A NEW SCHOOL

The Institute of Criminal Law at the Harvard Law School, the first of its kind in this country, has as its program the scientific correction of criminals. In the wide curriculum are included economics, government, social and psychopathology; social ethics, casework, and research; mental hygiene, criminology, penology, and the usual legal subjects. The first part of the two-year course is spent in research, the summer in some penal institution if possible, and the second part in instruction. When these men have graduated, the Institute hopes to place them in probation or correctional offices, so that they may be able to apply knowledge in practical reform.

The need for such a school is best explained in the words of Dr. Glueck, a member of its faculty. He states that "We agree that speedy apprehension and prompt trial of a suspect has a salutary effect all round, but beyond that it is our wish to slow down rather than to speed up justice; namely in the imposition of penalty . . . The crux of the problem lies not so much in the definition of individual crimes, as in the presence or absence of scientific procedure when it comes to the sentencing of those found guilty." In other words the school believes that criminals, once the regular courts have passed on them, should be sentenced by a board of men who are qualified to judge what form of corrective treatment they should have. With this aim in view, the Institute is preparing men who will be properly educated to do the work, and meanwhile to fill positions on the various probation and penal boards.

Such a Utopian reform, of course, lies in the very distant future, but the great merit of the Institute is that it has no illusions. Rather than let the whole affair slide, its graduates are ready to attack immediate penal problems that can be mended without any sweeping changes. Furthermore, it augurs well for future success that the Institute does not act on the basis of sentimental humanitarianism, but rather from a scientific interest in social welfare. There are and will be many obstacles in its road, including the ponderous weight of a legal mechanism that is very difficult to change; but the Institute's willingness to work and seize at the nearest opportunity, and its methodical practicality give promise that it may be someday a definite force for good in American society.