Delinquent

“ Every one would despise the delinquent, who, while passing to trial should impose on his fellows with protestations of innocence, when he knew the judge acquainted with his guilt, and that he would soon disclose it, and open it to public view. ”

“ You know better where to meet with the minister of justice than with an offending individual taken at large:— the officer has more to lose than the individual:— and the greater the assurance you have that a delinquent, in case of accusation, will be forthcoming, in readiness to afford satisfaction in the event of his being sentenced to afford it, the less the alarm which his delinquency inspires. ”

“ According to the definition contained in the above-mentioned law, a defective delinquent is, first, "an individual who has committed an offense not punishable by death or imprisonment for life, but who ordinarily might be committed to a state prison, a reformatory, jail, or house of correction, to the state farm or the industrial school, a truant school, or to the custody, of the State Board of Charity as mentally defective." ”

“ Of course a superior delinquent, like a forger, could not be on visiting terms with a mere pick-pocket, nor could a man charged with stealing a hundred pounds, feel at his ease in the society of one whose alleged theft might be mean and insignificant. It is, we believe, intended to introduce the prisoners to each other formally, not by name, but by the offence with which they are charged. ”

“ The ashes he rubbed over his hand, where it left marked the name of the delinquent, which the prisoner had previously written there with a certain liquor, in such a manner that it could not be seen.
13. In the audiences which have been held respecting him, he has been exhorted to declare the truth and confess his crimes, which he has not done, but endeavoured to hide the enormities so recently committed by him, thus rendering himself unworthy of that mercy which your Excellencies extend to those who confess with sincerity, and deserving a punishment corresponding to his great offences. ”

“ XXX. The second way, by which delays in criminal prosecutions afford occasions for delinquents to escape with impunity, is not so palpable, nor so obvious as the first, but in general is more successful, and oftener takes effect. I will explain what I mean. When a notorious crime is newly committed, all minds are sharpened against the offender, and filled with horror at the outrage. Even the most mild call out for punishment, and the injured person, invokes heaven and earth for it. The public in general seem filled with resentment, and breathe nothing but severity. ”

“ Garbed in the vestment of dishonor and disgrace, I myself am what the world terms a criminal. Should I not know the meaning of the appellation far better than the casual observer? For many years my life has been the life of an habitue of the underworld. Criminals, so called, have been my associates and my friends. I have known them in the moments of their success, I have known them in the hours of their failure. Failure that spells oblivion, the oblivion of cold gray walls and heart-breaking, monotonous, man-killing routine. ”

“ So severe a sentence, in an age when almost every kind of proper discipline is held with so lax a rein, hath naturally excited a curiosity in all that have heard of it, to inquire, of what notable crime these delinquents may have been guilty, to deserve such uncommonly rigorous treatment. ”

“ For if a fundamental distinction may be made in the evils that different delinquents are forced to suffer, surely the less important and ancient distinction between the modes of establishing the delinquency, according to the nature of the evil inflicted, even more easily may be justified. ”

“ If we study the different groups of delinquents which have been tested, we notice that they represent highly selected groups among the ordinary offenders whether these be adults or minor delinquents. The only parallelism which can be traced at all is between prostitutes and vagrants and some of the institutional groups. We should stop assuming that the institutional delinquents represent the ordinary offenders. The present evidence points to the conclusion that it is the repeaters, not the first offenders either in the juvenile or criminal courts, who are most likely to be deficient. ”

“ There is, doubtless, another class of faults—those of willful carelessness or neglect—which must be specially pointed out to the attention of the delinquents, and a degree of discredit attached to the commission of them, and perhaps, in special cases, some kind of punishment imposed, as the most proper corrective of the evil. ”

“ Their duty is to apprehend, or cause to be apprehended, thieves and robbers; their practice is, instead of taking the thief, to take something of or from him; and there are few delinquents who are not suffered to go at large, and with impunity, provided they have something large to bestow for being winked at. ”

“ PREFACE Careful studies of offenders make group-types stand out with distinctness. Very little advancement in the treatment of delinquents or criminals can be expected if typical characteristics and their bearings are not understood. ”

“ Very different phases of psychological work with offenders properly are taken up from the viewpoint of human conduct in general being the province of the student of human life. Quite the minority of offenders show mental peculiarities which can be learned by testing and then related to their delinquencies. Let us look at some comparisons of offenders as we have grouped them by most careful study. ”

“ To the prisoner he said: “You may be seated, sir. I want to talk to you.”
Then to the guard: “I will excuse you, guard. I wish to question the prisoner alone.”
Turning to the prisoner: “Now, sir, I should like to hear something about yourself. Why were you sentenced, and have you registered under your real name?”
“I have, sir. I am not a criminal. I have been sentenced because of strong circumstantial evidence. I am innocent. I did not commit the crime for which I am here.”
“Well, my opinion of you is good. I do not believe that you are a murderer—at least, I hope not. ”

“ All the previous cases in which he had sat had been for murder or arson, robbery or theft, burglary, blackmail or some other outrageous offense against common morals or decency. But here was a man who had never done anything but good in his life, and was at the bar of justice charged with crime merely because some cold-blooded mercenaries thought he was interfering with their business! Bently was in a recalcitrant and indignant frame of mind against the prosecution long before the defense began. ”

“ I would go to him and make these charges face to face, and put him on his defense. I shall never rest until I put him on his defense.”
“Do you not believe what we have told you and proved to you—that this man is a thief, a forger and a bigamist, even on his own showing?”
“I believe that you believe it, my dear. And I believe as much of it as I can believe in the absence of the accused. And when a man is accused of crime he should be present and be put upon his defense. ”

“ If such an individual is to be classified by his delinquency he might find himself at one time a disturber of the peace, at another time a murderer. Furthermore, just as the individual might commit different sorts of crime, so the same crime might be committed by individuals belonging to entirely different types. ”

“ Next comes the “délit,” which includes all offences punished by imprisonment over a week and under five years. Then, finally, we arrive at the “crime,” the highest form of offence in French criminal law. It includes all offences subject to a more severe sentence than the punishment assigned to a délit. All cases are held to be crimes where death, life-imprisonment with or without hard labour, deportation out of the kingdom, detention or seclusion in a fortress or other expressly assigned place, are the punishments mentioned by the law. ”

“ The circumstances, my lord, and gentlemen of the jury, which have brought the prisoner before you this day, involve a long catalogue of crimes that as far transcend, in the hideousness of their guilt, the offences of a common felon as his rank and position in life do that of the humblest villain who ever stood before a court of justice. ”

“ Suspicion, gentlemen of the jury, only points to one man; and to that man suspicion points with so unerring a finger, that the criminal stands revealed in the broad glare of detected guilt. That man is the prisoner at the bar. On the discovery of the murder, the returned wanderer, the penitent and dutiful son, was of course sought for. ”

“ If the unhappy person against whom your laudable vengeance is directed be a thief, think that a thief may have a good nose, good eyes, good ears. It is indispensable to his profession that he be possessed of sagacity, foresight, vigilance; it is more than probable, then, that he is endued [Pg 79] with the bodily types or instruments of these qualities to some tolerable degree of perfectness.
4. If petty larceny be his offence, I exhort you, do not confound meanness of crime with diminutiveness of stature. ”

“ You have me lost all right."
"My dear sir," put in the District Attorney, "the vital element of robbery is not the force and terror but is what is called in the books the animus furandi, meaning the intention to steal. The presence of this felonious intent determines whether or not the wrong is a crime. If it be not present there can be no robbery, no matter how great the force, violence, or putting in fear, or how graven serious, or irreparable the resulting injury.
"It is true indeed that the force and terror are elements, but the vital one is the intent. ”

“ That the only way to punish a criminal was to punish him yourself—kill him if you got the chance or get the crowd to lynch him. That if a thief stole from you the shrewdest thing to do was to induce him as a set-off to give you the proceeds of his next thieving. ”

“ To think that, in a civilized country, such as we feel proud to term our own, a jailer would turn over the management of affairs to a petty larceny thief of this trusty's caliber; a thing devoid of all feeling, a degenerate in appearance, with a look of villainous treachery in his eye and the mark of depravity and morbidness engraved in every feature. ”

“ But this is not all:—The adroit Thief and Receiver, availing themselves of their pecuniary resources, often escape, from their knowledge of the tricks and devices which are practised, through the medium of disreputable practitioners of the Law; while the novices in delinquency generally suffer the punishment attached to conviction. ”

“ More than that, it shows what punishment will befall the guilty man. If a needle is taken and the eyes of the portrait of the thief in the dish be struck with it, the real offender instantaneously becomes blind. ”

“ I was about to avail myself of the permission thus accorded, when a mingled feeling of curiosity and compassion prompted me to inquire of what offence their unfortunate prisoner—who had regarded the whole of the previous proceedings with an air of stolid indifference—was accused.
“Hoss stealing,” sternly replied the judge, “and there ain’t a bit o’ doubt he’s guilty, for when he was stopped he was on the critter’s back, and the man as owns him is here. However, he shall have a fair trial.” ”

“ Whenever an offense was found to be increasing, some busy senator called for new rigor, until murder became in the eye of the law no greater crime than picking a pocket, purloining a ribbon from a shop, or pilfering a pewter-pot. ”

“ The Justices of the Peace decided misdemeanors such as abduction of heiresses, illegal entry, petty thievery, damage to crops, fence-breaking, brawling, personal feuds, drunken pranks, swearing, profanation of the Sabbath, alehouse nuisances, drunkenness, perjury, and malfeasance by officials. They held petty and quarter sessions. Many people were hanged for the felony of theft over 12d. Some bold men accused of felony refused to plead so that they could not be tried and found guilty. They died of heavy weights being placed on their bodies. ”

“ Gentlemen of the jury—It is now your solemn duty, after considering the evidence and hearing the instructions I have given you, to decide whether the prisoners are guilty or guiltless of the charges laid against them. The charge is the worst that can possibly be laid against any human being, for it is that of violently and maliciously depriving another human being of that, which is dearer than all else to him, his life. ”

“ But if, notwithstanding all the Rubs which we have seen to lie in the Way, the Indictment is found, and the Thief brought to his Trial, still he hath sufficient Hopes of escaping, either from the Caution of the Prosecutor's Evidence, or from the Hardiness of his own.
In Street Robberies the Difficulty of convicting a Criminal is extremely great. ”

“ The jailer, however, was a man accustomed to deal with emergencies. "You need not laugh," he said, "every thing shall go on as before, and I shall take no notice of the absence of your companions. You are now numbered One to Seventeen inclusive, and you stand charged with highway robbery, forgery, treason, smuggling, barn-burning, bribery, poaching, usury, piracy, witchcraft, assault and battery, using false weights and measures, burglary, counterfeiting, robbing hen-roosts, conspiracy, and poisoning your grandmother by proxy. ”

“ Every attempt to evade control or at concealment at locking up time will be punished. Violent attempts will be punished by the criminal court. Any [Pg 265] one who escapes from the establishment or from outside work will be punished with detention on his recapture and anyone taking his uniform when escaping will be prosecuted for theft.
(13) Whoever foments a conspiracy amongst the inmates will either be punished for breach of discipline or be handed over to the police. ”