Negley K. Teeters

Citizen Concern and Action Over 175 Years

Should the plan take place during my life, of establishing a permanent charity under some such title as that at Philadelphia, Viz: A Society for alleviating the miseries of Public Prisons) and annuities be engrafted thereupon, for the above mentioned purpose, I would most readily stand at the bottom of a page for five hundred pounds; or if such society shall be instituted within three years after my death, this sum shall be paid out of my estate.

The International Penal and Penitentiary Congress (1910) and the Indeterminate Sentence

Some seventy-five years ago Dr. Enoch Cobb Wines, then secretary of the Prison Association of New York, issued a call to penal lawyers and prison administrators throughout the world to sit down to discuss problems mutually interesting to them all. Wines received his inspiration from the Russian, Count Wladimir Sollohub, director of the Moscow prison, who had written suggesting that an international forum be developed to discuss penal and penitentiary matters. After a great deal of hard preliminary work on the part of Dr. Wines the first London Congress convened in 1872. Subsequent Congresses have been held at Stockholm in 1878; Rome in 1885; St. Petersburg in 1890: Paris in 1895; Brussels in 1900; Budapest in 1905; Washington in 1910; London in 1925; Prague in 1930; and in Berlin in 1935. The traditional five year interval was broken during the two world wars. A Congress had been called for Rome in 1940 but had to be abandoned.

The Loss of Civil Rights of the Convicted Felon and Their Reinstatement

Here and there we frequently hear uninformed people say that prison inmates are not so &dquo;bad off &dquo;, in fact, those who know little or nothing of the ferocity of a prison regime state lightheatedly that they wozzlcln’t mind it for a little while. Wholesome food, clean cells, a meaningful program consisting of a full work day with decent wages, adequate recreation, occasional opportunities to receive visits from members of their families or to corre-

Book Reviews: THEORETICAL CRIMINOLOGY, by GEORGE VOLD; Oxford University Press, New York, 1958, pp. viii and 334,

THEORETICAL CRIMINOLOGY, by GEORGE VOLD; Oxford University Press, New York, 1958, pp. viii and 334,

5.00:

5.00. The eternal riddle of human behavior has intrigued and perplexed social groups for many hundreds ,>f years. Philosophers, religionists, scientists, and laymen have devoted much of their lives in speculation and research on the subject. Why are some people heroic, cowardly, iconoclastic, non-conform~’ devout, self-effacing, aggressive, or criminal? We do not have complete answers despite the endless research of the behavioral scientists or the pronauncements of the religionists hut due to more refined techniques in the Fences we are on firmer ground than heretofore. The book under review follows earlier works dealing with the same Subject, such as those by de Quiros (Morlern Theories of Criminality, 1911) and Henry T. D. Rhodes (The Crimirral In. Society, 1939). It is good that a competent scholar assumes the responsibility of assaying the various theories Of crime causation-of which there are legions-in each generation. ProfesSor Vold is such a competent scholar. He is professor of criminology at the Oniversity of Minnesota and has made contributions in the areas of rural (rin1<~, parole prediction, capital punishment, and crime statistics, to mention Only a few of his professional interests. This book is an orientation. Its pertinent value is to students but it ~l’&dquo;ulcl be carefully pondered by jurists and lawyers, many of whom claim t° know, a priori, just why certain individuals commit crimes. To all intelliRent laymen who are perplexed concerning the causes of crime or who claim

South American Penology in 1951

During the month of August the writer had the opportunity of visiting several South American countries, including also a brief stay in Panama. While the tour was primarily one of pleasure, some opportunity was presented to visit several prisons and children’s institutions as well as to talk to many working in the field of penology. Not a few of these were engaged in tlie same careers as in 1944 when the writer scrutinized penology in. that vast area which resulted in his book, PENOLOGY FROM PANAMA TO CAPE IIURN.

Penal Reform - A Comparative Study: Max Grunhut Clarendon Press, Oxford, England, 1948 486 pages, price

ences on an international level. In this respect it was interesting to learn from Mr. Delierneux that seminars on the topic of probation and related items are being planned by the United Nations for next year to be held in the Far East, the Middle East and in Latin America. The United Nations will send experts to many countries who will discuss the organization of probation with local administrators, and the projected statement on probation will thus be used in a practical and constructive way.

9.00

Wo are celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of this modest little publication this year. As aelf-appointed historian of the Pennsylvania Prison Society, it affords me great pleasure that we a>.c thinking about the Journal this year and also that J was asked to write briefly on its history. We are not here to evaluate its usefulness nor to make resolutions that it will be a better journal in the future. We hope it will but we are at the moment only intorested in pausing momentarily to talk about its origin and its struggling career. I have not unearthed anything new about the origin of the .lozc7’~n,aL since I wrote about it in the memorial history of the Society in 1937. 1 do not know that we shall ever learn anything

One Hundred Years of the Prison Journal

When one surveys the historical evolution of American penology, he can scarcely overlook the fa,ct that many unsung toilers in the field have either made signal contributions or have sounded the keynote of progress in one or more phases of this perplexing field. A few years ago the journal of John Augustus, first probation officer, was published, and the world was little less than amazed at the vision of this humble man. While Augustus was toiling in Boston, William J. Mullen was doing the same humanitarian work

Benjamin Rush, Pioneer Penal Reformer

1 Delivered at the 149th Annual Meeting of the Pennsylvania Prison Society, January 24, 1936. I should like you to go with me, in imagination, to a dilapidated little brick building standing at this moment on Cherry Street, just east of Fourth, on the north side of the little thoroughfare which we, in Philadelphia, call a street. Here are the remains of the German School House, which served the Pennsylvania Prison Society as a meeting-place for the first eleven years of its existence. It was the property of the German Lutheran Church, one of the colonial city’s largest congregations. As the pastor of this church, Dr. Llenry Charles IIelmuth was one of the 37 charter members of the &dquo;Philadelphia Society for alleviating the miseries of public prisons,&dquo; it may be assumed that he offered the young reform organization the services of this building for its meetings. It is probable that no rental was asked, as there appears no record of charges in the Minutes for this period between 1787 and 1798.. ,