Defect in the Youth Correction Authority Act

Abstract

Every year we put a large number of criminals into prison Every year we let a large number of criminals out of prison Every year we put back a large number we have previously let out It seems a futile procedure. Naturally this has evoked the criticism that the criminal law does not adequately protect the community, and our method of sentencing criminals immediately stands out as a major defect. A Judge gives a sentence for a definite period. It may be not more than, nor less than, a certain number of years but it is fixed within limits and this fixed period need have no relation to the time necessary for the individual's rehabilitation. As a consequence men who are still dangerous get out of prison and commit new crimes, and men who are not dangerous are kept in prison, their spirit and standards destroyed, and through contact with vicious criminals they are manufactured into vicious criminals themselves. The rule at many summer camps for boys is that no boy is allowed to go in a canoe until he has shown that he can swim a hundred yards. The non-swimmers are put into the hands of the swimming instructor, who helps each boy to learn. Some boys learn quickly, others find it slow work, and occasionally there is a boy who somehow does not seem able to learn how to swim. The present method of dealing with criminals applied to a summer camp would be this: The boys would be assigned dates in advance when they would be allowed to go in a canoe. For some the date and the ability to swim a hundred yards would coincide. For some the date set would be long after they had learned to swim. For others the date would arrive before they had learned to swim; they would go out in canoes and some of them would be drowned. In short to attempt to determine in advance how long rehabilitation will take is a mere guess, an attempt at prophesy; and there seems no reason to prophesy when you can wait to see what happens, and then decide.