maining in the institution beyond the date of the expiration of his

term.

Mr. STEFAN. Have you cooperated in the President's plan of coordinating penal systems?

Mr. BENNETT. Yes, sir. That conference on parole, Mr. Stefan, was called by the President at the suggestion of the Attorney General. Mr. STEFAN. Would that, in your opinion, lead to the rehabilitation of a lot of prisoners?

Mr. BENNETT. It certainly would; yes, sir.

Mr. STEFAN. And bring about some more of that reformation that my colleagues here are so much interested in, and in which I, too, am interested?

Mr. BENNETT. Yes, sir; I think it would. My feeling on this, Mr. Stefan, however, is that we have to have practical plans. We just cannot scare people into living in accordance with the law, and it is pretty difficult to influence them by threats or by precepts to continue to live in accordance with the law.

Mr. RABAUT. To train their will.

Mr. BENNETT. We have to go further than that, and find out about their problems when they first arrive and bring to bear upon them the very practical things which we can do to prevent their lapsing into crime. For my own part, I feel that we are getting control of the crime situation. I feel that a remarkable bit of work has been done during the past 6 or 8 years. When you stop to consider that there are now somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,000,000 young persons between the ages of 16 and 25 out of school and out of work, bewildered, many of them feeling that they are unwanted, and many of them rebellious, and then take into consideration the fact that such culiar juvenile crimes as auto theft, passing of small counterfeit money, have not increased appreciably, you must admit that our young people are of pretty sound moral stamina.

AVERAGE AGE OF PRISONERS IN FEDERAL INSTITUTIONS

Mr. STEFAN. On the whole, I do not think there could be a higher compliment paid to them. What is the average age of these 19,000prisoners in Federal institutions?

Mr. BENNETT. I do not have the exact figure. The median age is increasing. It is important to remember that the average age and the median age of the men coming into our institutions is increasing. It has gone up about 6 months in the last year. I will give you the exact figure in the record.

Mr. STEFAN. I think that would be very interesting. Put it in, in the revision of your remarks. I know the public as a whole is tremendously interested in this, and I think all of the serious-thinking population of America, in this dizzy age, recognize the plight of these 5,000,000 young people walking our streets, confused and wondering where they are going to fit into the picture of the future. Personally, I think the solution can be found in the American home, something over which you have no control. Think of today's conditions. With all of these new methods of law enforcement, costing millions upon millions, crime is growing.

Mr. RABAUT. Divorce has its reflection in this.

Mr. BENNETT. The typical prisoner coming into our institutions is the fellow who comes from a broken home.

Mr. RABAUT. It is terrible, which goes to show in the commitment it is not his own fault.

Mr. BENNETT. You do not have to worry so much about the boy who has a good home and his own parents. The essential thing to prevent these men who come into our institutions from relapsing into crime is some system of after care, when they leave the institution. Then we can prevent these fellows from relapsing immediately into crime; but it is just a throw-back into the Middle Ages to dump them out of prison without help, without consultation, and without funds. Mr. STEFAN. Would it be safe to say the average age in the institutions is around 22 years of age?

Mr. BENNETT. No, sir: I think that is too low.

Mr. STEFAN. That is too low, is it?

Mr. RABAUT. You are asking for the average age of all prisoners? Mr. STEFAN. Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. BENNETT. The median age of all our prisoners now is about thirty-two and a half. That is the age of men when received. However, the essential point is that the trend is going higher. The median age of all of those arrested during 1938 was 29.1. That, too, is tending higher. In 1932 it was 27.9.

Mr. RABAUT. I can go along with a bill pretty fast, but I never can hurry on this prison business. It interests me, and I could talk about this for a month.

APPROPRIATIONS FOR AND NUMBER OF PRISON POPULATION FOR FISCAL YEARS 1930 TO 1939

Mr. MCMILLAN. Mr. Bennett, at some point in the revision of your remarks, or, if you desire, you can insert, at this point in the record, a comparative table showing the total amount of funds that have been appropriated for the past 10 years for penal institutions.

Mr. BENNETT. Yes, sir.

Mr. MCMILLAN. That is, for the construction, maintenance, and operation of your penal institutions by years.

Mr. BENNETT. Yes, sir.

Mr. MCMILLAN. And will you also include in that statement the total prison population per year, showing the increase in prison population as well?

Mr. BENNETT. Yes, sir.

Mr. MCMILLAN. I think it would be interesting because it is appar ent that the increase in the prison population as well as the cost to the Government is mounting from year to year, and I think a table of that character would be useful. For instance, this year as compared to last, there is an increase of some $3,000,000 or $4,000,000 in the esti mates here to maintain our penal system.

Mr. BENNETT. Yes, sir.

(The table referred to is as follows:)

Federal penal and correctional institutions, statement of total appropriations for each of the fiscal years 1930 to 1939, inclusive

1 Funds for medical and hospital service 1932 transferred from maintenance appropriations for respective institutions.

No figures available.

AVERAGE LENGTH OF TERM OF FEDERAL PRISONERS COMMITTED TO PENAL INSTITUTIONS AND JAILS, 1930 TO 1938

Mr. KERR. And also include in that statement the average term of Federal prisoners, and the average increase in length of term, if any. Mr. BENNETT. I will insert a separate table on that if I may, Judge Kerr.

(The tables referred to are as follows:)

Average length of sentence of Federal prisoners committed to Federal institutions and to jails, by fiscal years, 1930 to 1938

Length of sentence

1 Figures for fiscal year 1932 do not include jail prisoners in Oregon, or certain other commitments for whom data are not available.

1 death sentence not included.

3 Less than 10 of 1 percent.