Baumes law

Last updated

The Baumes law was an anti-crime statute adopted by New York State in 1926.

Contents

Description

The laws are two amendments (Chap. 457, Laws 1926, sections 1941 & 1943) to the Laws of New York.

Written by and named after Senator Caleb H. Baumes, the chairman of the New York State Crime Commission, the sections called for the automatic life imprisonment of any criminal convicted of more than three separate felonies, without regard to the nature of the offense or any attendant circumstances. It also permitted longer sentences for first-time offenders, denied parole to inmates who had used firearms in the commission of their crimes, and mandated that prisoners could not begin receiving credit for good behavior for parole purposes until they had served the minimum sentence for their offense.[ citation needed ] By 1930, twenty-three states had adopted similar standards, all of which were commonly referred to as "Baumes laws". [1]

The law was made possible by the growing adoption and acceptance of fingerprinting as a method of identification by police departments, which began to replace anthropometry as the technique of choice in the 1920s. Law enforcement officials felt that the new methods enabled them to more efficiently and reliably distinguish recalcitrant criminals from reformed ones. By 1931, two hundred four-time offenders in New York had been given life sentences under the Baumes law. [1]

A serious challenge to the Baumes law concerned the case of a shoplifter named Ruth St. Clair, who was arrested for the fourth time after stealing items from a department store in December 1929. St. Clair had three prior convictions of a similar nature in 1920, 1924, and 1926, for stealing items such as coats and dresses from stores. When she was convicted of the 1929 offense, the Baumes law imposed a life sentence, the first given to a woman since its enactment. St. Clair's case attracted much media attention, but the United States Supreme Court upheld her sentence in 1930. St. Clair eventually spent eight years in prison, before her sentence was commuted to time served. [2]

Effects of the Baumes law

While the Baumes law seemed to remove authority from judges and parole boards by mandating sentences, they gradually began to work around it through the increased use of plea bargains. In cases where a life sentence would have been unjust, prosecutors became more amenable to accused parties' guilty pleas to misdemeanor charges, which would not trigger portions of the statute. [3]

The Baumes law increased prison populations as persons who would formerly have been paroled remained incarcerated, placing a strain on infrastructure. In addition to a negative effect on prison conditions, the Baumes law also decreased prisoner morale, since it greatly decreased inmates' ability to achieve parole. Commenting on the Baumes law in his autobiography, Clarence Darrow wrote,

The unfortunates in prisons felt that there was no chance for regaining liberty once the prison doors closed upon them. This hopelessness kindled prison revolts, which led to fearful slaughter, to the destruction of all that the years of earnest work had done to modify conditions by building up humane prisons, caring for juvenile offenders, and giving the condemned hope or opportunity once more to be free. [4]

The Baumes law led to 1929 riots at Auburn and Dannemora, with nine prisoners and a guard losing their lives during the former.

In response to the riots, New York appointed a committee to investigate the state's prison system. Led by Sam Lewisohn, who would ultimately become the president of the American Prison Association, the Lewisohn Commission issued a number of recommended changes, the majority of which became policy. Among these was a shift from the mandatory sentences of the Baumes law to a more open-ended sentencing and parole system, focused on rehabilitation and vocational training. [5]

"Bum's rush"

Some people mistakenly believe[ citation needed ] that a corrupted version of "Baumes law" was the origin for the idiom "bum's rush". However, this phrase was in common use before the passage of the Baumes law, [6] and it is derived from the practice of evicting tramps or vagrants from bars and other public places. [7] Dashiell Hammett's 1929 novel The Maltese Falcon has a bit of dialogue referring to "Baumes rush" in reference to a hoodlum who had left New York for San Francisco, the implication being that he had been chased out by the police, so perhaps[ original research? ] the "Baumes" variant was back-fit to the existing one given the assonance of the name. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to criminal justice:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penology</span> Sub-component of criminology

Penology is a sub-component of criminology that deals with the philosophy and practice of various societies in their attempts to repress criminal activities, and satisfy public opinion via an appropriate treatment regime for persons convicted of criminal offences.

Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration.

In the United States, habitual offender laws have been implemented since at least 1952, and are part of the United States Justice Department's Anti-Violence Strategy. These laws require a person who is convicted of an offense and who has one or two other previous serious convictions to serve a mandatory life sentence in prison, with or without parole depending on the jurisdiction. The purpose of the laws is to drastically increase the punishment of those who continue to commit offenses after being convicted of one or two serious crimes.

The United States Federal Sentencing Guidelines are rules published by the U.S. Sentencing Commission that set out a uniform policy for sentencing individuals and organizations convicted of felonies and serious misdemeanors in the United States federal courts system. The Guidelines do not apply to less serious misdemeanors or infractions.

In the United States, the Victims' Rights Amendment is a provision which has been included in some states' constitutions, proposed for other states, and additionally has been proposed for inclusion in the United States Constitution. Its provisions vary from state to state but are usually somewhat similar. There are likewise competing versions of the proposed federal amendment.

Mandatory sentencing requires that offenders serve a predefined term for certain crimes, commonly serious and violent offenses. Judges are bound by law; these sentences are produced through the legislature, not the judicial system. They are instituted to expedite the sentencing process and limit the possibility of irregularity of outcomes due to judicial discretion. Mandatory sentences are typically given to people who are convicted of certain serious and/or violent crimes, and require a prison sentence. Mandatory sentencing laws vary across nations; they are more prevalent in common law jurisdictions because civil law jurisdictions usually prescribe minimum and maximum sentences for every type of crime in explicit laws.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Probation and parole officer</span> Officials who supervise the conduct of offenders on community supervision

A probation and parole officer is an official appointed or sworn to investigate, report on, and supervise the conduct of convicted offenders on probation or those released from incarceration to community supervision such as parole. Most probation and parole officers are employed by the government of the jurisdiction in which they operate, although some are employed by private companies that provide contracted services to the government.

A habitual offender, repeat offender, or career criminal is a person convicted of a crime who was previously convicted of other crimes. Various state and jurisdictions may have laws targeting habitual offenders, and specifically providing for enhanced or exemplary punishments or other sanctions. They are designed to counter criminal recidivism by physical incapacitation via imprisonment.

A sex offender is a person who has committed a sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and legal jurisdiction. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convictions for crimes of a sexual nature; however, some sex offenders have simply violated a law contained in a sexual category. Some of the serious crimes which usually result in a mandatory sex-offender classification are sexual assault, statutory rape, bestiality, child sexual abuse, incest, rape, and sexual imposition.

Ewing v. California, 538 U.S. 11 (2003), is one of two cases upholding a sentence imposed under California's three strikes law against a challenge that it constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. As in its prior decision in Harmelin v. Michigan, the United States Supreme Court could not agree on the precise reasoning to uphold the sentence. But, with the decision in Ewing and the companion case Lockyer v. Andrade, the Court effectively foreclosed criminal defendants from arguing that their non-capital sentences were disproportional to the crime they had committed.

In the United States, life imprisonment is amongst the most severe punishments provided by law, depending on the state, and second only to the death penalty. According to a 2013 study, 1 of every 20,000 inhabitants of the U.S. were imprisoned for life as of 2012. Many U.S. states can release a convict on parole after a decade or more has passed, but in California, people sentenced to life imprisonment can normally apply for parole after seven years. The laws in the United States categorize life sentences as "determinate life sentences" or "indeterminate life sentences," the latter indicating the possibility of an abridged sentence, usually through the process of parole. For example, sentences of "15 years to life," "25 years to life," or "life with mercy" are called "indeterminate life sentences", while a sentence of "life without the possibility of parole" or "life with no mercy" is called a "determinate life sentence". The potential for parole is not assured but discretionary, making it an indeterminate sentence. Even if a sentence explicitly denies the possibility of parole, government officials may have the power to grant an amnesty to reprieve, or to commute a sentence to time served.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Criminal sentencing in the United States</span> Overview of criminal sentencing in the United States

In the United States, sentencing law varies by jurisdiction. The jurisdictions in the US legal system are federal, state, regional, and county. Each jurisdictional entity has governmental bodies that create common, statutory, and regulatory law, although some legal issues are handled more often at the federal level, while other issues are the domain of the states. Civil rights, immigration, interstate commerce, and constitutional issues are subject to federal jurisdiction. Issues such as domestic relations, which includes domestic violence; marriage and divorce; corporations; property; contracts; and criminal laws are generally governed by states, unless there is federal preemption.

A sex offender registry is a system in various countries designed to allow government authorities to keep track of the activities of sex offenders, including those who have completed their criminal sentences. Sex offender registration is usually accompanied by residential address notification requirements. In many jurisdictions, registered sex offenders are subject to additional restrictions, including on housing. Those on parole or probation may be subject to restrictions that do not apply to other parolees or probationers. These may include restrictions on being in the presence of underage persons, living in proximity to a school or day care center, owning toys or items targeted towards children, or using the Internet. Sex offender registries exist in many English-speaking countries, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland. The United States is the only country that allows public access to the sex offender registry; all other countries in the English-speaking world have sex offender registries only accessible by law enforcement.

Indefinite imprisonment or indeterminate imprisonment is the imposition of a sentence by imprisonment with no definite period of time set during sentencing. It was imposed by certain nations in the past, before the drafting of the United Nations Convention against Torture (CAT). The length of an indefinite imprisonment was determined during imprisonment based on the inmate's conduct. The inmate could have been returned to society or be kept in prison for life.

Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48 (2010), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States holding that juvenile offenders cannot be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for non-homicide offenses.

A rehabilitation policy within criminology, is one intending to reform criminals rather than punish them and/or segregate them from the greater community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2012 California Proposition 36</span>

Proposition 36, also titled A Change in the "Three Strikes Law" Initiative, was a California ballot measure that was passed in November 2012 to modify California's Three Strikes Law. The latter law punishes habitual offenders by establishing sentence escalation for crimes that were classified as "strikes", and requires a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 to life for a "third-strike offense."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Criminal justice reform in the United States</span>

Criminal justice reform addresses structural issues in criminal justice systems such as racial profiling, police brutality, overcriminalization, mass incarceration, and recidivism. Reforms can take place at any point where the criminal justice system intervenes in citizens’ lives, including lawmaking, policing, sentencing and incarceration. Criminal justice reform can also address the collateral consequences of conviction, including disenfranchisement or lack of access to housing or employment, that may restrict the rights of individuals with criminal records.

Sentencing reform is the effort to change perceived injustices in the lengths of criminal sentences. It is a component of the larger concept of criminal justice reform. In the U.S. criminal justice system, sentencing guidelines are criticized for being both draconian and racially discriminatory. Additionally, they are cited as the main contributor to the growing and excessive prison population known as mass incarceration.

References

  1. 1 2 Cole, Simon A. (2002). "Suspect Identities: A History of Fingerprinting and Criminal Identification". Harvard University Press, pp. 217-18. ISBN   0-674-01002-7
  2. ↑ Segrave, Kerry (2001). "Shoplifting: A Social History". McFarland and Company, p. 35. ISBN   0-7864-0908-8
  3. ↑ Remington, Frank J. (1993). The Decision to Charge, the Decision to Convict on a Plea of Guilty, and the Impact of Sentence Structure on Prosecution Practices. In Lloyd E. Ohlin and Frank J. Remington (Eds.) "Discretion in Criminal Justice". SUNY Press, p. 84. ISBN   0-7914-1563-5.
  4. ↑ Darrow, Clarence S. (1996)."The Story of My Life". Da Capo Press, p. 336. ISBN   0-306-80738-6
  5. ↑ Rollins, Jr., Alfred B. (2001). "Roosevelt and Howe". Transaction Publishers, p. 306. ISBN   0-7658-0856-0
  6. ↑ Ammer, Christine (1997). "The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Houghton Mifflin Reference Books, p. 88. ISBN   0-395-72774-X
  7. ↑ Kirkpatrick, Jane and C.M. Schwartz (Eds.) (1995). "The Wordsworth Dictionary of Idioms". Wordsworth Editions, p. 43. ISBN   1-85326-309-5
  8. ↑ Hammett, Dashiell (1989). "The Maltese Falcon". Alfred A. Knopf, Vintage Books Edition, p. 94. ISBN   0-679-72264-5
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.