Your vote and how to use it

A crime is an offense against the people of the State. Also every action that is brought before a court costs the State money and adds to the burden of taxation borne by the people.

A free government carefully guards the rights of an accused person. He must be told of the charges against him and be given every chance to answer them. He is presumed by the law to be innocent until he is proved guilty, and is not obliged to answer any questions that may incriminate himself. He may be examined at once by a magistrate, or, if he prefers, may be committed to jail to await a future examination. If held for any except the most serious crime he may be allowed his liberty by some one “giving bail”—that is, giving a pledge of money or property to insure his appearance in court at a certain date. If he “jumps his bail” the money is forfeited to the State, although that does not protect him if he can be found. If the charge of which he is accused is a serious one, it must come before a grand jury.

The Grand Jury is a body of men chosen from the taxpayers of a county to inquire into alleged crimes during a particular term of court. The supervisors or the commissioner of jurors makes out a list of three hundred names of men of integrity and sound judgment, from which the names of twenty-four men are drawn by lot.[B] From sixteen to twenty-three of these men sit in secret session, and hear the presentment of a case, and decide by a vote of at least twelve members whether the evidence is sufficient to warrant holding the accused for trial.

The necessity of a case coming before the grand jury often causes much delay in a trial, as the jury can only be called when court is in session, and there are often long periods of time between courts. On the other hand, the fact that the grand jury is made up of a man’s neighbors and friends, who would be disposed to give him fair treatment, is a safeguard to his interests. If “a true bill” is found, the accused person comes before the court and the charge against him is read to him. If he pleads guilty the judge imposes a sentence. If he pleads “not guilty” the trial proceeds.

If the accused has no lawyer, the court must appoint one for him. While a man so appointed must defend the case, the best lawyers are not secured in this way. There has been considerable demand for the creation of the office of public defender for accused persons. The State employs public prosecutors, and it is argued that it should be as much interested in proving a man’s innocence as in proving his guilt.

Trial by Jury is a right guaranteed by the constitutions of both the State and the nation. A trial jury is composed of twelve men chosen from a list of qualified men in the county where the crime is committed, or is being tried. After the evidence in the case has been presented and the judge makes his charge as to the law applicable to the case, the jury retires to a secret session, where they are kept in confinement until they reach a unanimous verdict. In England it requires only a majority of the jury to render a verdict.

Jury Service is one of the important duties of a citizen. It is not required of certain classes of men—viz., clergymen, physicians, druggists, lawyers, and newspaper-men, among others—and judges have the power to excuse men on whom jury service would entail special hardship. Jurors are paid a small sum by the day, and to many men jury service means serious inconvenience and financial loss. But to leave the settlement of cases which involve the serious welfare of both individuals and the public, to professional jurors, the hangers-on of a court-room, is a great wrong to the community.

Women Jurors[C] have not yet been permitted in New York State, although in some Western States they have served with much success. There are certain cases involving young girls and children where it would seem that only women should be allowed on the jury. Cases of murder committed by a woman might be treated with more impartial justice if women served on such juries. Sentimental considerations would not influence them as they do some men in such cases.

The Police: Much of the public welfare and safety of a city depends on its police force. A modern police is organized on a military basis. The men hold their positions for life or during good behavior. Promotions are based on merit, and pensions are paid men who have served a certain term of years. This plan has improved conditions by taking the police out of politics to a large degree. The policy of the head of the department is of the greatest importance to the public. The temptations for graft and corruption in a police department are enormous, but the assurance of a square deal all up and down the line, strict orders to uphold the law, and a well-defined policy against graft of every description, will do wonders to keep a department honest and efficient.

In recent years the plan has been developed of making the police helpful in many ways in the life of the city. The uniformed officer has many opportunities to help and direct children, especially the boys on the streets, to prevent violations of the city’s ordinances, the littering of the streets, and in many ways to prevent before the act, rather than to arrest after it has been committed.

This helpful spirit has been adopted by the police of New York City, to the great good of the city. It is exemplified in the Christmas trees in the station-houses for the poorer children of a neighborhood at Christmas-time.

Prison Reform: Modern government is learning not to avenge itself on a criminal, but to impose a sentence which will tend to reform him. Instead of sentencing a person to a definite term of imprisonment, an indeterminate sentence may be given him, the length of which will be determined by his behavior, and by the promise he may show of leading a better life if set free. If he is released he may be put on probation. This means that he is required to report at regular intervals to the court, or to a probation officer, to show that his conduct is law-abiding. If he goes wrong again, he is remanded to serve out his sentence.

Men and women, wherever confined, must be given employment. Idleness is bad for even an educated person. Imposed on one who has no resources within himself, it becomes a source of demoralization scarcely to be measured. The old custom was to hire prisoners out to contractors at low wages. This brought goods manufactured by prison labor into unfair competition with honest labor.

The modern idea is to teach the prisoner a useful occupation and to pay the wages to his family. It is not common-sense to support a man in prison at the expense of the State, and to allow his family to suffer from having his support taken away from them.

Probation: First offenders, or persons committing minor offenses, are often put at once on probation, with the sentence suspended during good behavior. This has proved of great value in saving many from a criminal career. It is far less costly to the State than keeping them in prison, and often leads to the establishment of an honest life.[4]

Jails and Prisons: Every community has some kind of jail for the detention of offenders. Those who come in contact with the law are often the poor and the friendless who cannot get bail. Even innocent persons may be held some time awaiting trial, or the action of the grand jury. Young girls are often detained, sometimes as witnesses, sometimes pending investigation of their own cases, sometimes as runaways from home. In such a case there is no place of detention but the local jail. These jails are often filthy and unsanitary, unfit for human habitation. Their surroundings, and the character of the sheriff or constable, and jail officials, must inevitably have an effect on the prisoners, especially on the younger women. It is most important to the community that a woman shall not be sent out from jail a more hardened criminal because of her confinement there. It is a wrong, the responsibility for which every woman in the neighborhood must share, that there is no better place of detention for young girls. Women matrons in all prisons where women are held and women probation officers are now recognized as essential.

It is unintelligent to allow a man to leave jail penniless far from his home and friends, to become a tramp or to be tempted to a new offense to get money. The modern ideal of criminology is that his stay in prison should teach a man an honest way of earning his living; also that he should be given some supervision after he has left the prison doors, to help him to lead an honest life.

City Farms for the detention of offenders are a great improvement on indoor prisons, and the open-air occupation both saves the State money and is beneficial to the prisoner.

The Prevention of Crime: If as much money and organized effort could be put on the prevention of crime as is given to its punishment, the need of jails and prisons would be greatly lessened. The chief causes of crime are drunkenness, feeble-mindedness, overcrowded living conditions, low wages, and insufficient education and recreation. Drunkenness is now known to be a disease; feeble-minded persons should not be allowed freedom of action; the State may prevent congested living, it may establish a living wage, and it has the power to provide proper vocational training and sufficient facilities for healthful recreation. It tries to separate the young offenders from the older ones, and the first offenders from the hardened ones. It has not succeeded very well in preventing inequalities before the law. The rich man has the advantage of being able to employ the most skilful lawyers and to appeal his case to court after court and drag it out over a number of years. When a fine is imposed he can pay it and so sometimes escape punishment. The poor man may have to go to jail because he cannot pay his fine and he is often unable to fight a suit.

To lessen the hardships and secure equality of treatment for all alike should be the endeavor of the State.