Summary of Clarence Darrow's Crime and Criminals, Address to Prisoners in the Cook County Jail

Fall 2014

English 100-20 Summary Assignment
Clarence Darrow, “Crime and Criminals, Address to the Prisoners in the Cook County Jail”

In the captivating story “Crime and Criminals, Address to the Prisoners in the Cook County Jail” the author, Clarence Darrow, explains his opinions on the United States Penal system. Darrow suggests that there is “no such thing as crime” (3) rather, people only go to jail because they are in need of money. He further strengthens his argument by stating that the criminal had no other choice and committed the crime because they were destined to do so. Darrow continues, claiming more people go to jail when life goes down a tough road because they are poor, simple as that. Darrow then goes onto explaining Henry Thomas Buckle’s opinion, a Philosopher and Historian who had collected facts showing that “the number of people who are arrested increased as the price of food increased” (8). Darrow claims that “the man on the outside” who did not commit a crime still did something ultimately forcing the poor man to steal. For example: raising the price of coal during the winter or food year round when they didn’t need to sends thousands of people to the “poorhouse” and jail. This is because the people who are poverty stricken do not have enough money to accommodate for the sudden increase in price. The author suggests the company who happens to be raising the prices of -said product- is committing a greater crime than the poor man because “the fellows who control the Earth make the laws” (13). Why would a rich man go to jail when he is the one making the law? Darrow then shifts his focus claiming that if everyone throughout the world had a chance to make an honest living there would be no need for jails, lawyers and courts. He goes on saying that yes, there would be people who would still commit crimes just for the sake of doing it but he says that “they would be very, very, very few, and those who did should be sent to a hospital and treated, and not sent to jail” (9). Darrow then guarantees that if he would take “five hundred men who have been the worst criminals” (14) and “five hundred of the most abandoned prostitutes, and give them a chance to make a living, they will be as good people as the average (person) in the community” (14). A solid argument indeed as Darrow explains that no person in their right mind would steal or commit a burglary when they have a reliable income with a fully furnished house of their own. In order for society to “cure these conditions” (15) the poor need to have the same opportunities the rich have, there needs to be equality because “jails” as said by Darrow “do not accomplish what they pretend to accomplish.” If you were to wipe jails out entirely “there would be no more criminals than (there is) now” (15).