Address By Myrl E. Alexander
| Date | 01 April 1968 |
| DOI | 10.1177/003288556804800108 |
| Published date | 01 April 1968 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
51
ADDRESS
BY
MYRL
E.
ALEXANDER
*
Director,
Federal
Bureau
of
Prisons
I
DIDN’T
NEED
TO
COME
TO
PHILADELPHIA
TO
TELL
YOU
ABOUT
THE
ferment
in
this
country
and,
indeed,
the
world,
concerning
the
problem
of
crime
and
delinquency.
There
are
questions
that
are
being
asked
of
all
of
us
in
the
criminal
justice
system.
I
don’t think
I
need
to
remind
you
that
this
great
concern
is
not
confined
to
the
United
States
or
to
the
North
American
Continent;
indeed,
there
are
great
concerns
and
great
worries
about
this
throughout
the
world.
Over
a
year
ago
in
Geneva,
Switzerland,
I
met
Dr.
Limpole
of
Nigeria,
a
graduate
of
Harvard
Medical
School
and
the
son
of
a
Chief
of
a
major
tribe
of
Nigeria.
I
asked
him,
&dquo;How
does
one
practice
psychiatry
in
Nigeria?&dquo;
He
described
to
me
how
he
went
out
into
the
bush
in
his
native
clothes
and
worked
right
with
the
native
medicine
men
in
the
bush
and
taught
them
techniques
of
group
therapy.
(With
people
like
Dr.
Limpole,
Thorsten
Erickson
of
Sweden
and
others,
the
question
frequently
arises
of
how
can
we
develop
and
become
industrialized,
and
avoid
delinquency
as
you
have
had
to
experience
in
your
society?)
This
is
a
difficult
question.
Just
a
few
months
ago
I
was
at
the
United
Nations’
Far
Eastern
Insitute
in
Japan.
I
participated
in
a
training
course
with
judges,
prosecutors,
and
corrections
people
from
eleven
southeastern
nations.
I
found
the
most
valuable
thing
I
had
was
a
film
by
the
American
Foundation.
It
is
the
story
of
a
young
man
who
goes
through
all
of
our
correctional
system
and
knows
at
the
end
he
will
continue
to
be
a
delinquent
problem.
I
showed
that
and
I
said,
&dquo;Don’t
look
to
me
as
a
special
lecturer
to
tell
you
how
to
solve
the
problems
in
Indonesia
and
India,
Pakistan,
Singapore
and
South
Korea-this
is
where
we
are&dquo;.
Then
for
two
weeks
we
had
dis-
cussions
and
seminars
and
dialogues
on
their
problems
and
ours,
and
we
began
to
find
out
that
we
can
never
say
we
are
a
well
developed
country.
Certainly,
in
terms
of
delinquency,
in
terms
of
criminal
be-
havior,
we
are
all
underdeveloped.
It
doesn’t
make
any
difference
if
we
are
talking
about
Indonesia,
Afghanistan,
Singapore,
South
Korea
or
Japan.
What
is
this
thing
all
about?
What
is
it
that
is
being
asked
of
us?
It
was
in
Pennsylvania
that
the
penitentiary
was
created.
Two
hundred
years
ago,
the
people
of
Pennsylvania
decided
that
instead
of
execu-
tions,
transportation,
and
exile,
something
better
could
be
devised.
*
This
article
is
an
adaptation
of
an
address
given
by
Myrl
E.
Alexander
at
the
181st
annual
meeting
of
The
Pennsylvania
Prison
Society,
April
23,
1968.
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