NCJ Number
113810
Date Published
1988
Length
5 pages
Annotation
An examination of the stories of prisoners incarcerated for conscientious objection to national policies chronicles National strains and stresses from one era to the next.
Abstract
Wars have always required the adoption of policies that produce conscientious resisters. One of the first of these was William Franklin, former Governor of the colony of New Jersey, who was imprisoned for Royalist activities by the Continental Congress. During the Civil War, California was home to Federal offenders, who included both Union and Confederate sympathizers. Many of these were imprisoned at Alcatraz simply because their utterances had been deemed disrespectful of the Federal Government. In more recent years, the Federal prison system has accommodated large numbers of objectors, some who refused to serve, others sentenced under the Sedition Act of 1917 for making speeches opposing the war. One of the better known opponents of World War I was Eugene Debs, a presidential nominee, sentenced for a speech critical of wartime policies. During his incarceration, Debs typically cooperated, with the exception of his refusal to attend chapel -- a refusal that led to a change in the compulsory attendance rule. A socialist sentenced in 1917 for a similar conviction, Kate O'Hare, dramatized the plight of female prisoners so effectively that it forced improvement in prison conditions. 13 endnotes.