PRISON REFORM.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13378, 20 March 1909, Page 10

PRISON REFORM.

•» LECTURE BY THE HON. DR. FINDLAY. (PRESS ASSOCIATION TE__GBAM.) DUNEDIN, March 19. Under the auspices of the Dunedin Prison Reform Society, the Hon. Dr. Findlay delivered a lecture to-night in tho Art Gallery Hall on 'Pri_on Reform." There was a large attendance. In the course of an address e-ccupying an hour and a half. Dr. Findlay said that as a deterrent, either upon a genuine first offender or an habitual criminal, where length of imprisonment, had little effect, he was not undervaluing imprisonment us an a-jjent of protection to society. On tho contrary, it would be in the best intore-t- of society if a number of the ni-en now in our jiaoU, who have proved then_elve_ to bo incurabht criminal*, wore kept in detention, for the rest of their lives. What he tlo-sire-d to make clear was that people greatly over-estimated the deterrent efficacy of long imprisonment, anel pre-atly undcr-estimati-d. or wholly i-jcnored. the pernicious influences it had on certain clasuos of offend].. Impnsonmt.nt might serve one of thie-e pr-poses—(a) It might he* employed purely as a pmiisliiite'iit, and this punishment might be imposed either irom motives of hatred of tlie criminal— 'that of rt'veugo upon him for bin offence ugainst society—or from motives of deterring him and others through fear of the penalty Irom further offences, (b) It might be employed for the purposes of reforming an offender, (c:) It might bo imposed to protect society from incurable offenders by keeping them looked up. The real progress aimed at was reduction of crime. The reduction e>f crime waa best effected by the reduction of recielivists; the reduction of recidivists could be best secured by sctuitific reformative treatment, and if this wero conceded, they had established the tullerit justification for modern prison reform. Henceforth, it would be the reformation of the prisoner, not bis punishment, which would be the dominant motive. They would regard not so much the offence as the offender A broad feature that marked all advanced systems of prison reform was cfassincation. In addition to classification certain general principles of reformative treatment might be laid down. The criminal might be reformed by— (1) proper classification, <2) punishment in proper cases, (3) discipline, submission to regulations and rules of right conduct, (4) treatment involvinc physical and mental development, (o) teaching, including agricultural and industrial training and mental and moral improvement, (G) kindness and encouragement where deserved or necessary, (7) timely release on parole, when his determination and capacity to lead a better life are ripe, and when further imprisonment would only discourage him and harden him by despair, (8) aid and friendly advice and supervision after his release, (9) unlimited detention in gaol of those of continued criminality, whose release would be dangerous to society, i.e., tho indeterminate sentence, (10) by a proper selection, education, and training of warders and gaolers. Dr. Findlay was accorded a earty vote of thanks for his address.