WEBVTT 

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Mr. Darrow, I have
been sent to get an interview with you

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on the subject of crime.

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Yes, that's a pretty big subject.

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What branch of the industry
are you particularly interested in?

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Well, what do you think

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are the real cause for crime?

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Well, most people think
there is no cause for crime

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except the pure cussedness

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of the ones they call criminals.

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But as a matter of fact, there's a cause
for everything in this world.

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And there's no way to remove the evil

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without removing the cause.

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There's a cause for all sorts of human
conduct, just exactly as there's a cause

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for all the physical action
of the universe.

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The real cause of crime is poverty,

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ignorance,

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hard luck.

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And generally youth

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these almost invariably

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combine to produce what we call a crime.

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When we look at the prisoners

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and the jails,

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we find that all of them
practically are poor,

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at least 9 /10.

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And these have always been poor,

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at least 9/10 began

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what they call a criminal career

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as mere children.

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11, 12, 13.

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At a time of life

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when the ways of life are fixed,

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9/10 of them also are ignorant.

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They've never had the training

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that every intelligent parent
would think was necessary

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to keep their child out of prison

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and make him safe in the community.

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All of these things

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almost universal.

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They combine

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to put people in jail.

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The story of the so-called criminal
is simple.

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He generally comes from a poor home.

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Orphan, half orphan,

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or parents who can do nothing for him.

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He’s generally

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less intelligent

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than those who have a better chance.

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Either had no chance to go to school

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or else he did not care to go to school.

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And our schools are not fitted

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to give anyone a training

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unless it's the old line of training

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which only fits one for profession,

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most of them

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that finally get their place in jail

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have no taste for books.

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But they could take manual training.

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They could prepare themselves
for trades or occupations.

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And the man on a trade or an occupation is

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seldom found in prison.

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And too hard time produce crime.

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Boys and men will steal

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when times are hard, who never would steal

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if they had a chance to make a living
in some other way.

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What we need is a patient,

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humane understanding of the problem

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and their

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treatment, such as physicians
would give to the ill.

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And if that was done,
we could get rid of crime.

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But we never can get rid of it by cruel

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punishment and rendering boys

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hopeless and helpless.

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And the only the only thing in life

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the commission of another crime.

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Mr. Darrow, in your opinion,

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what is the reason
for the increase of crime in this country?

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I don't know whether there's an increase

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of crime or not.

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That's a question

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which cannot well be answered.

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We do know

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that there is an increase
in the population of our prisons

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and a very decided one.

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The policy of America
seems to me to build bigger

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and better prisons just the same as
bigger and better factories.

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This increase

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in the population of prisons
has come about

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by the intense, cruel,

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unthinking hatred

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that has attended every effort

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to deal with the question of crime.

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It’s resulted in a great increase of laws

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and a lengthening of terms in prison.

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Crime doesn't depend

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entirely on what people do.

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It depends. Likewise, on laws.

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For instance, one quarter

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of all the people in our federal prisons

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are there for selling liquor,

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which is not
and should not be really a crime.

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Then the fierce hatred

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that has been generated against

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the inmates of prisons

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have made judges give longer terms

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and juries find more men guilty

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and have put in the penitentiary
more people

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entirely innocent of the act than ever
before.

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It has likewise

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made the pardon
boards give up their function

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and made governors

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afraid to release men in prison

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until a prisoner today

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can see written
over the doors of the prison what Dante

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saw over the gates of hell, ‘All
hope abandon

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ye who enter here.’

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This is peculiar, America.

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The way we do everything in this land,

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in the last ten years, England

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has closed and abandoned

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one quarter of all its prisons.

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It will abandon another quarter
before another ten years

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goes by.

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England

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does not grow panicky

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because something happened.

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It has coolness, intelligence,

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and understanding.

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We often hear

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about the law not being enforced

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and enforced in America
as it is in England,

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and yet we hang at least

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five times as many people

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as England does in proportion
to our population.

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And theirs.

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Nearly one half of everybody

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who receives a death sentence
at the hands of a jury in England

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is either paroled

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or have their sentence reduced by the

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other officials of the land.

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Well, no Governor,

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and few pardoning board

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dares to reduce the sentence

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in the United States today.

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Sometime, perhaps we’ll

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learn where all this cruelty is leading

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the bombs law.

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Is another agent in populating prisons.

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This infamous, unscientific law

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has been copied by many states.

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This law provides
that after three convictions

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under the fourth

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one cannot be pardoned or paroled.

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It's of no value, of course, to pardon
people who come right back to prison.

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But the fact that one's been convicted
three times

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may simply show he had three poor lawyers

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or three cases of hard luck.

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Generally beginning with youth.

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And when there's one conviction
against a man it’s easy to get a second,

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and almost sure a third,
whether he's innocent or guilty,

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sometime we may understand it.

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And let us hope
we will at least catch up with England.

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And perhaps surpasses

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an understanding of these problems
which are vital to the life of the state.