CHAPTER XXVI WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF PAROLED MEN? Two widely divergent pictures of the paroled man are, at present, in the minds of the people of Illinois. One picture is that of a hardened, vicious, and desperate criminal who returns from prison, unrepentant, intent only upon wreaking revenge upon society for the punishment he has sullenly endured. The other picture is that of a youth, perhaps the only son of a widowed mother, who on impulse, in a moment of weakness, yielded to the evil suggestion of wayward companions, and who now returns to society from the reformatory, determined to make good if only given a chance. Individual paroled men can of course be found to fit either of these descriptions, but a detailed study of the records of 3,000 men paroled from the Illinois State Penitentiary at Joliet, the Southern Illinois Penitentiary at Menard, and the Illinois State Reformatory at Pontiac1 showed that the great majority of men and youths were to be found somewhere between these two extremes. In fact, it was possible to classify these 3,000 men into four classes: (1) the first offender; (2) the occasional offender; (3) the habitual offender; and (4) the professional offender. TYPES OF OFFENDERS For the purposes of this study, the term "first offender" denotes all those who had no previous recorded criminal or punishment record, but also includes a few who had been convicted of only one or two minor offenses. The term 'occasional offender" was applied both to men who had committed several offenses in a short period and those who had served two or three sentences over a much longer period and whose history seemed to indicate that their criminal activity was episodic rather than continuous. By the term "habitual criminal" was meant a man who did not indeed support himself entirely by criminal activities yet seemed to be continuously delinquent and never willing or able for any length of time to be law abiding. The classification of "professional criminal" was employed very carefully and limited to those whose history indicated that they made their livelihood entirely, or almost entirely, from criminal practices. In most cases the professional criminal is also marked by the fact that he specializes in one form of crime, a spe 1 The Committee desires to express its appreciation of the cooperation of the superintendents and the recorders of the different institutions in the making of this study and of the assistance of Mr. Clark Tibbitts in the compilation and tabulation of the statistical data. cialized type of burglary, forgery, or robbery in which he becomes highly proficient. The following cases of these four different types of offenders indicate that the chances of a man "making good" are quite different for the first and the occasional offender, and for the habitual and the professional criminal. THE FIRST OFFENDER USUALLY MAKES GOOD ON PAROLE The father of Jim died from drink, having never supported his wife or children. For that reason the boys had to go to work early. At the age of sixteen (six years ago) Jim was earning between $35 and $40 a week. At that time his leisure moments were spent in a club room, where a nonmalicious group of lads gathered for social and athletic purposes. The group was never known to engage in a fight. One youth of rather doubtful character who was really the only criminal lad in the group, secured a gun and persuaded Jim to go out on a "racket" with him. Jim said that at the time he did not know his own mind, that they did five jobs and came out of it with several watches and money. They did not know how to dispose of the stolen goods, hence sold them to the club members, telling them that the watches were stolen. One of the boys informed a relative who was a policeman. The policeman reported to the detective bureau. The bureau picked up Jim in the shop. Jim lay in the county jail for three months save one week, when he was out on bond. His mother brought his lunch every day to the county jail. The $40,000 bond was met by $30,000 raised by a prominent member of his immigrant group, and $10,000 put up by relatives. Later the bond was increased to $80,000, and he was then thrown back in jail. A prominent politician was called in and a move was started to have the case thrown out because of the boy's splendid record. A well-known employment manager at the place where Jim had worked spoke for him but to no avail. A lawyer was seen but refused to act because there was nothing in the case. The politician sent underlings to the trial, and even they finally failed to appear. Upon entering Pontiac, Jim was placed in a shop where he became an efficient and trusted man. Since his return home from, the institution Jim has been steadily employed. He has had absolutely nothing to do with anyone in his old community, although he still lives there. During the evening he drives in his car to meet a selected group of fellow employes. They go swimming on warm days or play ball, and Jim is always home shortly after 10 p. m. He does not know the exact whereabouts of his partner in crime, and does not see him. The field worker adds the following comment: "Jim is a well built, good looking fellow, as intelligent as his schooling and circumstances permit, reticent about talking. One may say with a great deal of assurance that he will never again see the inside of a penal institution. Although his father drank himself to death not one of the boys uses liquor." This case pictures the first offender, a mere lad with steady work habits but with unsupervised leisure time, yielding to the call of criminal adventure. His brief criminal career did not demoralize him as is the case with the habitual criminal, nor did he enter the underworld organization of the professional criminal with its |