Showing papers in "Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology in 1920"

The Punishment of Crime

Abstract: Inspired by a suggestive article2 on the function of punishment by a member of the Florida bar, the assertion is made that the power to sentence should not be entrusted to, or exercised by, the trial judge. Governor Manning, a layman, in an address before the National Conference of Charities and Corrections at Pittsburgh, on June 13th, 1917, said: "The work of the criminal courts should be judicial merely, and not both judicial and administrative as now."3 As the punishment of crime has been regarded in this state from earliest times as a semi-legislative and semi-judicial act, the suggestion of the governor invites a review of this subject. Mr. Garrett, whose article inspired the governor's opinion, speaking of the judiciary, says: "Its appropriate duty (in relation to crime) is to perform one function, the determination of the guilt or innocence of the accused. An act has been declared unlawful. Has the defendant done that act? That is all that appertains to the province of the courts of law. Consequently, the trial should end with the verdict. Sentence is not merely superfluous (aside from its mere formal aspect as approval of the verdict), it is extra judicial. That the power of sentence does not belong to the nisi prius judge may appear an unjustifiable didactic conclusion. It is, however, rested upon sound argument. The object of a criminal trial is to adjudicate guilt or innocence of one act. On the other hand, the object of sentence is according to notions now becoming current, to reform the person convicted of having done that act. ... The legislature acts only on the mass, and as the courts, without another trial of each prisoner convicted, are not sufficiently informed to give sentence, the function of punishment lies outside the purview of the legislature and the judiciary. As a consequence, if all government is 'divided into three parts,' the administrative department is the proper organ to perform the function." Administrative are here treated as executive acts. There may be a difference between them.

Dual Personality in Handwriting

Abstract: The making of, any mark upon any surface by direct human agency, as a means of communicating information to a fellow-man, is (in a broad sense) handwriting; this may include engrossing and drawing, and even painting. Nevertheless, in its popular acceptation, the term "handwriting" is limited to that form of freely written characters usually adopted by one person in sending messages to another person. In its restricted sense, therefore, handwriting may be considered as the written speech of the individual; like his oral efforts-and, indeed, like his every act-it soon becomes impressed with characteristics peculiar to himself, and tending to differentiate him from all other individuals. This establishes for him a customary and distinctive style, in writing, which may be more or less varied, from time to time, by accidental causes, such as haste, carelessness, position in writing, excitement, weakness, or disease. A writer's style gradually becomes so much a part of his nature that the physical act of writing is then scarcely a conscious effort on his part, but is rather an automatic production, resulting from his mere mental determination to write. This almost unconscious production includes (inter alia) two distinct parts, viz.: the physical method of performing the act, and the pictorial forms resulting from such performance; of these two divisions, ordinarily but few of the details of the first are (or can be) known to the person using them, and many of the details of the second are also unknown to him.

Fighting Crime in Chicago the Crime Commission

Abstract: The general sentiment of the community with reference to crime in Chicago brought about the appointment of the Chicago Crime Commission and later appeared in the several attempted protests by grand juries. It is apparent from various occurrences that there is an insistent demand on the part of the public for action that will reduce the volume of crime in Chicago. Immediately following the Winslow Brothers payroll robbery in 1917, when armed robbers held up the business office of a large concern in the middle of a busy day and robbed and murdered, the attention of the Chicago Association of Commerce was directed to the necessity for taking steps to curb crimes of violence, with the result that that association appointed a special committee to ascertain what, if anything, the business interests of Chicago could do to remedy conditions. One of the members of that committee was the late Joseph W. Moses, at that time president of the Chicago Bar Association. Following an exhaustive study extending over a period of nearly a year, that special committee submitted a report recommending the f'organization under the guidance and direction of the Chicago Association of Commerce of a commission for the suppression and prevention of crime." The present Crime Commission, consisting of upwards of one hundred members selected by the Association of Commerce, and serving without compensation, is the result of that report. The Commission, thus organized, does not contemplate itself the apprehension of law breakers nor the prosecution of criminals; nor does it propose to duplicate the work of any department of the state or city government. It is an organization of lawyers and business men who are applying business methods to combat organized crime. It proposes, by observation and investigation, to find out why crime flourishes and criminals escape. While the Commission realizes that it is not possible entirely to eliminate crime in a city of this size, it nevertheless believes that it is possible to minimize it. The report adopted by the Association of Commerce estimated the cost of the undertaking at approximately $10,00p per month, and

Emotional States and Illegal Acts

Abstract: In addressing a society devoted to clinical criminology, it surely will not be amiss to begin my paper with a recent case history, taken from my own practice among delinquents in the courts of Baltimore. It will serve us as a foundation and as an introduction to the subjective theories, as well as to the objective results, that I propose to lay before you. In August, 1919, in Baltimore, a Russian Pole, Frank Kulak, was arrested on the street, on suspicion of having committed a small, insignificant burglary, evidently not the carefully planned work of an expert thief. He was taken to the station house, making no outward show of resistance or of anger. Here, in front of the desk, he was put through the usual series of questions. He answered slowly, but without apparent excitement. Indeed, he was outwardly, at least, noticeably quiet and repressed. His name was entered on the police blotter, he was assigned to a cell, and the turnkey, a kindly old policeman, stepped to his side in order to search his pockets before locking him up. The turnkey and Kulak, whom he was searching, stood in the midst of a small group of other policemen, in front of the lieutenant's desk, inside the station house. In other words, the prisoner was absolutely surrounded; there was no chance of escape, and even the thought of escape must have been exluded from his mind by the overpowering odds against him. The old turnkey began to search the prisoner's pockets; from a vest-pocket he took two cheap watches, which he laid on the desk. Then, as he turned back to the prisoner, Kulak, without any sign of anger or haste-almost mechanically, as it seemed-put his hand into his hip-pocket, drew out a loaded revolver, and shot twice at the turnkey, who stood directly in front of him. The turnkey fell. But the prisoner did not attempt to escape. In thirty seconds the turnkey was dead. Then everyone "went up in the air." The policemen present, recovering from their stupified surprise, fell upon Kulak and "beat him up" most thoroughly. He made no effort to defend himself. Finally, what was left of him was tossed into a cell.