640 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
into born and occasional criminals has been suggested. Born crimi- nals are those who have a tendency to commit crime through heredity or disease, and who inevitably will become recidivists. The occasional criminals are those having no inborn or active tendency to commit crime, but who lapse into it through temptation afforded by personal condition and by physical and social environment, but who do not relapse when these disappear. The second class is more capable of reform, but may become recidivists.
Closely allied and indispensable to the success of habitual-criminal acts is that of indeterminate sentence. Both of these measures were advocated before criminal anthropology approved them. The Swiss Prison Reform Association first advocated the indefinite segregation of habitual offenders in 1867. In the United States by the indeter- minate sentence the maximum penalty is retained, but the minimum penalty is removed, the discretion as to time of release being vested in those in control of the institution to which the offender is sent. The reformation of the delinquent, or at least his resignation to social laws and respect for them, is the essence of the theory of conditional libera- tion. As one can count to a certain extent upon the vitality of the criminal instinct, and upon the persistence of the social conditions which nourish it, it is necessary to prepare for a long incarceration, which may be regarded as the result of incurability on the part of the criminal. The idea is the proportion of the length of the imprison- ment to the nature of the delinquent, to the degree of his perversity, and to the danger of his return to society before his evil tendencies are enfeebled or neutralized. This would enable errors in judgment to be more easily corrected, and would protect society from having thrust upon it at the end of a definite time individuals who are unfit- ted for return. New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Maine, Louisiana, and Illinois have passed these acts, and conditional liberation is provided for ; but in no state has the maximum penalty been removed, as is suggested. In consequence, the criminal, if his offense be not serious enough, may return to society regardless of his unfitness at the expiration of his sentence. The United States, with the Elmira Reformatory' as its most noted exponent, leads in this reform and has ably demonstrated its possibilities. No uniform sys- tem exists in any country.
In order that the indeterminate-sentence plan shall he successful, there must be a reorganization of the prison staff, since its efficiency
■ See A. Winter, New York Stale Reformatory School at Elmira.
