Suchergebnisse

Editorial on the incarceration of the mentally disabled in new city jail.

A Dolf Hitler passed the long, summer days of his 1924 incarceration in the Landsberg fortress reliving his past. Each day he retired to a large and sunny room to dictate the story of his "Struggle Against Lies, Stupidity, and Cowardice" to his admirers, Emil Maurice and Rudolf Hess. As he paced the room, Hitler subjected his memories of childhood in upper-Austria, youth in Vienna and Munich, young manhood at the Western front, and political awakening in postwar Munich to the scrutiny of his accumulated political wisdom at thirty-five. He vindicated his ideas by an examination of his life revealing how personal experiences led him to knowledge and truth in page after page of poor prose.

Most prison administrators are beset with large polyglot pop. so diverse, that uniform efforts are difficult. Recent prison disturbances have revealed these efforts to be ineffective unless ways of reducing prison pop. to a manageable point are investigated. One way is the presentence investigation. This provides information that can guide the judge in a disposition that more closely fits the case. Thus the judge can place on probation likely prospects; and sentence the offender on the basis of the characteristics of the individual. Imprisonment postpones rehabilitation which must take place if the community is to be protected. This is a 2nd way in which prison pop. can be reduced and handled. Use of probation can be increased if qualified probation officers are available; such an increase will provide as much protection to the public as a high rate of imprisonment. Lack of a basis philosophy for dealing with offenders leads to the ignoring of these techniques. We still rely on the jail. Costs of incarceration and probation indicate that roughly $1,500 is spent on the inmate, while only $100-200 is per probationer per year. Use of probation as a disposition should be increased so that 75-80% of convictions can be so treated. H. M. Trice.