment before their current ad-
mitment. On the other hand, Arizona mission to the federal prisons.
reports only 19.0 per cent as having a
prior prison commitment; 0.6 per cent Special Follow-up Studies-Massachu-
with jail or juvenile institution commit- setts
nearly complete, these recidivism figures Studies in Criminal Science series and
check in general with the police reports published in 1945 .14 The after-discharge
on arrests. 13
United States Department of Justice, Bu-
With the reorganization of govern- reau of Prisons, Federal Prisons: 1952, Wash-
ment statistical services after World ington, D. C., 1952.
War II, the Census Bureau discontinued 14
Sheldon and Eleanor T. Glueck, After
Conduct of Discharged Offenders, London:
12
Ibid., p. 95, Table 60. Macmillan & Co. Ltd., 1945.
constitutes an equally good prospect portion reformed represents all that pos-
for rehabilitation. Actually, some are sibly can be done is quite another mat-
very poor risks while others are rela- ter. Presumably no type of treatment
tively much more promising prospects. would rehabilitate 100 per cent of prison
Whether one views the apparent pre- inmates. How increase the proportion
ponderance of recidivists in prison as who reformed or rehabilitated?
are
an indication of failure to accomplish Suggestions for some more adequate an-
reformation or places the emphasis on swers to that question will have to come
the smaller segment successfully sal- from other considerations than atten-
vaged from further criminality seems to tion to recidivism per se.
be largely a matter of temperament and
IMPLICATIONS FOR TREATMENT
point of view. PROGRAMS
The fact that from 20 to 40 per cent
or more of offenders do not repeat their The fact that the people who enter
misconduct in such ways as to be re- our prisons have more often than not
turned to prison is of tremendous sig- been in institutions before poses a num-
nificance in view of the long chain of ber of interesting questions for the fu-
factors, involving all kinds of negative ture. Does the poor record of accom-
selection, that precede commitment to a plishment result from misconceptions
penal institution. All recidivism studies and mistaken ideas about what needs
show considerable proportions who did to be done? Or do the poor results
not recidivate. In the more careful fol- flow from facilities (buildings, mate-
low-up studies this fact has been veri- rials, staff, and personnel) inadequate
fied through elaborate individual case to do what clearly needs to be done?
study. Or is extensive rehabilitation, as such,
Thus the Glueck reformatory series possibly an essentially hopeless task,
revealed that a total of 140 cases out and is only a decently humane program
of an initial 417 achieved reformation of more or less permanent care needed,
in the sense of nondelinquency for fif- the cost of which may in part be offset
teen years after release from the insti- by the returns from efficiently managed
tution. This is approximately one-third prison labor programs?
of the whole group and should not be Rehabilitation, according to the pres-
dismissed as insignificant.21 ent orientation of penology, seeks to
All responsible prison administrators, provide two kinds of services, seeks to
parole agents, and others who have do two kinds of things, from which it
worked directly and intimately with the is hoped that the rehabilitation of the
criminals in prison know, through per- inmates will result.
sonal knowledge of after-conduct, of 1. Ideally, there should be adequate
numerous individual cases of whom it psychological and psychiatric services to
may truthfully be said that reformation uncover the deep-seated mental disturb-
has taken place-be it because of or in ances assumed to be significantly re-
&dquo;improved,&dquo; but the lapse rates for cally of this kind. So, too, is a large
most mental ills are very high. Read- segment of the dishonest &dquo;high class
mission, in relation to first admission, crook&dquo; type whose only difficulty is that
often gives rates not too dissimilar from he is &dquo;agin&dquo; the forces of the organ-
those found in criminal recidivism sta- ized community rather than with them.
tistics.22 To the extent that the prison There is no present information or
population is made up of similarly dis- &dquo;wisdom&dquo; that can supply any effective
turbed people, high recidivism rates programs for the reformation of this
rather than complete reformation should group. In this case, too, the result is
be expected. more likely to be recidivism than ref-
2. The unskilled and uneducated but ormation.
otherwise &dquo;normal&dquo; person whose need
22For particular year of interest, see the IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH
long series of reports entitled Patients in If there is any validity in the above
Hospitals for Mental Disease, U. S. Depart-
ment of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, analysis,it is apparent that the high re-
Washington, D. C. cidivism rates come about as a result of