Radcliffe PBK Hears Talk by Van Waters

"The wonder of our society is not why feeble-minded people get into state prisons, but why feebleminded people can get into state legislatures," Miriam Van Waters, Superintendent of the Women's Reformatory at Framingham, said last night. She spoke on "Crime and Culture" before the Iota Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in Radcliffe's Agassiz House.

Dr. Van Waters declared one of the greatest difficulties of the present time in that 80 percent of criminal offences, in the misdemeanor class, are punished with the utmost severity. She added that people in the "culture group" just above do the same things "only respectably."

Sociological Problem

"It is difficult to inculcate the desire for rehabilitation in these people convicted of misdemeanors, when our society is rewarding, or at least not condemning, the same offences in people of the culture group," she said.

Emphasizing that sentencing depends not only on laws but on personalities of the law-enforcing officials, Dr. Van Waters stressed the need for personality studies of persons going in for treatment of entering into a position of responsibility. These examinations, she added, would reveal any suppressed anxieties, fears, and insecurities.

Need Scientific Approach

Dr. Van Waters pleaded for a scientific approach toward rehabilitation instead of the traditional faith in force. "Force," she said, "has never lessened the number of feet crossing prison doors."

In dealing with the problem of rehabilitation Dr. Van Waters stated "We are up against something which education has failed to make clear."