The Chicago Crime Commission has assumed a very creditable task. It has thoroughly investigated the effectiveness of the parole system followed in Illinois, and the results are very discouraging. The investigation was suggested when Edward Ryder and John Slattery, two ex-convicts who had been paroled on condition, held up the Hickory Hills Golf Club and murdered the watchman. Naturally, the Commission concluded that the watchman would still be alive if those two criminals had not been paroled.

The investigation was made by Mr. Rudolph Dvorak, the director of the Commission! It revealed that the number of criminals that are sentenced in Cook County and sent to the various penal institutions of the State is about equal to the number of persons who are dismissed from these institutions after serving the allotted term of imprisonment. Thus it is evident that the police, the State's attorneys, and the courts are not able to eradicate crime, but they can 2prevent an increase in crime. However, the continued misuse of the power to parole criminals is undoing the good work of State and municipal authorities and redounding to the detriment of society.

Official records reveal that 236 prisoners have been released on parole since April 1 from the penitentiaries at Joliet and Stateville, and the institution at Pontiac. During the same period of time, 149 male and 10 female inmates of state penal institutions have been set free by the clemency of judges of the Criminal Court. Thus 570 professional criminals were again let loose upon Chicago and Cook County, according to the opinion of the Crime Commission.

The following data proves that the Crime Commission is right: 158 of the 570 criminals who have been paroled since April 1 have already been returned to penal institutions. 90 were sent back because they violated the conditions on which they were released, 53 because they were sentenced for again committing a crime, and 6 because they were sentenced to a term in the County Jail. In addition, warrants have been issued for the arrest of 3129 of these paroled criminals. In 287 of 570 cases, parole proved to be a serious mistake. However, even these figures present only an imperfect picture of the situation. They show that about one half of the paroled criminals come into conflict with the law very soon after their release; but this does not prove by any means that the other half has improved and leads a decent life. Experience teaches that many, if not most, of those who were given their liberty again resort to crime for a living. Under the previous State administration there were continuous complaints that many criminals were paroled through the intervention of corrupt politicians. This accusation has not been made against the present administration, as it would not be justified. Nevertheless, that fact does not change the results that are evident.

This uncalled-for clemency toward criminals is a result of the reform of criminal justice which began in many countries at the close of the last century. It is claimed that it is not enough merely to punish a criminal, and that the object of administering punishment should be to make criminals useful members of society. That is a fine idea as far as theory is concerned, 4but it has not proven to be of any practical value. The advocates of this reform assert that it is based on humanitarian considerations. However, this kind of humanitarianism is a failure, because it is one-sided. The reformers want to be humane toward criminals; but they have no consideration whatever for the peaceable, honest citizens who have been robbed or murdered by paroled criminals.

No one can deny that the German Government deserves credit for returning to the old method of administering criminal justice, according to which punishment is an atonement for committing a crime. Whether other countries follow suit is their affair, but here, a radical reform of the parole system is absolutely necessary.

It is an injustice to our citizens and a grave abuse of the right to parole, to set notorious habitual criminals at liberty before they have served their full sentence.