Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/119

 CRIME IN STATE AND MUNICIPALITY 103

crime, it is the most critical turning-point in his life. He ought to be confined in solitude; then, if ever, his reflections will bring him to a realizing sense of his sin and folly, of the downward course he has been following, and, if continued, its inevitable end ; he cannot but see that he stands at the parting of the ways ; then, if ever, his better impulses will assert themselves and awaken within him new purposes to amend his life for the future. These beneficent meditations and resolutions, the present system, instead of promoting, does all that it can to stifle; it hurries the arrested person to the county jail, and thrusts him into the midst of the vile company there congregated. There is no oppor- tunity for quiet thought, no means of withdrawal into privacy; any natural manifestation of sorrow or depression is greeted with ribald taunts and jeers; the voice of conscience is drowned; the talk is of exploits in vice and crime ; the air reeks with blasphemy and obscenity; the future is the subject of reckless derision. How is it possible that repentance or self-respect or any worthy pur- pose should thrive in such an environment?

The bad policy, as well as the grievous wrong, of confining an arrested person whether guilty or innocent (but in law pre- sumably innocent), in enforced and unrestrained association with criminals is sufficiently obvious. But there is another con- sideration that should not be overlooked. Not only does the law presume innocence, but a very large majority of persons arrested are in fact not guilty. When a crime is committed,' it often happens that several, and sometimes a good many, persons are arrested upon a suspicion of guilt which proves to be unfounded. Thus the number of arrests will always be found largely in excess of the number of convictions. In the city of New York there are five times as many arrests for felony as there are convictions; that is, for every person there found guilty of felony there are four other persons arrested on charge of felony who are not found guilty. 2 It is a disgrace and an injury to reputation to be confined in a prison. The public does not stop to inquire whether the person imprisoned was really innocent or

Boies.
 * See tables of statistics in appendix of The Science of Penology, by H. M.