Crime Prevention by the Indeterminate Sentence Law

This paper reports the first 11 and a half years' experience under Maryland's defective delinquent statute, which utilizes a unique approach in the treatment of dangerous offenders. The author estimates that without the law, about 1,500 additional crimes would have been committed by prisoners after their release if they had been sent to regular prisons rather than the Patuxent Institution. He believes the indeterminate sentence, which is an integral part of the statute, protects society from the defective delinquent and handles him both effectively and humanely.