[L^ ^"^J f t, 0' A^jd^ ^,^1:^3:^ PENOLOGICAL AND PREVExNTIVE PRINCIPLES, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO EUROPE AND AMERICA, CRIME, PAUPERISM, AND THEIR PREVENTION PRISONS AND THEIR SUBSTITUTES; HABITUAL OFFENDERS; CONDITIONAL LIBERATION; SENTENCES; CAPITAL PUNISHMENT- INTEMPERANCE; PROSTITUTION ; NEGLECTED YOUTH ; EDUCATION ; POLICE. WILLIAM TALLACK, Skcrktarv of the IIoavaud Association, London. ^cconti Ann (Enlargeti (Edition. " The lessening of tlie crime of a country Is an object worthy of the best thoughts iintl the best efforts of our best raea."— Gkxeral, Bhinkkriioff (U.S.A.). LONDON : PUBLISHED BY WERTHEIMER. LEA vV: CO.. CIRCUS PLACE. LONDON' WALL. E.C. 1896. Price Sd. LO.N DOX : PRIXTED BY WERTDlClJIIiH. LEA AXl) Co, CIRCLS I'LACE, LOXDOX WALL. IXRCRIBED, WITH ESTEEM, FRANCIS PEEK, CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE HOWARD ASSOCIATION. 245925 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. The familiar proverb " Who shall decide, when doctors disagree ? " applies, with much force, to the complex questions involved in the treatment and prevention of Crime, and to the kindred difficulties in the diminution of Vice and Pauperism. The writer of the following pages has often had occasion to remember that proverb, when listening to the varying experiences and divergent opinions of practical men, whose prolonged official careers entitled the views of each of them to respectful consideration. And in many visits to Prisons, Reformatories, Workhouses, and other joubHc Institutions, at home and abroad, he has observed a corresponding diversity in the modes of management. But notwithstanding such differences, both of opinion and of practice, there may be noticed a pre- ponderance of experience in certain directions ; and it is the special design of this book to render aid in the recognition of these converging lines and approximating conclusions. Througli the M'riter's position, as Secretary of the Howard Association,"^ for thirty j^-ears, he has been brought into connection, either personally or by correspondence, not only with the officers of penal and reformatory insti- * Tlie Howard Association was instituted, in London, in 1SG»), for the Promotion of the best Methods of the Treatment and Prevention of Crime. viii Preface. tutioiis, but also with many other authorities, in regard to the questions here considered. The numerous references which he has made to the opinions of such persons, may be expected to possess an interest for thoughtful and prac- tical minds. This book relates more to present and prospective re- quirements, and to principles of permanent validity, than to the history of systems and conditions now out of date. The author hopes that it will commend itself to the approval of joersons who are practically engaged in efforts to diminish Crime, Vice, and Pauperism, for whose help and service it is chiefly designed. He is not ac- quainted with any other similar work which is so specially devoted to the exposition of coniprehensivc and preventive principles, as illustrated and supported by recent general experiences, on both sides of the Atlantic. The writer may further remark that he has earnestly endeavoured to exercise inipartialifi/, in his treatment of the various vexed questions upon which he has entered. He is quite aware that, on several points, he has ventured to differ from the views entertained by some persons of sincerely philanthropic intentions ; but in these matters, the practical testimony of facts must constitute the final ground of decision. Perhaps the frequent reference made, in this book, to the influence of Christianity, may be deemed irrelevant, by certain readers. The validity, or otherwise, of such an objection, depends upon the authority which, in matters of Penology and general Pliilanthropy, is to be attributed to the Gospel of Christ. This, in the opinion of the most successful leaders of beneficent efibrt, including John Preface. ix Howard and innumerable others, is not an incidental, or secondary, but a primary one. To that fundamental principle, in particular, the writer has sought to render humble homage. The Committee of the Howard Association have en- couraged the preparation and issue of this work : but they must not be considered responsible for all its conclusions. Even these gentlemen have not always been able to arrive at absolute unanimity, in reference to some subjects treated of in its pages. But the Author believes that the work, in general, will meet with the approval of these, his esteemed friends and colleaa:ues. PREFACE TO THE SECCJXD EDITION. Seven years having passed, since the publication of the First Edition, which has been exhausted, the Publishers wrote to the Author as follows : — '• AVe have had repeated inquiries, of late, for copies of your ' Penological Principles,' which seems to be generally regarded as tlie standard work on the subject. Do you not think it would be well to consider the desirability of preparing a Second Edition I " The Committee of the Howard Association having also encouraged a fresh issue of the book, the Author has now revised and enlarged it. New chapters have been added on Sentences, Capital Punishment, Pat-peris:^!, Inte.m- PERANCE, Prostitution, Social Crimes, etc., whilst some X Pn'/aec. omissions have also been made. The Author has again gratefully to acknowledge the aid he has received, in the final revision of both Editions, from his Wife, to whom also, he is indebted for various useful suggestions. It has been very gratifying to him that the book has met with such decided welcome and approval, from influen- tial and -ofRcial persons in all parts of the world, and from the conductors of the Press. September, 1895. I HV sggs CONTEXTS CHAPTER. /1-:-^Prixciples E!«:< HAi;(iEi) Pkisoxers /X\'y — Paureuism, Sl<;i;esti(>xs for its Prevex TIOX ....... XVI. ClIILH-SAVIXt; . ..... XVII. — Ixtemi'Eraxce : Its Diminltiox . XVIII. — Prostitutiox . ..... I 42 61 101 lis' ,177 194 206 221 230 '242 260 ;5()() 314 342 37.5 386 Xll Co»fent><. CHAPTEU. PAGE. XIX. SunSTITUTES FOR Imprisoxmext . . 398 XX. — Corporal PuxisiniExx . . . .411 XXI. — Crimixae Statistics . . . .418 XXII. — The Police, especially in Relatiox TO Pawxhrokers, Pup.licaxs, Pp.osti- tutes, axi) the Pkevention of Crijie 423 XXIII. — Joiix Howard's Practical Prixciples 437 XXIV. ClIRISTIAXITY THE ClIIEF BaSIS FOR Moral Reforms axd Restraixts . 445 Appexdix I. — The Ixterxatioxal Prisox Coxoress OF Paris (1895) . . . .454 Appexdix II. — A Glaxce at Xinetefxth Cextury Procjress 461 Gexeral Ixdex ........ 473 PENOLOGICAL AND PREVENTIVE PRINCIPLES. Chapter I. PRINCIPLES ESSENTIAL FOR DIMINISHING CRIME AND PAUPERISM, The Importance of Principle in General. Principles are the sources of rivers of influence, the seeds and I'oots of growth, the causes of effects, the determining forces of development. They are, or should be, the first things to be attended to, whether in religion, politics or social progress. But how often and extensively they are neglected, both by administrators and communities ! If a child tries to destroy the weeds in his garden, merely by cutting off their tops, instead of pulling up their roots, he is not more unwise than the legislator who seeks to get rid of crime and pauperism, by modes of action which do not diminish their causes. Thus Crime chiefly arises from ignorance and the absence of virtuous education. Yet, for ages, the almost sole reliance of Governments, for its repression, was punishment for the effects of these privations, instead of preventing the results, by supplying or facilitating a good training. And now, when people are more awakened to the B 2 Penological and Preventive Principles. value of such reformatory influences, they are still too generally unobservant of the practical principle, that criminals detained in association must, of necessity, further corrupt each other. For, in the majority of modern prisons, both in America and Europe, the inmates are grouped in gangs or companies, instead of being carefully and continuously separated, whilst, at the same time, they are too often as unwisely debarred from visitation likely to benefit them. In ordinary life in the community, and under natural conditions, bad persons are at least controlled in considerable degree by the influence of the virtuous ; whereas the collected criminality in a jail concentrates and intensifies evil influences and powerfully neutralizes good ones. Hence it is not to be wondered at, that in certain countries, notwithstanding the establishment of so-called " reformatory " prisons or kindred institutions, in which a chief essential for reform is thus neglected, there has been observed a serious collateral increase of crime. It is just as sensible to attempt to cleanse linen by washing it in muddy water, as to expect to reform criminals in daily association with each other. The great Swedish statesman who exclaimed " With how little wisdom the world is governed ! " had his chief justification for such a conclusion, in the very frequent neglect of principles, on the part of rulers. And still, how numerous are the legislators, councillors and editors, who, from the same cause, and in various places, hinder instead of aiding social progress. First. — The Adaptation of Means to the Desired Object. In connection with efforts for the prevention, or diminu- tion of Crime and Pauperism, it is especially observable that the claims and counsels which beset the path of the reformer are so various that, in the first place, con- stant vigilance is needful THAT the proposed means of First Principles in Diminishing Crime and Pauperism. 3 RESTRICTING SOCIAL MALADIES DO NOT BECOME ENCOURAGE- MENTS OF THE VERY EVILS TO BE REPRESSED. That special condition of philanthropic success, the com- bination of a hard head with a warm heart, is essential for the discriminating selection of the right means for the attainment of requisite objects, and for the continual application of the rigid test of proved results. It is a condition habitually lacking amongst the mischievous class of indolently sentimental persons, whilst it characterises true philanthropists, such as John Howard and George Peabody, both of whom combined with their benevolent feelings a business-like hard-headedness and a constant regard to the logic of facts and results. Pauperism and this Principle. In reference to Pauperism,' general experience still justifies a persevering reiteration of the simple but wholesome truism that if money, or other relief, be given, uncondition- ally, to mendicants or the needy, in such a way as to obviate motives to self-help, or to prevent exertion, more harm than good ensues, and the very spirit of pauperism ia further developed and strengthened. It has often hap- pened that benevolently intentioned persons have rendered themselves absolute nuisances to the parishes in which they reside, by their profuse bestowment of alms upon all the beggars who apply at their houses. They become attrac- tive centres for laziness and imposture. Thus their neigh- bours suffer greatly from the vice and drunkenness pro- duced by these unwise almoners, Not such was the true charity of St. Peter, who with strengthening help, and with the animating words, " Rise up and walk," enabled the lame man, at the gate of the Temple, thenceforth to exert himself. He infused real power into him, and re- moved the source of his impotence and inactivity. St. Peter's miraculous gifts are no longer available : but the principle and the lesson inculcated, remain. With few B 2 4 Penological and Preventive Principles. exceptions, habitual mendicants are vicious or criminal impostors. Investigation proves this in nineteen cases out of every twenty. But the public in general will not, or cannot, take the trouble of such investigation. Vagrants often impudently proclaim their detestation of self-supporting industry. One of this tribe begged money of a lady, " to save him from something he very much dreaded." She gave him half-a-crown, and inquired, " Now, my poor fellow, what have I saved you from ? '' The answer was scoffingly returned, " From being obliged to go and work to-day." Another mendicant made reply to an offer of occupation, " No ; not so long as I can get twelve shillings a day and a skinful, by begging; it's only fools and horses that work." Excessive Resort to Institutions. Not only is there a danger of frustrating the desired object by an unwise treatment of individual cases of men- dicancy or distress, but a greater peril consists in the wholesale discouragement of self-exertion on the part of the destitute or indolent, as classes, by such mere impul- sive relief, and by the relaxation of their natural responsi- bilities, as parents, in regard to their offspring, by similar spurious charity, producing really cruel injury on a larger scale. There are many well-meaning persons and Societies, especially in London, New York, and other cities, who are continually exclaiming, by their practice, " Look at these thousands and myriads of neglected children and destitute adults. Fellow Christians, build institutions for all these ; pour out your money upon them more abundantly ; offer them food, clothing, shelter, training, more willingly ; in- vite and welcome them to share your generosity ! " To a certain extent, this liberality may be beneficial ; but if carried out generally, it may become an influence working incalculable mischief, botli to its olijects and to the com- First Princijjles in Diminishing Crime and Pauperism. 5 munity. Even under the guise of " Christianity " it may foster a dishonest selfishness. It weakens, at its very source, the sense of parental responsibility. It tends to remove the God-imposed duty of self-help and self -develop- ment from the poor. It actually impoverishes them b}'' the very " gifts " thrust upon them ; and, like the widen- ing circles upon a pond, into which a stone has been thrown, it extends its influence to surrounding myriads. The numerous improvident and intemperate persons, who will never do anything for themselves what others can be induced to do for them, are thus increased in mani- fold degree. If professing Christians exclaim, " Bring your children in thousands to us, and we will place them in institutions at our expense, and relieve you of all re- sponsibility," of course the thousands are forthcoming, and tens of thousands more soon follow. Hence, we see some of the rapidly increasing burdens upon the tax-payers of Christendom, with a very disproportionate benefit as to the objects desired. The moral strengthening, or the development of personal ability, is the primary essential of genuine charity ; which being neglected, or weakened, certain failure results. As an able writer remarks, " The help which makes people helpless, is worse than no help at all." For example, in 1875, a " Children's Law " was enacted in New York, which authorised the magistrates to commit destitute children to the various private and public institu- tions of the district, and to order the payment of two dollars a- week, for each child, out of the taxes ; and what has been the actual result of this measure ? It has been followed by a vast and continuous increase of such depen- dent children, far out of proportion to the increase of popu- lation. So much for the miscliievous effects of spurious " charity," the " institution craze," and the foolish under- taking to remove from parents their natural responsibilities, instead of enforcinir their l)etter fulHlmcnt. Even in (!reat 6 Penological and Preventive Principles. Britain, it is a fact not to be necessarily assumed as satis- factory, that the number of children in certified Industrial Schools and " Reformatories " have greatly increased of late years. Their parents or friends, meanwhile, have only paid about one shilling in the pound per annum, on the average, towards their support. It is surprising that the great young Republic of the New World has failed to profit by the social experience in this respect, of the old Continent. In a well-written exposition of the abuse of public Institutions, especially in California, by Mr. Edmond T. DooleY, Superintendent of a Boys' and Girls' Aid Society, he remarked : " The great cities of our Continent are under the control of political 'bosses' and their grog-shop following. If we are not absolutely ruled by the criminal classes, the character of our political and social life is certainly very much modified by the baser elements of our people. Has not New York City alone suffered infinitely more from its 'boodle aldermen' than all that the old Colonies ever endured from English oppression ? " This impartial American testimony is very noteworthy. Mr. Dooley also complained that, in California, the criminal and corrupt element had hitherto successfully checked the efforts put forth by the wiser minority of the people to obtain legislative reforms designed to bring about an effec- tive and economical mode of dealing with the pauperism and crime which had so rapidly increased in that State. It was shown that out of every 1,000 children supported in Califomian institutions, at the public expense, at least 600 could be cared for by their own parents and relatives, and further, that most of these establishments and also the prisons, Were still increasing and perpetuating the evils they were ostensibly presumed to check. The consequence had ensued that the ratio of State-supporied " dependent " children was more than twelve times greater in California tlian ill Michigan, in proportion to the respective popu- First Principles in Diminishing Crime and Pauperism. 7 lations of the two States. The criminality of the former was also vastly greater than that of the latter. For Michigan is a wiser State, in reference to its treat- ment of pauperism. It aims primarily at prevention, and especially in regard to the young. It has taken under State control the really destitute children, in limited number, if free from crime and disease, in order to undergo two educational processes; firstly, a preparatory training in a public school, at Coldwater, for rather less than one year on the average ; and, secondly, in a subsequent distri- bution amongst the farmers and cottagers all over the State. This is, in fact, a general process of boarding-out, or of systematically providing family instead of institu- tional life for actually destitute children. The State retains its sole and absolute control over such young persons until twenty-one years of age, and also provides for the over- sight and visitation of each one placed out. The result is that, during a recent period of years, the paupers in the poor-houses of Michigan only increased 20 per cent., whilst the general population increased 40 per cent. Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Rhode Island have adopted a similar system, with great advantage. Whereas, in Indiana, with a population just the same as that of Michigan, the pauper and dependent children of the State are nearly ten times as many as in the latter State, owing to a com- parative absence of arrangements to prevent or check the increase of this class. It may be remarked, in this connection, that there is occasionally to be noticed in Refuges and Asylums for destitute children, a well-meant abundance of com- forts, as in the dietary, furniture, pictures, and carpets. But even these apparently reasonable indulgences are not without their dangers. If too freely lavished, they tend to encourage parental improvidence and neglect. Because it is not real beneficence to render the condition of the children of idle, dishonest, and profligate parents more 8 Penological and Preventive Principles. enviable than that of the offspring of the hard-working and virtuous poor of the vicinity. The privileges of the honest toilers should not be less than those of vicious people. It is not benevolence, but wasteful mischief, which so administers individual or public gifts, or institutions, as to discourage industry and perpetuate indolence amongst surrounding multitudes. The more that is given in such a way, the more there will have to be given, as the evil is increased. And further, it is possible to inflict real injury upon the poor children themselves, who may be crowded into the artificial and dependent conditions of institutional, as distinguished from health}^ family life, or training in ordi- nary separate self-exertion, with a more limited but a more judicious measure of assistance from without, when necessary. An American journal recently mentioned an incident not unsuggestive on this point. A little girl from a city home was invited to visit some friends in the country. In their garden she was delighted with a tame robin, that was a great favourite with the family. But the child's interest in the bird made her exclaim, " Poor little robin ! it has got no cage." She had no idea of thoroughly happy bird-life, apart from a cage. Similarly many good people appear to limit their views of juvenile training to mere institutional " cages." The most liberally supported gratuitous Homes, Refor- matories, Industrial Schools, Aid Societies, and Foundling Hospitals, if too extensively provided, for the purpose of taking neglected children off the hands of drunken, or vicious, or improvident parents, may become the very means of doing more harm than good, both to the children and parents. For, by the process of virtually rewarding parental neglect, that vice is of course encouraged and increased. Wherever practicable, the authorities should rather punish such parents, by fining or imprisoning them, or at least deprive them of all fnrtlier control First Principles in Diminishing Crime and Pauperism. 9 over their offspring, so as to prevent any future injury to the latter. This Principle in Regard to the Essential Element OF Non-attractiveness. One of the most insidious, and at the same time, one of the most unwise modes of deaHng with Poverty and Vagrancy, consists in the offer of rehef, especially " out- door relief," under any such tenns as to render the con- dition of the publicl}- supported pauper an easier and more enviable one than that of the honest toiler. The argument is often raised, by ignorant speakers and writers, " In- asmuch as a pauper, inside a workhouse, costs, on the average, including the expense of the officers, and the outlay on buildings, from ten to fifteen shillings a week, or more, how much less burdensome to the community it would be to allow such persons a payment of eight or ten shillings at their own homes." This specious plea over- looks the important fact that if relief could be generally obtained, on too easy terms, without the needful checks, the number of applicants would speedily increase in a manifold proportion. Or, for every thousand pounds now devoted to the maintenance of the public poor, five or ten times as much would be required from the ratepayers, in consequence of extended and easy outdoor relief. It is, however, to be noted that in some instances, especially in America, e'ven workhouses themselves liave been rendered mischievously attractive to the lazy and improvident. It is a primary principle, for the diminution of Paupers and Vagrants, that the board and lodging supplied to them by the community shall not be more comfortable on the whole, than that of the ordinary labourer ; and also that any work which may be done by them shall be paid for at a decidedly lower rate than the average wages given by employers in the neighbourhood. Such a course is a simple practical essential. Any other plan is eventually found to be a costlv mistake 10 Penological and Preventive Principles. It has repeatedly occurred that when, in some season of special industrial depression, multitudes of persons have clamoured for relief, or for occupation on public works, and have been responded to by the offer of help, under wise conditions, and with due checks against laziness, the number of applicants has at once wonderfully diminished. In some of the largest towns in England, on such occasions, the local authorities have strictly confined their relief to ofters of reception into the workhouse, with its discipline of classification, restraint, cleanliness, temperance and early rising. This condition, whilst furnishing a universally accessible refuge from starvation, has promptly sufficed to reduce the thousands of claimants to as many hundreds, or even scores. Again, in other cases, the demands for employment on public works have been granted, by find- ing occupation at road-making, stone-breaking, and other such industry, at a rate of wages sufficient to provide absolutely necessary sustenance, but with decidedly less than the average local pay for similar labour in the open market. This prudent course has also been found very efficacious in speedily reducing the ranks of the ostensible seekers for work. Teue " Giving " is not Taking Away. The Scriptural injunction, " Give to him that asketh thee," should always be interpreted and acted upon in connection with common sense and with other Biblical precepts, such as " Blessed is he that considereth the poor," and, " If any will not labour, neither should he eat." For the indolence of mere inconsiderate alms, especially when bestowed on an habitual applicant, does not really " give." On the contrary, it takes away his incentives to industry and self-help. It is worse than useless ; it inflicts cruel injury, whereas true charity ever seeks to impart some moral aid, some encouragement to exertion and elevation. Private benevolence can always find abundant objects for First Principles in Diminishing Crime and Pauperism. 11 its exercise in the relief of the sick, the maimed, the blind, and orphans. But the unknown, or the apparently professional mendicants, are best dealt with by official organisation in each locality. And it is a material aid to both the private and the official dealing with destitu- tion, to adopt, as far as possible, the principle also of the subdivision of districts, as strongly recommended by Dr. Chalmers and others. The Christian Church and Christian work are, after all, the greatest instruments of real charity, and comparatively little can be done without them. The moral restraints, the abiding and grateful love to the Redeemer, which are afforded by Christianity, are the highest aids to beneficence. When the Apostle, himself destitute of silver or gold, said to the beggar, " In the name of Jesus Christ, of Nazareth, rise up and walk," he manifested the best combination of assistance, namely. Divine help, fellow-help, and stimulus to self-help. It is always the largest charity which unites the three. Our Saviour, who went about doing good, mainly manifested His beneficence by such modes, and especially by removing the hindrances to self-help, as by giving sight to the blind, by healing the diseased, and by restoring the cripples and the paralytic. Similarly, the best modem charity enables the poor to " rise up," by removing the degrading influences of insanitary conditions, overcrowded dwellings, bad drainage, ignorance, and extreme tempta- tions to intemperance and other vices. Efficient help to a poor person consists in such modes of benevolence as may be comparable to placing a staff" in his hand, rather than a crutch under his arm, to cause him to lean idly on for external support, i The Dutch people, in various ways, exemplify a willingness to hand a temporary staff" to the poor ; but none are more judiciously jealous of providing permanent " crutches " for this class. Hence, in Holland, where the benevolence of the Churches is specially facilitated by the State, pauperism has been more effec- 12 Penological and Preventive Principles. tually kept within bounds than perhaps in any other country. But there is no panacea for diminishing Pauperism. It must be dealt with in a variety of ways, and with many modes of patient adaptation of means to end. The Scrip- tural motto, " Here a little and there a little," is eminently characteristic of the process and its modes. Apparently indirect means of diminishing pauperism are often incom- parably more effectual than other forms of assistance. They tend to relieve present necessities, and also to obviate their recurrence. And this latter point is of immense importance. For if it is desired to empty a cistern, where there is a steady inflow, the cessation of that supply must somehow be first effected. Most instructive are the following words by a North- amptonshire Rector, the Rev. W. Bury : — " The parson who establishes a co-operative store in a country village, has done more for his parish than if he had spent all his living in ' charity ' so-called. Good and pleasant cottages, at fair and not fictitiously low rents, are more improving and really helpful, than miles of flannel and rivers of soup and wine. Sanitary and Education Acts, properly administered, advance the interests of the poor a thousandfold more than the good intentions of ' pious founders,' however piously carried out. There can be no manner of doubt that the better administration of Poor Law relief, in the Union to which I belong, by means of which the proportion of paupers to population has been reduced from 1 in 12 to 1 in 60, has done more for the labourer in ten years' time than all the charities, coal-clubs, doles and almsgiving which have flowed for centuries from all the Halls and Rectories within the district." Prisons and the Operation of this Principle. The same general principle of removing inducements to evil, from agencies ostensibly meant to prevent it, is also First Principles in Diminishing Crime and Pauperism. 13 eminently necessary in regard to Prisons. If their dis- cipline is rendered lax and indulgent, then the objects pro- posed are missed. Violence and fraud are encouraged, evil-doers are not intimidated, and cruel injuries to the weak and unprotected are abundantly occasioned through a neglect of the severity necessary for repression. Hence there is a certain sense in which some of those prisons which are sometimes styled the " best," may be really inferior, in so far as the main objects of imprison- ment are concerned. For instance, it was remarked by an officer of great observation, that the now abandoned prison- farm of Lusk, near Dublin, was rendered so agreeable to the inmates that, on the expiration of their terms, " they almost had to be kicked out." The writer of this book was once at Lusk, when a resident in the neighbourhood spoke to him of the total absence of walls and high hedges, and said, " The convicts are better off in there than they would be outside ; so they do not care to escape." Again, some of the inmates of a greatly praised Refuge for criminal women were found to be very unwilling to leave it ; and this was made a matter for boasting by the Superintendent. Also at a female convict establishment near London, and at an American State prison for women (considered to be a model establishment of the kind), -such remarks as these have often been heard from the prisoners — " Yes, ma'am, I'm very comfortable here ; very comfort- able indeed. Quite contented here." But ought it ever to be the case that any criminal should feel perfectly contented with prison life ? Failure especially ensues, if prisoners are associated in pleasant but corrupting companionship, in their workshops, or in mutually contaminating gangs in the open air. Prison life being thus divested of most of its rigour, evil is increased and perpetuated. Temptation is intensified. Reformation is prevented. 14 Penological and Preventive Principles. A Second Essential. A second important principle for diminishing Pauperism and Crime is THE NECESSITY OF avoiding the Divorce OF Elements which should always be held in Union. Especially in relation to Criminals, the threefold com- bination of Prevention, Repression and Reformation, needs to be maintained in unintermitting activity. So far as the ti-eatment of Crime is concerned, there is probably no country in the world which has so successfully sought to secure this tri-unity as Great Britain, especially of late years ; although it is not for a moment to be assumed that she has attained perfection. But she has set an honourable example of efforts to prevent crime, by greatly-increased popular Evangelisation on the part of all the Churches, and especially by such extremely valuable organisations as the London City Mission and many other similar bodies ; also by elaborate systems of Education, both denominational and secular, together with various arrangements designed for the rescue and training of neglected or vicious youth ; wdiilst, for Repression, she has done much to infuse a moderate but merciful severity into 'her prison system. And for Reformation, she has, both b}^ State and private benevolence, encouraged the supplementary, or rather complementary, operations of Discharged Prisoners' Aid Societies and of a vigilant and wisely administered Supervision of conditionally-released convicts. As a consequence, there has been, of late years, a marked diminution of various crimes in Great Britain. But in most countries, one or another element of the triad in question has been practically neglected. For example, in the northern United States, considerable and partially-successful efforts, at least in certain localities, have been made to prevent crime by extensive efforts at First Principles in Diminishing Crime and Pauperism. 15 popular evangelisation. Much good has thus resulted, but the benefit would have been greatly increased if these labours had had the collateral assistance of a more rigorous repression of wilful and brutal offenders. But the latter essential has, for the most part, been absent. In the Southern States the crime of murder has been exceedingly prevalent. The gallows and lynch-law have both been called into requisition with frequency, but the main and obvious element of prevention has been practically ignored, inasmuch as the frequent carrying of arms, such as the pistol and bowie-knife, by private persons, has been per- mitted, or approved by popular custom. Italy and Spain have had the same failure, as to the non-prevention of murders, and from a similar cause. In Belgium a uniform and largely efiicient system of cellular prison discipline has been established. Yet the prevention of crime before imprisonment, and the oversight of discharged prisoners, have both been in too considerable degree neglected. Hence, an undue proportion of relapses and re-convictions has resulted. Drunkenness also and vice have been increased, until very recently, by their excessive encouragement in that Kingdom. But it is gratifying to find that some efforts at reform are being made by the Belgian people. Holland, Switzerland, and Scandinavia have, like Great Britain, though in less degree, devoted much attention to the above triad, and with considerable success. Few other nations have consistently cultivated these three elements in active collateral development. Their systems rather resemble unfinished and unroofed edifices. Not only each of the above-named three essentials, but especially the first in order. Prevention, needs to be increasingly regarded. Attempts at Repression by deterrence only, by mere penalty or imprisonment, have often received an exaggerated amo\int of reliance. An efiicient and vigilant Police establisliment, together with 16 Penological and Preventive Principles. like agencies, has done more, in Great Britain for example, to check the horse-stealings, highway robberies, and other numerous crimes formerly punished with death, than all the gibbets and gallows of those times. Similarly, as to Red Republicanism, Nihilism, and other forms of Anarchy, the wise freedom of Great Britain, America, Holland and Scandinavia, has been much more efficacious and preventive than the guillotine, or the dungeons, of other lands. Prevention, Repression, Reformation — -these have ever to be simultaneously maintained, and especially the first, in active vigour and with comprehensive application. As to Prevention, it has various departments, all re- quiring equal vigilance. Such are the diminution of Intem- perance, of Over-crowding, of Ignorance, of Idleness, and of Ungodliness. How very limited must be the efficacy of mere repression, or punishment, amongst the squalid multitudes of over-crowded Naples, or the uneducated masses and infidel or superstitious populations of large districts in various countries ? The axe must be laid to the rootH of the tree of evil. The streams of vice must be cleansed at their sources. The outbreaks of violence, or the external manifestations of crime and sin, need to be checked at the centres of vitality, and in the very inmost motives of their activity. Otherwise failure is certain to ensue. In proportion as any of these essential elements of safety and progress are neglected, the whole social system suffers. The strength of a chain is measured by that of each separate link, or even of the weakest one. In like manner, the absence of any one important reform or precaution, mischievously restricts the good efforts already put forth in other departments. The activity of each has to be maintained, and the divorce of one from the other avoided. Whilst the element of Repression, or Deterrence, is, in its due place and proportion, an indispensable condition for safety, it is of great importance to remember, in practice, First Principles in Diminishing Crime and Paiq)erism. 17 that it is a minor influence in comparison with Preven- tion. Not only is the latter proverbially better than cure, but it is also greatly superior to forcible repression. And whilst it would be both untrue and unwise to assert that " Force is no remedy " for social evils, it should only be regarded as a minor and altogether subordinate auxi- liary for their diminution. Yet one of the greatest hin- drances to the deliverance of modern communities from two of the most pernicious maladies with which they are plagued — namely, Prostitution and Intemperance — con- sists in the greatly exaggerated estimate of the power of mere force, as a means of prevention, which is entei-tained by many philanthropic leaders of opinion. Prostitution and Prevention. It would appear that more than a few of the professed advocates of public morality have the least faith in the power of Moral Suasion, if one may judge by their clamour for the enforcement of social virtue, mainly by the help of Police, Penalties, and Prisons. As to Prostitution, for example, many persons seek to deal with it chiefly by driving the unfortunate women " from pillar to post," and by urging the police to keep them moving on, and to shut up their lodgings. In Berlin this kind of policy has been carried out with special rigour. Thousands of wretched girls have been locked up ; many of them have been repeatedly arrested, and brothels have been suppressed by the score. And with what result ? With this : that Berlin remains one of the most immoral cities in Europe — a place where prostitution is, perhaps, more generally diffused amongst the households, and scattered over the whole town and suburbs, than almost anywhere else. And for the very simple and sufficient reason that the causes and sources of this vice have there been left comparatively untouched. The more effectual work of dealing with these deep roots of the evil, however, requires inucli patience and distri- c 18 Penological ami Prermtice PrincijjJes. butive individual labour — exertions which some denouncers of vice find it easy and agreeable to shrink from or neglect. It is as impossible for any police to suppress or extinguish vice, by mere force, as it is for a quack doctor to cure leprosy by covering the diseased limbs with sticking plaister. Even the good work of Asylums and Refuges does not materially affect the roots and sources of Prostitution. These institutions may be multiplied indefinitely, whilst at the same time the vast evil itself may be developing in a greater ratio than ever. Again, it does not appear that any diminution of sexual immorality has resulted in conse- quence of the great expenditure of money and effort devoted by some benevolent persons in recent years, in England, in order to abolish the "Contagious Diseases Act." The movement in question was a superficial and not a radically preventive one. The effectual means for the diminution of Prostitution must be looked for only in the refit rid ion of its cJdef causes ; namely in the discouragement of Intemperance, which is in itself so fruitful a source of vice ; in the im- provement of the dwellings of the poor — because over- crowded tenements foster the grossest impurity and even incest ; in the extension of industrial training amongst girls ; and in the reduction of the vast European standing armies of mostly unmarried men, whose presence in towns and barracks neccessarily involves a fearful stimulus to female ruin and degradation ; whilst, at the same time, these armed hosts withdraw from millions of women their natural protectors and bread-winners. In their turn, these great armies can only be dispensed with, in proportion as statesmen and the peoples are willing to devise means for tlie more systematic application of International Law and Arbitration to the settlement of disputes, rather than by the sword or brute force. And yet further, Prostitution needs for its prevention every possible extension of Reli- First Frineipks i)t D'nnininldug Crime and Pauperism. 19 gion, and of the inducements to purity and godliness furnished by the hopes and fears of the Gospel of Christ as preached in its reasonableness and attractiveness. To render men and women indisposed to this and other forms of evil, their hearts must be reached, by the love and reverence of God, and by the " powers of the world to come." And, in short, the work of promoting social purity must always, and chiefly, be based upon a practical recog- nition of the fundamental truth of that admirable motto of the American theologian, Dr. Horace Bushnell : — " The soul of all improvement is the improvement of the soul." Intemperance and Force. Similarly, as to the huge evil of Intemperance, mere force is, and always must be, but a partial and subordinate means for its prevention. Both in Great Britain and in the United States, drunkenness is an oflence which is punish- able by imprisonment, and very many thousands of poor inebriates are annually sent to jail. And not only so ; but a large proportion of these have to be re-imprisoned, over and over again. Almost every city can point to unfortunate men and women who have been committed to jail, for drunkenness, more than thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times, in succession, and who still remain undeterred and unre formed by this application of force. Though, even force, if more systematically applied, would have a certain minor proportion of utility in such cases. But far more efficacious, incomparably more successful, are preventive endeavours, by means of the earlj^ education of youth in temperate habits and by the exercise of good personal example and moral suasion, together with wisely devised measures for the removal of temptati(-)ns to inebriety. When, either in America or Europe, the aid of law and of force has been sought for the diminution of these temptations, some advantage has, however, been gaiued. In c 2 20 Penological and Preventive Principles. Maine, Kansas, Iowa, and other States, and also in Canada and other British Colonies, where either by Prohibitory- Legislation or by the operation of Local Option, the sale of intoxicants has been more or less limited, good results have ensued, even although these may have fallen far short of what had been expected by too enthusiastic, or too hasty advocates of reform. It is the testimony of a multitude of impartial observers that through the operation of law, in diminishing facilities for drunkenness in such States, the number of crimes has greatly decreased, and pauperism and misery have also been invariably lessened. Fewer jails, fewer police, fewer accidents, less taxation, and more general happiness and prosperity, have been the fruits, in many districts, of these efforts to use law for the removal of the causes, more than for the punishment of the effects, of drunkenness. But it is also to be observed that where the aid of the legal force has been usefully secured for a time, or in part, for the prevention of drunkenness, this always depends for its first success, and wholly for its subsequent maintenance, upon the amount of Moral Suasion exerted for bringing about the object in view. The efficiency of Law and of Force in relation to drunkenness may probably be best secured by limiting, as far as may be jjojmlarly possible, the number of public- houses in proportion to the population; in imposing a heav^ taxation upon them ; in making all debts for retailed liquor irrecoverable by law ; in restricting licenses to the actual vendors resident upon the premises, and not granting them to the premises practically in perpetuity ; and in making it an offence severely punishable to sell liquors to verg young jycrsons, or to known habitual drunkards. The principle should be secured of " one man, one license ; " that is to say, no person should be permitted to own, or hold, more than one house where alcohol may be sold. It is through First Principles in Diminishing Crime and Pauperism. 21 such reasonable and practical means as these that the powers of compulsion may be safely applied to restrain, as far as can be popularli/ clone, the excessive supply of intoxi- cating drinks. The liquor traffic mainly depends upon the public, rather than upon the publicans. Until the former are persuaded and willing to restrict their own use, or abuse, of alcohol, they will certainly secure publicans to serve them. The latter are then sure to be found ; if not in one way, in another. It is a truism that the demand must be primarily influenced. Then the supply will be also modified. But it is radically unwise to direct attention to the secondary agents, rather than to their masters, the sovereign public. Norway, which was formerly one of the most drunken countries in Europe, has of late years become a temperate nation, or at least comparatively so. The reason is that the sale of alcohol, and the proportion of its vendors, have been placed under the control of the actual general wish of the population in each district. In Great Britain, of late years, much progress in pro- moting Temperance has been made by the happy combina- tion of personal example, moral suasion, and an increasing provision (especially upon a profitable and self-supporting basis) of establishments for the sale of non-alcoholic refreshments of good and attractive ((uality, as distin- guished from the slops and rubbish which used to charac- terise the commissariat department of many, if not most, of the " Temperance Hotels." But it is needful to notice that even in England, so far as Prohibitory Law has been approximately called into action, it has already developed a pernicious form of evasion. For just in proportion as legislation has attempted the intrinsic- ally excellent object of the prevention of the sale of alcohol during Sundays and after certain hours at night, there have simultaneously started into existence thousands of Private Drinking Clubs, where, without the regulations 22 Penological and Preventive Principles, and police supervision imposed upon ordinary inns, intoxi- cating liquors may be indulged in without stint all day and all night throughout the week. Some of these " clubs " are quiet and orderly ; but unquestionably many of them are pests to the neighbourhood. A Middlesex magistrate described one as a " den of thieves." At Cardiff, for example, their numbers and their influence render them a flagrant nuisance. There is nothing to prevent many of them from becoming the haunts of the vilest men and women. For instance, at a certain Midland town, a policeman, in plain clothes, as a private visitor to one of these houses, witnessed in the back premises, a series of acts of the grossest im- morality. On the other hand, clubs where (as in the case of a very successful and useful one for working Jews and Jewesses, in East London) the sale of alcoholic liquors has been prohibited by the managers, have become very helpful institutions to the happiness and prosperity of the classes for whom they were established. It has happened again and again in America, that certain parties have bargained with the Prohibitionists, " If you will vote for our men, or for our place-hunters, we will vote in turn for Prohibition." When such agreements have been accepted, and some sort of Prohibition measure carried, in consequence, by nominal " Law," the thousands who voted, merely on party grounds, have, either willinglj'' or from sheer indifference, supported the wholesale evasion and virtual nullification of the legislation in which they had previously acquiesced. But what is likely to be the popular respect for, or obedience to " Prohibition " Law, when the very constables or police appointed to enforce it, are known freely to indulge in alcohol, and to carry about bottles of spirits with them ? Yet this appears to be the case in various places in America. A prohibition advocate men- tioned in the British Parliament, as an illustration of innumerable American " Prohibitionists," a certain New First Prmciples in Diminishing Crime and Pauperism. 23 Englander, who, in answer to a question, replied " Yes, I'm in favour of the Maine Liquor Law ; but I'm against its enforcement ! " The danger of gross inconsistency, results from a tendency of Prohibitionists, on both sides of the Atlantic, to enlist in their ranks, as adherents, individuals who, without being abstainers themselves from alcohol, clamour for legal powers and penalties to compel others to become such. Even the " United Kingdom Alliance for the Total Suppression of the Liquor Traffic," receives into its member- ship people who are not teetotallers, but who demand to be, by law, permitted to prohibit others from drinking liquore which they themselves enjoy and refuse to relinquish ! What can be said for the consistency of such persons ? In regard to all great moral Reforms, it needs to be repeated : — Force is but a very subordinate remedy, at the best. The law is weak in comparison with the power of the Churches, and the personal example and work of their individual labourers, and a chief reliance on preventive rather than repressive influences. The conditions of advancement in all good movements must still, for the most part, be characterised by the heart-reaching, and often gradual action of the " Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ." Empirics may point to other modes, but this grand ancient basis of true progress must again and again be returned to. To " overcome evil with good " must always involve, for its chief lines of operation, a recourse to moral and spiritual, rather than to physical, constraints and restraints. Hope and Fear. A sacred precept ordains, " What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." This may be accepted in its relation to the necessity of arrangements, in social and penal systems, for the simultaneous double influence of hope and fear, of reward and punishment. 24 Penological and Preventke Principles. But how often, and how generally, have the elements of hope and reward been neglected, whilst the powers of fear and punishment, valuable as they are, have been too exclusively relied on. Here, again, the avoidance of such divorce needs strict practical regard. The penal systems of Bentham, Maconochie, Barwick Baker, Crofton, Obermaier, Rumford, Ducpetiaux, Suringar, Petersen, Brinkerhof and others, were by no means perfect, but they attained a certain measure of special success, in so far as they gave prominence to the animating forces of reward and hope. In the old fable of the contending wind and sunshine, the warm and genial glow of the latter was found to be much more powerful than the chill violence of the former. Yet, in their respective provinces, both sun- shine and wind, as also rewards and punishments, are each necessary. State and Individual Action. Another pair of co-ordinate activities which should not be divorced, are those of central and local, of State and individual energy. There is a work for each, which neither, alone, can perform, but which is essential for the community. The main function of the State is to protect and facilitate individual well-doing. Beyond this, its inter- ference is often mischievous. In view of the terrible wars, persecutions, murders, jobbery and waste, which, in almost every age, have characterised Governments, it is obvious that State-action may be as potent for evil as for good. Whereas the influences of religion and morality have at all periods, mainly flowed upon the world through individual action ; through the Prophet, the Preacher, the Philan- thropist, the Author, the Philosopher, acting either one by one, or in voluntary union, and more often eflfecting their reforms in spite of the opposition of the State, than by its encouragement. For example, in regard to improvements in Prison Discipline in particular, the chief impulses have First Principles in Diminishing Crime and Pauperism. 25 originated, in noteworthy degree, with private individuals, such as John Howard, Sarah Martin, Elizabeth Fry, Sir Fowell Buxton, Dr. Wiehem, Thomas Eddy, and many other good men and women, whose influence has stimulated official and legislative activity. There is a peculiar and almost incritahle tendency to indolence and inertia in State functionaries as such, unless quickened by the constant vigilance and criticism of the public, and by private rivalry. The temptation is extreme, on the part of Government officials, in every land, just to enjoy their honours and draw their salaries, with as little exertion as possible, outside the easy beaten tracks and the grooves of precedent. On the other hand, the best intentioned efforts of individual and merely local reformers, are apt to remain imperfect, or unsj'stematic, for want of that regulating assistance and encouragement, which it is in the special power of the State, or central Government, to furnish. Individual efforts must necessarily be slow and gradual in their operation. Hence they are apt to be unduly despised and under-estimated by the public, who, in their impatience, cry out for the more hasty action of Govern- ments. But it has been repeatedly observed that as the Lord Jesus Christ sent out His disciples, two and two, on foot, to discharge their mission in humble perseverance, so, in all subsequent ages, the great bulk and mass of philan- thropic, or religious work, has had to be wrought out, in similarly patient detail, and as at a footpace. Nevertheless, great results have followed the aggregate of such efforts ; works often comparable, in magnitude, to the vast coral reefs, wrought, grain by grain, by the insects of the deep. The powers of States and Governments are but weak for the accomplishment of those universally essential moral reforms, which require, for their success, the persistent labour of individual effort and personal virtues. Physical force can check, or temporarily restrain, various 26 PenoJogical and Prerentive Principles. forms of evil ; but sometimes at the cost of rendering them still more intense and permanent. It is the force of gentle- ness, of patience, of persuasion, and of religion, which can radically destroy wicked dispositions and feelings. But this is by far the more arduous work. A Third Great Principle. Thirdly an ever vigilant hesitation as to the ACCEPTANCE OF FASHIONABLE DOGMAS OR POPULAR CON- CLUSIONS, IS REQUISITE. The Vox pojnili is by no means necessarily the Vox Dei, in philanthropic and penal matters, any more than in general politics. Sometimes it is the very reverse. Neither are the ideas in favour amongst fashionable and influential circles, therefore infallible. Nor does truth necessarily dwell amongst majorities ; on the contrary, it is often to be found on the side of unpopular minorities. As Dante says : — " Full often bends, Current opinion in the false direction, And then the feelings bind the intellect." Modern experience has proved that republics and demo- cratic majorities are just as ready as arbitrary kings, to rush into foolish wars, or to insist upon unwise legislation, to the detriment of the connnunity. • The jocular monarch, Charles II., of England, is said to have propounded, with apparent seriousness, before the philosophers of the " Royal Society," the question, " Why is it that a dead fish is heavier than a living one ? " Some of these sages, hastily assuming that a monarch's dictum, even on science, must be true, adduced various reasons which appeared to them to afford a solution of the difficulty. At length a shrewder thinker quietly asked, " But is it actually the case, your Majesty, that a dead fish is the heavier ? " "Ah, my friend," replied the king, " now you are on the right track." Similai'ly, both' current First Principles in Diminishing Crime and Pauperism. 27 popular assumptions, and also Ministerial or Parliamentary Statements, and even the statistical reports emanating from Government and State Departments, should always be critically examined, if the attainment of truth is desired ; for even these are often apt to mislead. There are various widely accepted conclusions which only need real investigation, in order to prove their un- wisdom ; as, for instance, the too generally supported axiom that mere secular instruction mainly constitutes Education. There is no doubt but that Education, in its true meaning, as including especially the patient training to habits, not only of study, but also of industry, of morality, and of godliness, is a most essential and efficient means of promoting the happiness of the people, and preventing vice, crime, and pauperism. But instruc- tion in reading, writing, arithmetic and so forth, if unaccompanied by due attention to the other constituent parts of education, may develop the ignorant and com- paratively harmless idler into tlie cunning and dangerous thief, or defrauder. It has been made a matter of com- plaint, by some of the highest police authorities in Great Britain, that since the establishment of public compulsory " Board School " teaching, there has been created a more dangerous and unmanageable type of juvenile criminal,^ than formerly. It is at the same time, admitted that inasmuch as, in many of these schools, the religious and moral elements have not been lost sight of, a large measure of good has resulted. The statistics of German and American prisons prove that a very general diffusion of secular instruction amongst the populations, is found in connection with a great increase in the number of offences and imprisonments. " Knowledge is power " — for evil, as well as for good. The Devil and his instruments are characterised by intelligence ; though it is utterly perverted in its objects. 28 Penological and Prerentive Principles. Current Popular Errors as to Imprisonment, and Prison Labour. The subject of Prisons, also, is a matter on which pre- valent official and popular conclusions require critical examination. The special efficacy of prolonged imprison- ments, as a means of repressing crime, has been enormously over-estimated, in most countries, and not least in England. Yet it can be shown that more efficient means of diminishing offences are to be found, in a combination of magisterial and philanthropic activity, with a vigilant but merciful Police Supervision. By such a course, the county of Gloucester was able, in a period of forty years, to abolish six out of its seven jails, and to reduce its daily average of prisoners by a very large percentage. Like results would follow similar modes of action, if adopted in other localities. Also, in connection with prisons, the question of the Remunerative Labour of their inmates is a subject of two widely diffused popular fallacies, in opposite directions. On the one hand, many persons object to teaching prisoners trades and useful occupations, or to employing them in profitable industry, on the ground that they are thus placed in unfair competition with the honest workers outside. But it is precisely because they have not already competed, in the ranks of honest industry, that they have become criminals. And until they are induced, or com- pelled thus to earn their livelihood, by labour, they will remain a far heavier tax upon the public, than the very worst forms of industrial competition could involve. The respectable tax-payers have to support prisoners, like a dead weight upon their shoulders, unless the latter are obliged to earn their own living, as far as possible. And further, unless they are discharged from incarceration under circumstances which admit of a reasonable prospect of their finding employment, they will again inflict injury and First Principles in Dimi)nshing Crime and Pauperism. 29 expense upon the virtuous portion of the community, An idle prisoner, or criminal, is a very costly nuisance. An English convict lately remarked to a fellow-prisoner, " I have been convicted seven times ; but I won't work. By the last robbery I gained £450 ; and when I am dis- charged, I will have another go at it." Hence the public cannot afford to encourage such lazy villains in their idle- ness and crime. And in any case, the competition of prison with free labour is almost infinitesimal. For the propor- tion of prisoners to the free population is, happily, small in all nations. In Great Britain there is not, on the average, so much as one prisoner to every thousand of the outside population. In a very few instances, where a majority of the prisoners have been concentrated upon a single industry, such as mat-making or shoemaking, some small (though for the most part imaginary) inconvenience may have been caused to a few free workers. But generally speaking, the objection to a profitable prison industry is either unfounded, or " penny wise and pound foolish." Of a similar nature, and in opposition to real economy, is the other popular extreme of making the immediate profits of prison labour the primary or exclusive object to be aimed at. This has been especially observable in pome of the American States, where, in certain instances, their prisons have been rendered entirely self-supporting. Such a result is secured hy leasing the criminals to con- tractors and working them, either in out-door gangs, as usually in the Southern States, or in crowded workshops, as in the North. In both cases, the corruption and evil, which are thus fostered, tend to perpetuate vice, and to render the jails themselves the very nurseries of further crime. It has been remarked that, both in the United States and in France, the jail workshops, with their cheerful associated labour, tend to keep the prison popula- tion permanently numerous, and, on the whole, decidedly on the increase. Whereas, the more deterrent, more refor- 30 Peiwlogica/ (uid Preventive Principles. matory, but more immediately costly conditions of cellular separation, though less favourable to rapid profits from labour, are far cheaper in the end, for they tend to keep down the ultimate number of prisoners. It has been well remarked that the main object of a prison is to be eniptij. And the most certain test of the efficiency of any penal system is the ultimate continued diminution of offences throughout the community. This is a far more reli- able criterion than either the amount of jn'ison earnings, or even the percentage of prisoners known to be reclaimed. The Principle of Justice — Divine and Human. A further great essential principle is Justice — Justice with the level scales ; the fair weighing of both sides of every matter, and of the claims of each party. How often is the sacred name of Justice applied to a one-sided severity, or to a partial regard to one class of persons, whilst the eyes are kept blind to the rights or circumstances of another class ! For example, how disproportionately favour- able is the Legislation of most countries to the assumed Rights of Property, as compared with the laws in regard to the collateral, and greater Moral Rights of the com- munity, including the very poorest. Whilst much poverty is self-created, a large proportion of it is the inevitable result of social or hereditary causes, uncontrollable by the sufferer. Sharp deterrence is just and necessary for wilful offenders and for the lazy and improvident. But dis- criminating mercy and help are due to our fellow-creatures under privation, and even under transgression, in so far as their circumstances are occasioned by the faults or mis- fortunes of others. In avoiding one extreme, we must also seek to keep clear of the other. Justice may briefly be defined as the " Golden Rule " in practice, and as exercised, not only as regards individuals, but also nations. It is even a dutv towards dumb Animals, Fird Pruiciples in Ditninishhig Crime and Paupcvism. 31 which have been created by God, and wliicli have their many claims upon human mercy. But liow much more important are the claims of men themselves, however degraded, upon the consideration of their fellows, inas- much as they are all members of that world of humanity so loved by God, that He gave Himself for it, through the Incarnation, in His only begotten Son. In reference to offenders against the laws and rights of the community, it is a primary matter of justice that these shall be restrained and discouraged from continuing in crime, by means of a merciful severity, and by a gradual cumulation of penalties certain, but not too heavy. On tlie other hand, the general circumstances and antecedents of the offender are, in fairness to him, deserving of practical consideration ; as, for example, whether he has been driven to crime by powerful hereditary impulses and passions, in combination with ignorance and privation, and especially parental and social neglect. If the Law has also per- mitted such persons to be subjected to excessive tempta- tions, as, for example, from a disproportionate abundance of licensed facilities for drunkenness or other vice, the law- makers and the community are themselves partially responsible for the effects thus produced. The writer, in visiting an English prison, was struck with the remark of a veteran warder who spoke of the heartless inconsiderate- ness of a large section of the public towards the more unfortunate class of offenders. He said, " People are apt to exclaim, on seeing, for instance, a lad in jail, ' The young rascal ! he has wickedness imprinted on his face : it is a good thing to punish him sharply.' " " Well, perhaps so," the warder would remark, in reply to such an observa- tion ; " but let us remember that the lad (like many of his class) is the son of parents, both of whom were thieves and drunkards ; both of whom deserted him ; that he had no home ; no early training in virtue ; that he usually found a bed under arches, or on rionrsteps. in holos and cornel's of 32 Penological and Pvcvcntire Principles. the city, until the police-cell, or the work-house, or the prison, received him into comparative luxury, though accompanied by restraints hateful to his wild habits." For such an one, justice demands a prolonged training to self- supporting industry, if possible, at some expense to his parents, if otherwise, at the cost of the State, which also has, in some measure probably, neglected him or his pro- genitors. To how many criminals, in our own day, are applicable the words recorded of the wretched Judsean king, Ahaziah, son of the cruel idolatress Athaliah, — " For his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly." By natural constitution, a mother's influence is pre-eminently powerful, whether for good or for ill. Hence those who have had bad maternal training are thereby entitled to a specially merciful regard in the retribution, or correction, of their consequent mis- deeds. Again, as to the Pauper ; he, too, may have fought the battle of life against a heavy over- weight of disadvantage, from miserable parentage, hereditary incapacity or disease, or both ; and perhaps in a wretched home, with a bad example on the part of those around him, as to intem- perance and vice. If, having the ofler of labour, he refuses it, then it is just to let him suffer either punishment, or sharp privation. How much of the vice and crime of Glasgow and other crowded cities arises, almost by sheer irresistible necessity, from the shocking crowding of whole families into single rooms, — each the sole scene of birth, wedlock and death, of feeding, living, and sleeping. Yet near some of these cities, thousands of fair acres are permanently kept waste, for the enjoyment of a few sportsmen. Is not this a grave injustice towards men and towards God ? When will Scotland, in particular, rouse herself and deliver her poorest population from the terrible evils of criminal over- cr(;)wding and cruelly locked land ? Fird Principles in Diminishing Crime and Pauperism. 33 The severity of penalty and the rigour of discipline should be everywhere qualified by just consideration ; and also by the fact that honour is due to all men, by reason of the intrinsic worth of each soul gifted with a capa- city for immortal life, and endless moral development. The basest of men, the most degraded of women, for all of whom Christ has lived, died and risen, may, tlu'ough the power of His Spirit, be purified into saintly excellence. Even the once diabolical King Manasseh of Judah, ulti- mately became prayerfully and practically repentant. From Mary Magdalen, her seven possessing devils were effectually expelled by the Holy Christ. So, through Divine Grace and patient human effort, sinners of any guilt and dye may be led to virtue. Even these can never be justly divested of a certain claim to honour, on account of God's relation to them and their potential immortal restoration. As Dr. W. Ellery Channing has well remarked, " Christianity indeed gives us a deeper, keener feeling of the guilt of mankind than any other religion. But it does not speak of this as indissolubly bound up with the soul, but as a temporary stain, which it calls us to wash away. Its greatest doctrine is that the lost are recoverable ; that the most fallen may rise ; and that there is no height of purity, power, felicity, in the universe, to which the guiltiest mind, may not, through penitence, attain." Godliness the Chief Prinxiple. Beyond all other fundamental principles, for the dimi- nution or restoration of criminals, true godliness is the STRONGEST. The mighty powers of evil passions and the immense inertia of indifference can only be effectually combated by forces which are still more potent ; those of the love of God in Christ, and the hopes and fears of Eternity. The experi- ence of the general history of humanity, shows that the D 34 Penological and Preventive Principles. greatest success in the reclamation of lives from evil has been achieved by this power of Divine love. Yet much has been authoritatively promulgated in Christ's name, which has been singularly opposed to His example and precepts. He Himself laid down, for all time, the simple but decisive test of true Christianity — " By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another." And His Apostle showed the real fruits of His Holy Spirit to be " Love, joy, peace ; long suffering, gentleness, goodness ; faith, meekness, temperance." Further, it is of essential importance to all communities and individuals, that the Divine declarations of what is a truly just retribution, or reward, in a future state, should be earnestly regarded. For these furnish a sustaining encouragement to right doers, however unknown amongst their fellow-men, arising from the well grounded hope, that there awaits them an eternity of joy and congenial activity in the Heaven of Christ's personal presence ; in association with the beloved relations and friends of a former life, and with the good and wise of all ages ; in grand missions of Divine beneficence, and in vast extensions of knowledge and power. Such justly founded hopes of unending bless- ings convey a powerful stimulus to patient obedience, and to loyal service to God, by promoting the best interests of His human and brute creation. On the other hand, strong restraints from wrong-doing, from cruelty, from indifference, from impurity, are to be found in a sense of the necessity of having hereafter to meet the judgment of a God of awful purity and power, irresistibly hostile to deliberate transgression, though ready to forgive all past sins, on sincere repentance, through the law-honouring justification and affection-winning power of Christ's most precious Blood. For through His own Incarnation and voluntary Sacrifice, " He tasted death for every man," and thus for evermore rendered it consis- tent even with immaculate Divine sanctity, to pardon the First Principles in Diminishing Crime and Pauperism. 35 sinner, on returning to God, who is at once a Being of unfathomable mercy and of irreconcilable hatred of evil. Pre-eminently, God is Love. Love is the disposition, both in the Deity and in man, which regards and en- courages the favourable features and the good capacities of others. Hence love is true charity. For the woi'd charity (caritas) is akin to cams, dear, and implies that there is a genuine sense in which man is, or should be, intrinsically dear, or precious, to his fellow man, in view of the grandeur of his future capabilities and the possibilities which may be wrought in him by ages of eternal education. For it must be remembered that God has all Eternity to work in, whether that work be the perfecting of an individual, or of a race. And when millions of years have been occupied in such development of the immortal beauty of moral grandeur, no time has been lost or wasted. And God's processes are usually very slow indeed, being chiefly based on the principle of moral suasion, acting upon wills free to choose the evil, or the good, for the present at least. He is so very patient, because Eternal. Hence God loves mankind so much, for He beholds, in His poor human family — even in the lowest and weakest of them — capacities of infinite groicth, and the possibility of immortal life in Christ. He knows thoroughly and sympathisingly, that the hereditary tendencies of mankind to evil, and the accumulated power of habit, operating through hundreds of generations of frailty and ignorance, from the first Adam's days to our own, impart a peculiar and vastly additional value and interest to the faintest efforts of resistance to such mighty antagonism. The struggles of a sin-burdened soul after righteousness, even if only partially successful at the time, may be more honourable and more fruitful for the develop- ment of eternal goodness, than the perfect but easier obedience of possibly untempted angels. And if the noblest feelings on earth are tlio self-sacrificing love of a D 2 36 Penulogical and Preicnfive Principle-^. mother, and the pitying compassion of a father, it was naturally and reasonably to be expected that God, the great archetypal Father and Mother in one, would at some time, and in some manner, show forth to the very utter- most, even in infinite degree, His own perfections, also, of parental love. This necessarily involved a miracle of con- descension, which chose for its channel the vast descent of the Incarnation — the measureless self-denial of God's own Spirit in Christ and upon the Cross — resulting in the triumphs of His Resurrection and Ascension, to be followed by His second Advent, as the visible King and glory of His redeemed Church. But He declares the certainty of irresistible chastisements upon those beings, who, after really fair opportunities of knowing His love and goodness, shall have wilfully disobeyed, or deliberately disregarded, His sovereign grace. The temporary existence of evil is probably, and even evidentl}', an essential condition for the final victories of Divine Love, and for God's grand purposes of the moral education of the human race, throughout time and eternity. If there was no evil to combat, where would be the scope for moral growth, and where would be the possibility of the development of righteous strength and overcoming power ? Adam and Eve, in a Paradise continuously free from temptation, must have remained mere adult babes, as to the real might and worth of goodness. The Supreme declares Himself to be absolutely holy — a Being of spotless and crystalline purity. He is irrecon- cilably opposed to sin, whether in the smallest or greatest degree. And He is eternally destructive of it. For " our God is a consuming fire," and, as such, declares that He will ultimately overcome every contrary influence. Christ is promised to come again, in loving majesty, to rule His people. But His advent was also prophesied to be as " with refiner's fire and fuller's soap," — that is to sa}', most searchingly and unsparingly corrective. First Principles in Dinunisliing Crinio and Paupcri^Di. .37 These motives of hope and fear towards God have a potency over the Philanthropist, the Missionary, the Editor, the Prison-Officer (whether principal or subordinate), over the managers of the Poor-house, the Orphanage, the Hospital, which no commands of mere earthly Monarchs or Govern- ments can possess. All mortal powers and rulers will soon, as shadows, pass away ; and meanwhile they can be easily disobeyed and deceived. But the eternal God sees every action, however secret ; knows every motive and thought, even the inmost ; appreciates every humble kindness to man or beast, and will finally reward and judge the whole, with unerring justice and irresistible power. The smallest services of grateful love, and even the appa- rently or temporarily unsuccessful efforts of His children, will secure His ultimate recognition and reward. And, on the other hand, every act of cruelty and of deliberate wickedness, will as surely come up for remembrance here- after, before the just judgment seat of Christ. For God is indeed most mercifully just, to the Christian, to the Jew, to the Pagan. And through the infinite merits, and I'epre- sentative or substitutionary sufi'erings of His own glorious Incarnation, whereby the majesty of the moral law, of the Sovereign of the Universe, is adequately upheld, He offers pardon for all repented sin, and abundantly bestows the visitations of His Holy Spirit in the hearts of men, and promises reward and final acceptance to the virtuous of all ages, even amongst those who have not enjoyed the superior advantages of a preached Gospel, or of the Bible revelations of His love. Such certain first principles of the Divine claims — such eternal grounds for hope, reverent affection, and fear — are the truest foundations of civil society. They are mighty, where the transitory rulers of the world are weak ; and they are infinitely more penetrating in their application, and more far-reaching in their issues, than anything that human leHslntinn can d(>viso. Tliov ;ii"<' tlic "Trat motives 38 Penological and Preventive Principles. furnished by the Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation, both for individuals and communities ; inasmuch as it places men's souls in contact with the influences of Eternity, and of the Supreme goodness. All the best Prison Reform, for example, has been, and ever must be, based on these religious principles and on the relations and possibilities of the soul, in regard to God and Eternity. Just as an acorn, lying in a muddy woodland path, becomes interesting, when it is regarded in view of its possible growth to a huge century-living oak tree, so the soul of even the most degraded of human beings be- comes precious, in view of its capacities for future endless development. And as is the difference between a dry fir- cone and its ultimate change into a magnificent tree, the glory of a mountain side, so is the possible transmutation of any degraded man or woman into a being of celestial brightness and beneficence, under the seonian training of Christ's Heavenly Kingdom. Meanwhile, too, even in this little space of preliminary mortal existence, the grandeurs of future soul-development give a real interest and importance to the material influences of Sanitary and Physical Reforms, as connected immediately with the corporeal environments of men whose souls are of such infinite value and preciousness. It was the characteristic contribution of ELIZABETH Fry, and her colleagues the BuxTONS, Gurneys, and others, to modern prison reform, that they perseveringly urged the extensive introduction of Scriptural knoivledge amongst the inmates and officers of penal and reformatory establishments. There still remains, not only in many such institutions, but amongst large sections of the populations throughout the world, an urgent need for more habitual regard to the Inspired Message of God's redeeming love to man — a gift equally indispensable for the help of the virtuous and of the offending elements of all human society. M. TscHUDi, the Director of a Swiss Reformatoiy, has First Principles in Diminishing Crime and Pauperism. 39 well remarked, that, " It is for want of the fear of the Lord that criminals are what they are. And for this very reason it is our bounden duty to instruct them in those religious principles which have too often been withheld from them ; for it is only in the sunshine of religion that good feelings glow and that the flowers of the Christian virtues unfold themselves. ' Mere phrases ! ' exclaims the man of the world. Very well. But let any one attempt the reform of depraved persons, without having recourse to religious influence, and it will be practically proved that the results will be very unsatisfactory." There is a striking passage in the life of the Rev, John Clay, where he describes his own observations of the impression sometimes produced by preaching the Gospel judiciously to criminals. He says : " The preacher may speak of heaven ; but those men cannot understand him. They know of no happiness beyond gross, foul, animal indulgence. The preacher may speak of hell ; and they will wince. It would be terrible, if true. But is it true ? They harden themselves and won't believe it. But now let him preach Christ crucified ; and mark the eflfect of his preaching, as, in vivid, strong words, he tells the story of that Life and that Death, the story of that Friday morning at Calvary. Watch those men's faces, brutal ised by years of selfishness and lust and gross ignorance. Gleams of intelligence and better feeling pass athwart their features. That strange, novel idea of God having actualbj suffered, to save them from suffering, astounds and bewilders them. Vaguely and dimly they begin to feel that they ought, they must, they will, love this Jesus, who has so loved them. They feel that they should like to do, to sufler, something to prove their love. The old self-love is shaken ; the new life from God is stirring within them ; and when those men go back to their cells, they kneel down, and in their half-dumb, inarticulate fashion, gasp out a prayer. " 40 Penological and Preventive Principles. Scriptural religion is a chief principle of* all social pro- gress, both for the worse and the better elements of the community, because it is most potent in producing the best forms of citizenship. Yet some persons who profess a regard for Science, at the same time manifest the strange inconsistency of indifference to the claims of Christianity. This neglect is radically unphilosophical and unscientific ; because there is no department of Science which is more verifiable by its outward and visible results than the Christian System, in so far at least as its adherents prac- tise, as well as profess, obedience to its precepts. It remains to be the chief and surest basis of administrative wisdom and of the safety and happiness of nations. This is no mere dogmatic assertion. It is confirmed by all historical experience. In proportion as the simple prin- ciples of primitive and Scriptural religion have been prac- tically exemplified by any communities, they have enjoyed special, or at least, comparative exemption from Crime and Pauperism. For example, in New England, under the later and milder Puritan rer/iinc ; in Pennsylvania, under William Penn ; in Scotland, in so far as godly Presby- terianism has regulated its parishes and its schools ; in the Ban de la Roche, during Oberlin's pastorate ; in and around the establishments of the Catholic " Christian Brothers," and of the mediaeval "Brotherhoods of the Common Life" of Holland ; in the elder Mennonite bodies in Holland, Germany, and Russia ; in the Society of Friends, or Quakers, the "Plymouth Brethren," the "Bible Christians," the Baptists, and other sects of Great Britain and America; in the local influence of very many of the clergy and faithful members of the grand Anglican Church, especially in recent times ; amongst evangelical Unitarians of the Channing school ; and in certain districts or counties of peculiar religious earnestness, as for instance, Cornwall: — all these and such as these, have afforded genuinely scientific verifications of the special efiicacy of Christian principle amongst communities. First Principles in Diminishing Crime and Pauperism. 41 And, on the other hand, other abundant historic proofs demonstrate that principles contrary to those of true Christianity bring failure and ruin to nations and peoples. The Atheistic basis of the French Revolution of 1789, and of the Paris Commune of 1871 were ever-memorable illustrations of this. Similarly, all political, social and even ostensibly philanthropic movements which disregard, or ignore, the primary element of godliness, are manifestly doomed to disappoint the hopes they may have raised. For the only true liberty and advancement amongst nations, must be ever and continuously based upon the happy freedom resulting from the living service of the one and undivided, but tri-unely manifested God and Father of humanity. Chapter II. CRIMES OF SOCIETY. " The Whole is Greater than its Part." There are crimes of the individual and crimes of society ; but the latter are immensely more important and more disastrous than the former. Yet this has been strangely neglected by legislators and leaders of the people. All manner of punishments have been devised for the erring individual ; whilst the social conditions which, in in- numerable instances, tempted, if, indeed, they did not almost compel him, to become a criminal, have too extensively been regarded with a wonderful indifference. And this still continues to be the case, in great degree. It may perhaps be one of the achievements of the Twentieth Century to rectify this oversight. The disregard of the pre-eminent importance of social, as compared with individual crime, is, in fact, the neglect of one of the simplest and most incontestable principles, namely, that " the whole is greater than its part " — a truth which is to some extent involved in one or two of the principles alluded to in the last chapter. But, in connection with both Crime and Pauperism, it is so very important as to claim special consideration. Crimea of Society. 43 The Case of Belgium. Many a State, for example, punishes Drunkenness as a nuisance, whilst it not only tolerates but powerfully encourages and maintains social and legislative systems which necessarily produce a vast development of this vice. This, then, is being blind to the fact that " the whole is greater than its part." The offence of the State is hugely greater and more multitudinous than that of the weak individual. Hence it is with good reason that certain social reformers in Belgium have protested against the incon- sistency of their own country, in this respect. They draw attention to the enormous sums devoted to the construction of the grand and palatial establishments for the treatment of the individual offender, as compared with the very small expenditure devoted to measures for preventing drunkenness, and the comparatively slight interest mani- fested in educating popular opinion to a sense of its evils. The visitor to Brussels sees, in the upper portion of that beautiful city, a sort of artificial mountain of masonry, probably more massive than the famous Tower of Babel, rising with majestic proportions far above surrounding edifices, and compelling admiration for the boldness, the wealth and the skill of a people who can erect such a structure. It is the Palace of Justice, the seat of the administration of Law and Penalty, in regard to individual crime. At a little distance, and standing on a still higher elevation, is one of the most splendid prisons in the world — that of St. Gilles, replete with almost eveiy conceivable arrangement, suggested by the experience not only of Belgium but of Europe. And if the traveller visits other cities in that bright little kingdom, such as Ghent, Bruges, Antwerp, and similar provincial capitals, he will again and again find beautiful Palaces of Justice, and Prisons of the most approved modem style of construction, abounding in architectural and sanitary improvements. So much for the consideration, in Belgium, of the individual offender. 44 Penological and Preventive Principles. But turning to the Belgian legal and social sj^stem as a great whole, although here, too, there are some cheering indications of progress, yet the careful observer can hardly fail to be impressed with the very small comparative amount of money, effort, and ability devoted to the })re- rention of those conditions out of which, in that, as in other countries, individual crime chiefly springs. The amount of drinking, in that Kingdom, and the vast number of places for the sale of alcohol, in proportion to the population, are very striking. Then, too, the considerable encouragement or practical toleration of Prostitution by the State, and the somewhat special share of Belgium in the traffic in girls, for home and foreign brothels, are features which impress an observing moralist. Not that, unfortunately, Belgium is so much worse than her British, French, or German neighbours, in these matters ; for she is not. But being a small country, and having made such unusuall}' splendid and costly provision for dealing with the crime of the individual, she furnishes a particularly visible illustration of the very generally prevalent unwisdom of neglecting that important simple principle — " the whole is greater than its part." For there can be scarcely a doubt, but that if only a moderate fraction of the many millions there devoted to Courts and Prisons, had been directed to the organisation of Moral Instruction and of Child-saving and Girl-rescue institutions, together with an active endea- vour to punish purveyors of vice and to check drunkenness at its sources, then there would not be a necessity for the very costly buildings and establishments which are now used for the purpose of individual punishment. Prostitution and the Sweating System. In regard to Prostitution,, also, as arising from the vice of Society more than of the Individual, much might be said, especially in relation to British and American cities. Some earnest and observant Social Reformers in the United Crimes of Society. 45 States have been inviting attention to the very serious temptations, the frequent ruin, misery, and even suicide, to which previously virtuous girls in that country are driven by the extension of the Sweating System, especially in connection witli those huge shops and trading establish- ments which are so widely driving the small trader out of the field. It is complained that in such cities as New York and Chicago, thousands of poor girls are almost irresistibly compelled to prostitution, by the utterly inadequate wages they receive — wages on which, in a large proportion of cases, it is impossible for them to exist. But often the shop- girl, or the type-writer, especially if pretty, is insolently told that if she will be "accommodating" she can readily better her condition, and find some 3'oung man, or some head of the trading departments, willing to supplement her poor earnings, but only on the condition of her sacrifice of what is most precious in womanhood. This abominable system is a crime, not indeed of society as a whole, but, at any rate, of considerable sections of it. And it is of incom- parably more importance to devote State and Social atten- tion to the means of preventing such wrongs, than to confine efforts to the promotion of Penitentiaries and Homes for the fallen. Nor must it be forgotten that Prostitution, besides being itself a vice, is also a fruitful cause of crime, particularly of robbery and nnirder. Excessive Militarism. In connection both with the ruin and degradation of womanhood, and with the extension of violence, there is another social crime which, hitherto, has held its sway mightily over the nations — namely, excessive Militarism, leading to the withdrawal of myriads, or rather millions, of vigorous young men, during the years when their passions are strongest, from the shelter of home, tlie infiuence of parental guidance and of the Church of their childliood, and away, too, for tlie present, from the prospects and the 46 Penological and Preventive Principles. possibilities of virtuous marriage. By this vastly exten- sive substitution of the barracks for the home, how vicious are the habits forcibly implanted in innumerable young men ; and what hosts of victims amongst the womanhood of nations are, in consequence, sacrificed to them. And not only is there this physical degradation, with its abounding maladies, present and prospective ; not only is there the ruin of so many brave and fair bodies ; but incomparably worse is the destructive influence on the souls of such myriads — in view of the claims upon them of God's authority and love — and of the importance of eternal retribution. Not only does this enormous Militarism con- stitute a gigantic engine of both vice and crime, but also of impiety. It takes the moral manliness out of the soldier, too generally, just as it takes the womanly purity out of his poor victim. The Duke of Wellington said : " Men who have nice notions about religion have no business to be soldiers." What greater condemnation of the crime of Militarism can there be, than this declaration from such an authority ? But it is, of course, replied that this universal Militarism is a necessity. Can nations, in the present state of other nations, dare to dispense wholly with their armies and navies ? Perhaps not. The maintenance of these vastly demoralising armaments has been, alas ! forced upon the world. But the huge social crime, especially of Christen- dom, in this matter, consists in its shameful apathy, and in the neglect to put forth even moderate efforts to bring about a better state of things, or at least to endeavour to diminish the evil. It is true that, during the Nineteenth Century, about a hundred international disputes, some of which might otherwise have led to war, have been settled by the peaceful modes u(Ht have either whipping, or the .separate Ki/stem. The latter, if strictly carried out, will sufficiently answer the purpose. Mr. White, after his long official observation, records this conclusion : — " The only system whicli, I believe, has the least chance of effecting reforma- tion, nnist include separate treatment, not only for first offenders, but throughout the various grades. Let associa- tion, whether at labour or otherwise, tte the one thing care- fully u-ithJicld, except as a reward, after long periods of good conduct, and the jail will soon be regarded with terror, as it ought to be." These are wise words, worthy of consideration every- where. But tlie modern and far too numerous school of pscndo " humanitarians " who, though with well-meant intentions, are so practically cruel to the comnuinity, are also, as a class, opposing prison separation, and urging the retrograde policy of associating criminals. Inde(Ml, li'cncrallx', these sliallow and unrcflcctinir, as well 116 Penological and Preventive Principles. as too often ignorant, advocates of a lax treatment of ruffians, appear to assume, as a matter of course, that all prisoners and criminals are " poor prodigals." They practically ignore the distinction between petty and grave offenders, between the minor first offender and the pro- fessional criminal, or malignant villain. They abuse experienced officials ; they also abuse the Howard Association and those persons (possibly now a minority in some countries) who hold to the necessity of stringent measures to protect the community from that worst of all offences — cruelty. For not only are these quasi " humanitarians " practically indulgent towards the class of public ruffians, whether adult or juvenile, but they would also render prisons easy and attractive to the similarly dangerous class of private tormentors, who abuse the secrecy of home life to perpetrate abominable outrages there. In 1892 the Society (in London) for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children repoi*ted such instances of these domestic cruelties as the following :— " Punishing a child by putting pins into its nostrils ; putting lighted matches up them ; biting a child's wrist till a wound is made, and then burning the wound with lighted matches ; burning the hands of a boy of six with matches ; throwing a little girl of two years, ill of bronchitis, out of its bed-room window, breaking its bones, and ending its life ; breaking a two-year-old baby's limbs in three places, both arms and a thigh, leaving them untended, when it moaned in its pain irritably taking it up from its cradle by the broken arms, shaking it by them, and throwing it down again ; leaving a baby unlifted out of its cradle for weeks, till toadstools grew around the child out of the rottenness ; leaving another to lie for days and nights on a mattress alive with maggots ; keeping the stumps of little amputated legs sore, to have the child with its little face puckered up in pain, to excite pity for begging purposes;" with hundreds of other siiiiilar instances. The Social Crimr of Cruel Laxiiy. 117 The Law and Penal System should be an effectual " terror to evil-doers," of this description at least. And any system of utterly inadequate sentences, or pleasantly associated imprisonment, which deals in a lax and essentially ineffectual manner with the perpetrators of such outrages, is, in itself, a serious and cruel crime against the best elements of the community, however plausibly it may be advocated under the guise of a false " huniani- tarianism " or of specious " modern reform." It is not in accord with the precepts of inspired wisdom, or with the example and operation of the Divine govern- ment. Chapter V. PRISON SEPARATION AND CLASSIFICATION. The First Essential. The separation of prisoners, //ww each other only, and for duly limited periods, is a first essential of good discipline, and an indispensable condition of success in penal treat- ment, whether intended as deterrent, or reformatory. It is also the best basis for Classification. It is the safest and ultimately, though not immediately, the cheapest arrange- ment, for adoption in criminal institutions. It should involve, and this is always necessary to be borne in mind, the collateral condition, of the substitution of good personal influences for bad ones, together with con- stant useful occupation of body and mind. Mere cellular isolation should not be regarded as the sufficient condition for right separation. It has been one of the most pernicious and persistent hindrances to penal reform, in many nations, that Solitude has been so often considered as being identical with Separation. The terms " Solitary " System, " Silent " System, and " Separate " System, have been, in the popular mind, and even amongst many persons of general intelli- gence, confounded, as being three expressions for the same thing ; whereas they are each different -from the other. Prison Separation and Classification. 119 Silence may exist with the association of numbers ; and effectual separation from evil association may be secured, in conjunction with the daily companionship of suitable persons. The cell is most useful, and even indispensable, as a pre- liminary condition of separation. But it is only one ele- ment towards that end. When cellular imprisonment becomes absolute solitude, it is, if unduly prolonged, an unwarrantable cruelty. Solitude is one thing : wise separa- tion is another. Continued isolation is unnatural, and ruinous to mind and body. Whereas, separation from evi association only, is most beneficial to its subjects. The Various Prison Systems. A few words of explanation, or repetition, seem here needful, respecting the several Prison Systems, because they are so often and persistently confused and misunderstood. 1. The Congregate System, in which prisoners have association with each other, by day or night, or both. This is still the unfortunately prevalent and general system in most European, Colonial, American, and other jails. It is emphatically and necessarily bad, especially with the connnon dormitories so frequent in the prisons of even civilised nations like France and Germany. An inmate of a Greek jail, on this plan, lately exclaimed, " The night is hell, when it is dark." 2. The Solitary Systejsi, tlie opposite extreme, is also bad, under which prisoners are debarred even from good association, and are deprived, largely or wholly, of the helpful aids of labour, books, and adequate exercise. It is still occasionally used, for political prisoners chiefly, in Italy and Russia, as powerfully described and justly denounced by " OuiDA " for the former, and by various writ.ers for tlie latter. 3. Tlio Silent System. Tliis is professedly adopted in 120 Penoh(jical and Prevcnfke Principles. some British, American, and other prisons, with association. It is better than either of the former two ; but it also is bad, because the silence is generally merely nominal, or confined to the absence of noisy conversation. If real silence is enforced, it leads to a large amount of punishment, which is unfair, and often cruel to the prisoners. In fact, the so- called " Silent System " is generally a pernicious delusion and pretence. 4. The Separate System, under which the prisoners are kept separate from other prisoners only, but have numerous visits in their cells from the officers, chaplain, schoolmaster, and from suitable persons from outside, together with industrial occupation, books, instruction, and daily exercise. With sucl) ameliorating conditions as these, prisoners can enjoy good health of body and mind for periods extending from one to several years. Separation is at once more merciful and more severe than association. It is preferred by the better class of prisoners, and hated by the vilest. Hand industry in the cell is less competitive with free labour outside, than the large workshops, often with machinery, in American and Continental prisons, on the congregate plan. In the interesting autobiography of Mr. Frederick Hill, formerly H.M. Prison Inspector, and a veteran member of the Howard Association, he writes of the Separate System, " Though strongly opposed to an unlimited use of this system, I consider it greatly superior, even when carried to excess, to the indiscriminate association of prisoners, or to the Silent System." 5. The Mixed or Combined System. Some prisons combine the separate, or cellular, with the associated plan. Many of the British jails are such. For long-term prisoners, such a modification is, in general, unavoidable, though it is disadvantageous, even in their case. All sentences under one year, if not two, ought to be undergone on the Separate System. Prison Separation and Classijicafion. 121 Varying Meanings of the Term "Separate System." The persistent injury which is often inflicted upon certain objects, by means of erroneous names, or objection- able ideas, which have somehow become associated with them, has long been illustrated in the history of what is usually termed " The Cellular System " of Prison Discipline. Owing to various misrepresentations, on the part of opponents, and in hardly less degree, to confusion and ambiguity on the side of its advocates, this name has too frequently conveyed the idea of a prolonged isolation of prisoners, without visitation, or companionship of any kind. In some countries, and to a comparatively very small extent, such a mode of treatment has been actually practised ; and, as might be expected, with disastrous results. In several of the American States, formerly, and occasionally in some European countries, prisoners have been confined in separate cells, or underground dungeons, for years together, with little or no occupation, and with no association with their fellow-men, except the daily visit of a jailer. Thus pining between the dismal walls of their living tomb, their minds have, in many instances, given way, and they have become idiotic, or mad, or have gradually wasted to death. Similar results have ensued where, even under less rigid conditions, it has been attempted to substitute life-long separate confinement, instead of Capital Punishment. In such cases, many of the unfortunate objects of the experiment have not really been exempted from Capital Punishment, but have under- gone that penalty, under the more cruel conditions of an execution prolonged over a period of years. The fact is that the term " Cellular System " or " Separate System " has often been applied to rrri/ dijferoit modes of discipline. The name has represented a variable condition rather than a fixed one. The " Cellular System " of one country, or of one period, may not be at all identical with 122 Penological and Preventive Principles. the so-called system of the same name, in another country, or at another period. Thus the original cellular treatment at Pentonville and Coldbath Fields Prisons, in London, was much more rigid than that of the Belgian prisons ; whilst the corresponding system in New York State, during the term of its unfortunate experience there, was incom- parably more severe than the Pentonville plan. The treat- ment in certain Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, and German cellular prisons has also undergone a series of modifi- cations, in accordance with the experiences of successive years. Hence the advocates and opponents of cellular separation have often, if not in general, assumed for it an identity and continuity of character which it has never really possessed. Great impediments have been placed in the way of prison-reform, in this direction, by extreme opinions and hasty conclusions. Thus certain observers, having noticed the decided advantages of cellular separation for compara- tively short periods, rushed to the unwarranted conclusion that the same discipline might be safely and beneficially extended over very Jong sentences, or even life impri- sonment ; an inference wholly unsupported by practical experience, and contrary to the laws of human nature. These extreme views, in support of the Cellular System, have produced equally exaggerated objections to its moderate and rightly conditioned adoption. And, on the whole, it is perhaps difficult to determine whether this great fundamental principle of all prison and penal reform, the separation of criminals from each other, has been most retarded b}^ its friends, or by its foes. Howard and Ducpetiaux urged by Experience. John Howard was awakened to the bad efifects of prison association by his own personal experience of its disgusting evils, in a French jail, to which he had been consigned — Priso)/ Srparafioii atid Chu^^lfjcatio)!. 128 after his capture at sea by a privateer — diirino- a time of war between England and France. Thenceforth he steadily advocated separation, industry and other conditions of improved prison discipline. In like manner M. Ducpetiaux, the eminent administrator of penal reform in Belgium, was aroused to the necessities of the subject by his own sufferings, as a political prisoner, prior to the Belgian Revolution of 1830. Whilst in con- finement, his feelings of decency and propriety were revolted by his enforced association with vile and filthy companions. He became profoundly convinced, from his own observation, that association renders imprisonment less punitory to the worst class of criminals, and more so to the less degraded. Just in proportion as a man is debased, he will enjoy the companionship of corrupt comrades. And it affords additional pleasure to the worst wretches in pri.son to corrupt others, who may at first be less familiar with evil than themselves. After the Revolution of 1830, M. Ducpetiaux received from King Leopold I. favours and rewards, as some compensation for the imprisonment which his previous political partisanship had brought upon him. The office of Director of Prisons was ultimately conferred upon him. And thus, by a curious turn of events, he was placed in a position to give practical efi'ect to the convictions which the mischief of associated imprisonment harl so deeply impressed upon his own mind. But before connnitting himself to a decided and final plan of reorganisation, he instituted a further series of observations and impiiries as to the effects of the existing system. An overwlielmiug concurrence of testimony confirmed him in his conclusion that the associated plan was a welcome indulgence to the vile, a cruelty to the novice in imprisomnent, and a corrupting evil to all. From that time M. Ducpetiaux ])ursuod a steady course of prison reform in Belgium, which placed that country in 124 Penological and Preventive Principles. a leading position in this respect amongst the nations. He received effectual co-operation from King Leopold I., the wise monarch whom he so faithfully served, and also from some able coadjutors, including, in particular, M. Stevens, who for many years was the Governor of the cellular prison of Louvain, and afterwards of the great prison of St. Gilles, at Brussels. Belgian Experience. The special progress of prison discipline, in Belgium and Holland, has been the result of long and carefully tested experience. More than a century ago, their prisons elicited the repeated eulogies of the illustrious Howard, who visited them again and again, taking nine journeys to Holland, and nearly as many to Belgium. In the former country he found the jails clean and orderly, with their inmates employed at useful labour (chiefly the manufacture of cloth), of the proceeds of which they received a share, to aid them on their discharge. The Dutch motto, which became a favourite one with Howard, was " JIakc men diligent, and you will nmhe them honest." At the same period, Belgium had established, in the great prisons of Ghent and Vilvorde, the system of entire separation by night, with congregate labour by day, which was a vast improvement upon the horrible and almost unrestrained contamination which then, and for a long time afterwards, formed a disgraceful feature in the jails of Great Britain and of most other nations. It was in 1775 that Howard paid his first visit to Ghent prison, then newly erected, and was gratified with the large amount of useful industry, with piece-work and a share of the earnings for the prisoners, which characterised it. On his sixth visit to the Low Countries, in 1783, he found the prisoners at Ghent in a miserable condition of demoralisation and ill-health. For the Emperor Joseph, at tlie solicitation of a few private manufacturers, had ordered Prison Separation and Classification. 125 the useful productive labour of the establishment to be almost discontinued, on the plea of " unfair competition " with free labour. The results were such as might have been expected. The Governor spoke of them as " unhappy changes," and Howard, with his usual plainness of speech, termed the alteration a " vile polic3^" Two years after- wards, he had an interview with the Emperor, at Vienna, and, without any ceremony, complained sharply of the lack of wisdom in many departments of the prisons and other institutions in Austria. The Emperor asked, " Where have you seen any better institutions of the kind ? " " There was one better," said Howard, " at Ghent, but (he added), not so now." The Emperor started and appeared displeased, but eventually parted from his honest-spoken visitor with cordiality and respect, and promised to carry out some, at least, of his recommendations. The comparatively successful administration of the Belgian and Dutch prisons has continued throughout the Nineteenth Century ; and the Governments of both countries have gradually, but decidedly, adopted the Cellular System. M. Ducpetiaux, during his own imprisonment, had observed that any amount of association with other prisoners not only fostered evil comnmnications whilst inside the prison, but, which was often more mischievous, ruined for life many of the inmates wlio had originally been committed for slight offences, by causing them to be permaneuiJii nrognisable, after their discharge, by inveterate and evilly-disposed criminals. For example, Francis (to take any name), an apprentice, imprisoned at first for some theft, amounting to half-a-crown in value, miglit be, on his discharge, recognised by Alphonse, an old offender, who would thus have it in his power to brand the said Francis as a " prison bird," and blast for life his character and chances of getting an honest livelihood." M. Ducpetiaux also ascertained that, in tlic boxes placed 126 renological and Preventive Princqjlcs. in Belgian prisons to receive complaints from the prisoners, the majority of tliese complaints consisted of requests to be separated from the companionship of hateful and depraved associates. His mind was further impressed with the amount of punishment need/e-^.s/// afflicted on innocent wives and children by rer// long sentences of imprisonment passed upon their husbands and fathers — sentences which involved also unduly lengthened pecuniary burdens upon the honest taxpayer, whilst, in many cases, also greatly in- juring the criminal by an unnatural and cruel separation from the ties of kindred and the softening influences of parental and conjugal relationsliips. He reflected that if it should be found that the entire separation of prisoners from comnmnication with others was a punishment to the worst class of offenders, and a safeguard to the better ones, the advantage would be double. The separation would be more punitory and more deterrent to the wilful, whilst more merciful and more curative to the penitent. Tlius shorter terms, with cellular discipline, might safely, and with many advantages, moral and economical, be substituted for longer and less effectual periods of partially associated imprisonment. It was also obvious that contagious and epidemic diseases would be greatly checked by cellular separation, whilst prison riots and rebellions would be rendered almost impossible. Nor would the sneers and laughter of reprobate companions any longer be able to efface from the hearts of the less hardened the impressions made by religious instructors or wise advisers ; or to interrupt or prevent the exercise of private prayer, that most important and indispensable duty, as well as privilege, of every human being, both in and out of prison. Thus would there be a special inducement and prospect of success for frequent visitation by such persons, whether officially connected with the prison, or otherwise, as duty or desire Pn'so)/ Reparation aial Chts.s/ficatioiK 127 might prompt to otter their aid to tlie prisoners. And finally, the inmates, anxious for occupation and variety, would become more diligent in their resort to useful handicraft labour (especially with the additional spur of a share in the profits), and would be more attentive to the instructive solace of well-selected books. All these advantages, without any proportionate dis- advantages, have been found to result from the adoption of the Cellular System in Belgium, Holland and elsewhere. The Louvaix and St. Gilles Prisons. The prison at Lou\'ain was opened in 1860, but has since been eclipsed in reputation and improved arrange- ments by the new prison of St. Gilles, in an elevated suburb of Brussels. The inmates of both establishments are chiefly occupied as tailors, weavers, shoemakers, book- binders, and carpenters, the latter and the smiths having cells of double size to accommodate a bench or forge. There is a trades instructor for each branch of industry, as most of the inmates are found to be ignorant of any trade on entry. The warders are mostly conversant with some trade, and are chiefly selected, not (as has been too fre- quently the case in England) from the ranks of old soldiers, but on account of their experience and practical (pialifica- tion for their special occupation. In the Belgian prisons the inmates are treateiO)i Separation and Classificafion. 15o ignorance. Mr. Clay, on the other hand, valued the cell only as a necessary condition to enable himself and others to influence the prisoner aright, without the certainty of all their work being at once undone by vicious association. His son and biographer remarks (in his Life, p. 197; London: Macmillan & Co.): "All that he asked from separation, was that it should guarantee the prisoners from mutual corruption and make them think. He definitely adopted the opinion that iixliflilaal ■separation formed the only possitj/c ba.si.s of efficient Prison Discipline ; and year by year, with additional arguments and sharper urgency, he reiterated his plea for some system of non-intercourse." He observed that an expression most frequent in the mouth of prisoners separated from each other, was, " This is the best thing that ever happened to me." Mr. Clay insisted on cellular separation, as far as possible, to prevent injury to that on which he most relied — the influence of the Gospel. He devoted his chief eflbrts to making his preaching impressive, loving, attractive, and eftectual. He employed the service of song in the prison chapel, and adorned it with a fine picture of the Crucifixion, painted by himself. He was not a credulous or gullible man, but, on the contrary, was shrewd and wide-awake as to hypocritical pretensions to religion. He was a man of the world, as well as a clergyman. He attached the highest value to Christian influences, even upon tlie most depraved. He revolted from the ignorant, brutal scepticism of mere theorists, like tliat hasty and growling cynic, Thomas Carlyle, who ridiculed all eflbrts to reform a parcel of " rogues and vagabonds." On the contrary, Mr. Clay said, " I venture to attirm, as a minister of Him who came ' to call sinners to repentance ' tliat what is objected, in bar of our sympathies, constitutes the strongest title to them. It is because prisoners are careless or wilful wanderers from the riglit way, that nothing should be left untried to reclaim tliem." But when ho observed the very great amoimt of 156 Penological and Preventive Principles. utter ignorance of reading, writing, and figures, and even of the simplest truths of the Gospel, which then charac- terised so large a proportion of the prisoners, he felt that it was at least a just debt from society to these untaught wretches, to utilise to the utmost the opportunity of their imprisonment, for giving them intellectual instruction, and awakening them to their responsibilities as Christians and as parents and relatives. For his own Christianity had taught him deeply the worth of single souls and the sacredness of individual lives. Even from a civil and economical point of view, he held the reformation of offenders to be of immense importance. He said, " A thief costs the community £150 a year while at liberty. Reformation is cheap, at any price." Hence, because the separate system was essential to reformation, he regarded it as being eminently cheaper and more economical than the association of prisoners. He repeats, " Without separation and non-intercourse, a chaplain's efforts would be comparativelj'- fruitless. But, on the other hand, separation and silence, unrelieved by the benign influence of religion, are worse than fruitless, positively injurious." He added, " In every way, the work-room is an inferior instrument, for reformation, to the cell. In whatever we would desire for the prisoner, in regard to Instruction, Reflection, Self-examination, and above all. Prayer, the cell has greatly the advantage. Whatever good results have been obtained in Preston House of Correction, I attribute to the complete and effectual abolition of every kind of prison intercourse." Mr. Clay and the " Silent " System. Mr. Clay strongly disapproved of and opposed the " Silent System," which permits prisoners to be in association and yet forbids them to converse. His biographer says of him, " He always regarded the Silent as much the inferior Prison Separation and Ciassijication. 157 system ; and he was one of the first to point out its incurable faults." The biographer adds : — " The Silent System impedes reformation. It involves a constant duel between the prisoner's cunning and the officer's acuteness ; and thus the former is entrapped into systematic trickery and falsehood. The incessanf punishments, too, harden and irritate the prisoners. Moreover the system requires such patience, sagacity, vigilance and honesty, in every member of the prison-staff, as is not to be purchased at any price." (P. 184.) Archbishop Ullathorne. The Roman Catholic Archbishop Ullathorne's long ex- perience amongst convicts in Australasia, led him to study penal discipline very attentively He has remarked that the first sentence uttered by God to His intelligent creature was : — " It is not good for man to be alone." Solitude as to men, must involve communion with God ; or it becomes a source of evil. For, as the wise prelate adds: "Apart from God, and cast upon his individual resources, man is neither a light, nor a fountain of supply, to himself. The most rigid monastic discipline also, that of the Carthusians, with its protracted solitude and silence, is cheered by the little garden for each monk, and the long chantings of the brethren in the choir." The Roman Catholic Church has held that, if the monk and the hermit need divine grace to rescue solitude from being disastrous, still more necessary are good influences for the isolated criminal. And on the partially cellular prison of San Michele, at Rome, erected in 1703, by Pope Clement XL, from the plans of his architect, Carlo Fontana, the necessity of combining the moral with the deterrent conditions of separation, was permanently recorded, in the motto, conspicuously inscribed over the prison, " Parnm est cocrcere iniproho.s juend, iii.si jn'ohos rfficias iliscipliiid." (It is 158 PenologicdJ and Preventive Principles. insufficient to restrain the wicked by punishment, unless you render them virtuous by corrective discipline.) This motto greatly impressed John Howard, when he visited Rome. It is important to notice this broad view, taken by the Roman Church ; for she was a pioneer of prison reform. Clement the Eleventh's prison became a model for a similar one at Milan. The long ranges of cells, and even the radiating arrangement of the wings and corridors, were planned by the Roman architect and the Pontiff. Long years later, they were imitated by Belgians at Ghent ; then by Jeremy Bentham at Millbank, and also by some Ameri- cans in the United States. Oftentimes the latter have been credited with the origination of this system. Archbishop Ullathorne quotes M. Corbeer, who was sent as a Com- missioner, from the French Government, to examine and report on Prisons, in 1889. He wrote : — "I feel it a duty to re-establish the truth. The correctional system is Christian. It is Catholic. It is no new system. It had its birth in the monasteries ; and a Pope gave it its baptismal name when it came into the world. America did not discover it. America did not perfect it. She borrowed it from Ghent ; and Ghent obtained it from Milan and Rome." It may, however, be here remarked that this positive statement by M. Corbeer, requires a certain degree of qualification. Archbishop Ullathorne was profound in his analysis of what is meant by a system being in accordance with, or contrary to, human nature. He remarks that many modern advocates of political and social reform, are admir- able in inventing expedients for regenerating human nature, if it were not that the nature to he regenerated is missed out of the calculation." (" Management of Criminals," p. 29.) That nature he held to be a very weak and corrupt one, and to be raised only through that which he describes as the "awful mystery of our Redemption, wrought through Prison Scparafion (Did ChiHalficatmi. 159 the innocent sutterings of the Son of God for the deHver- ance of man." Mrs. Elizabeth Fry. Whilst the Catholic Archbishop set forth a sound principle of penal treatment, as consisting especially in a judicious enforcement of separation from evil, the same fundamental feature of disciplinary reform also commended itself to the approval of that eminent Protestant lady, Mi*s. Elizabeth Fry. Her two daughters remark, in their Biography of her, that " Cotifinnnejtf irhich cxclxiflcd from the ■vicious, hut allowed of fre(itie)it intercourse wifh so/jer ai/d well eonducted persons, would hare been, in her view, jjerfect." This admirably condensed and comprehensively descriptive sentence exactly embodies, it may be remarked in passing, the method of prison discipline perseveringly advocated by the Howard Association of Great Britain. Thus a recent Annual Report of that body records, " The Com- mittee remain unshaken in their conviction that the fundamental principle of all prison efficiency consists in the utmost practicable amount of separation fiT)m evil companionship, with the provision of as nmn;/ yood injiuenres, both by official and non-official visitation, as possil)k'." The horrible extremes of isolation exemplified in Mrs. Fry's day, in certain American and English jails, where prohmged solitniy conhnement, in semi or total dai'kness, without reformatory influences, was carried out with brutal inhumanity, justly shocked her compassionate heart, and led her to protest persistently against such a gross per- version of the principle of separation. It is important to observe that the rudimentary condition of even Britisli penal legislation, at that period, together with the structural defects of the prisons themselves, greatly impeded the progress in the reform of criminal treatment which IMrs. Fry, and the influential group of philanthropists who co-operated witli her, so earnestly 160 Penological and Preventive Principles. strove to promote. Her own praiseworthy labours to reclaim prisoners, by means of the Holy Scriptures and religious exhortation, were often counteracted by the absence of the special assistance which judicious separation would have afforded. Her first efforts in Newgate were based upon an approximation to this principle. She induced the authorities to divide the prisoners into small groups of ten or twelve, under the oversight of monitors selected from their own number. This secured certain advantages and a measure of progress ; but, as was sub- sequently the case with Captain Maconochie's similar experiments with convict groups, so under these attempts at " classification," in Newgate, it was soon observed that, even the limited amount of evil association thus retained, was resulting in grave mischief, and contributing effectual checks both to the reformation and deterrence of the offenders. The sacred volume, which Mrs. Fry so highly honoured and valued, was afresh justified, even by the experience of these attempts at classification in groups, as to the permanent truth of its precept, " Evil communica- tions corrupt good manners." For many of the women who had thus been grouped even in small " classified " parties, became the cause of grave public scandals, on their removal from Newgate. Much more satisfactory would have been the results under those wiser conditions which Mrs. Fry desired to see in operation, but which, owing to the imperfect development of prison discipline in her day, she did not witness on any adequate scale. In some prisons, the function of Scriptural instruction, specially advocated by Mrs. Fry, was entrusted to very unsuitable officers. Thus at Millbank, at one period, the Bible was used by hypocritical and licentious warders, as a means of ostentatious imposition upon the authorities. A recent official writer on prisons appears to have regarded this as a proof of the failure of Scriptural instruction in jails ! But this a most unwarranted inference. Prison i^cparaiioii and C/anxi/icatioi/. IGl Mischievous Reactionary Influences. — Charles Dickens. In 1838 two of the most observant of English Prison Inspectors — Messrs. Crawford and Whitworth Russell — had issued a Report condemning the plan even of silent association in prisons, and decidedly recommending the cellular system. But subsequently the weight of public opinion was mischievously influenced, in a reactionary direction, by several writers, and especially by ignorant sneers at that system, on the part of that habitual cynic, Thomas Carlyle, and in still wider degree by the extensive publication of very fictitious statements by the more genial but easily impressible Charles Dickens, based on ideas acquired during a very brief " call " at a single American prison. The real circumstances of this most hasty and super- ficial visit were, at the time, carefully investigated by several competent authorities, whose observations were embodied in a work entitled " Prisons and Prisoners," by Mr. Joseph Adshead (London, 1845), which, however, had a very limited circulation and excited little attention in America, and, therefore, some renewed reference to the subject may even now be appropriate. Mr. Dickens visited the " Eastern Penitentiary," or State Prison, at Philadelphia, in 1843, and spent two hours inside it. Subsequently, at a dinner which was given to him in that city, he expressed the gratification which he had felt in that visit. But when, shortly afterwards, he published his " American Notes," it was found that, in his account of the prison, he had freely given the reins to his imagination. In the first place, he entirely overlooked facts, by his assertion that " The system here is rigid, strict, and hopeless solitary confinement." On the contrary, that prison has, from the outset, practically exemplified the important dis- M 162 Penological and Preventive Principles. tinction between complete " solitude," and separation from evil companionship only. Its inmates have always been care- fully guarded from " rigid solitude," and have been the objects of humane visitation on the part of a large body of members of the " Pennsylvania Prison Society " (founded in 1787), one of the best organisations of the kind in the world, and which still maintains its care over prisoners. Its Annual Report for 1894 stated that, during the past year, upwards of ten thousand visits were made, by its committees, to inmates of the State Prison. Long previous to Mr. Dickens' visit to America, there were, indeed, certain prisons in that country, whose inmates were confined in subterranean cells, in absolute solitude, without work, books, exercise, or visits. And, of course, insanity was produced, in various instances, by such barbarous treat- ment. The Philadelphia System was never thus solitary, or cruel ; nor is it so now. But Mr. Dickens conveyed the utterly misleading idea that it was such, and that it was causing insanity amongst prisoners. A recently issued interesting description of the establishment by its Governor says : " There is no ground for the charge that the Separate System produces insanity ; that idea was exploded long ago." In one of his novels, Mr. Dickens depicted prison chaplains as a most gullible set of men, easily imposed upon by cunning rogues. But no chaplain was more imposed upon than Dickens himself was, in the Philadelphia Prison, by an artful German, named Langenheimer, alias Morris, who, in his native land, had excited a rebellion in a prison, in which the association of the inmates was permitted. (When prisoners are kept separate, they are easily controlled, and cannot conspire for revolt.) After Langen- heimer's release in Germany, he emigrated to America ; and on the voyage he robbed a fellow-passenger of a consider- able sum of money, for which crime he was sent to the Philadelphia State Prison for four years. During that Prison Sr/jtnyi/ion and Clti.'^xifinifuni. 1^.^ period, Mr. Dickens' visit occurred, and the crafty rogue told the credulous novelist such an ingenious and piteous story that the visitor wrote in his " Notes " : " My heart bled for him, when the tears ran down his cheeks." But the unsensational fact remains that this man lived forty- two years longer (surviving Dickens himself by fourteen years). Shortly before his death, in 1884, Langenheimer, still cherishing a sense of the real kindness of his custodians at the State Prison, presented himself one day at the gate, and begged, as a special favour, that, being a homeless, lonely man, he might be again received there and permitted an asylum for the brief remainder of his life. This strange request was granted, and he died a xciUing inmate of the very prison which, especially throvigh his own misrepresen- tations to Mr. Dickens, the latter had so maligned, nearly half a century before. Dickens described three young women in adjacent cells, who, " in the silence and solitude of their lives, had grown to be quite beautiful." These " beauties " were a negress and two mulatto girls, three prostitutes of the city, committed to prison for a robbery. One of these also wept when the novelist entered into sympathizing conversation with her. But this coloured girl who so impressed him, afterwards said to another visitor (Professor Lieber, of Columbia College), " I feel very well here ; they treat me with much kindness. I have learned here to read and write and pray. Every Mondaj'^ some ladies come to teach us. I should certainly prefer living here, than to go back and live where I was last. Here everything is clean, and all are kind ; there, was dirt, and drinking, and headache." It is stated that, after their imprisonment, these three women led respectable lives. Another prisoner, described b}'' Dickens was " Old Sam," a convict undergoing twelve years' confinement (of which he had served eleven), for the atrocious crime of rape. He, too, greatly excited the novelist's pity, who exclaimed in M 2 164 Penological and Preventive Principles. indignation : " Eleven years of solitary confinement ! " But in some other countries, this man would have been hanged for the great crime of which he was guilty. Old Sam was soon afterwards discharged, in perfect health ; and, being a sailor, he at once started on a voyage to the Pacific Ocean. In the case of one prisoner, however, even Dickens seemed to appreciate the value of separation. This was an English thief, " a villainous fellow with a white face, who had as yet no relish for visitors, and who, but for the additional penalty, would have gladly stabbed me with his shoemaker's knife." So that, as his fellow-countryman made no attempt to excite pity, concocted no tearful story, and had " no relish for [gulling] visitors," Mr. Dickens at least tacitly recognised the necessity for separating him, as a dangerous criminal, from others. There was further an intelligent prisoner whom Dickens noticed (under a three years' sentence for robbery), and whom he passed by, with the remark that he was " a poet who wrote verses about ships and the ' maddening wine- cup.' " That man became a reformed character, as a result of his confinement, and, after his release, he wrote a pamphlet in defence of the Separate System of imprison- ment, in which he remarks : " Justice to a system of prison discipline, which has received the severe and unjust criticism of many intelligent persons, has induced the writer to lay before the public the results of its operation upon himself, as the best and most indisputable refutation of the condemnation it has received. He regards his con- finement in the State Penitentiary as the happiest event of his life. It has dissolved improper connections, remodelled his tastes, improved his mind, and, he trusts, made better his heart. He is neither morose, imbecile, dispirited, nor deranged ; and whatever reformation his imprisonment may have produced, he can attribute it to the separate seclusion froyn evil example and worse precept, which must necessarily follow the indiscriminate congregation of offenders in a place of punishment." Priaon Sf'/xt ration and ChisfiificdHoii. 165 This testimony is very important. For this reformed prisoner thus fully refutes the jail-fictions of the imaginative novelist. But their effect, both in Great Britain and the United States, on the popular mind, was very mischievous, as tending to diffuse most erroneous ideas of the nature and effects of cellular separation. Such widely spread reactionary views also influenced, in too considerable degree, the executive authorities, and produced injurious relaxations of the wisely deten-ent and reformatory discipline, which was previously becoming the basis of the prison system in Great Britain. The " Irish Prison System." The interesting experiments with the " MARK system " and with associated groups of prisoners, which had already been advocated, and to a certain extent put in practice, by Captain Maconochie and others, much impressed a Director-General of Irish Prisons, Sir Walter Crofton, a gentleman of great humanity, who for some years endea- voured to carry them out, in the convict establishments under his care. The prisoners, after spending the chief portion of their sentences in association, at Spike Island Prison, in Cork Harbour, were allowed, provided they had earned a sufficient number of good marks for industry and satisfactory behaviour, to be removed to two other estab- lishments, termed " Intermediate Prisons." One of these was the Convict Farm of Lusk, near Dublin, where the in- mates were employed in agriculture during the last portion of their restraint, and under conditions little resembling those of an ordinary jail. This " Irish system " did not, in its practical operation, materially difler from the English convict system, after making allowance for the exceptional facilities for emigrating the discharged convicts from Ire- land, and for the especial influences of certain persons of superior ability temporarily employed in the administration of the system : as, for example, the humane director, Sir 166 Pcnolofiical and Prcveidice Principles. Walter Crofton, and the earnest Agent for procuring employment for the discharged convicts, Mr. James Organ. Inasmuch, then, as it did not differ from other penal systems, in so far as it retained prolonged imprisonments and corrupting association, it failed to secure exemption from the universally accompanying evils of these arrange- ments. It was also conclusively shown that the great diminution of convicts which happened soon after the establishment of this " Irish " plan, was not at all peculiar to the prisons that were administered upon that system. For a remarkable and rapid diminution also took place, simultaneously, in the numbers of the inmates of the common or local jails in the counties and boroughs of Ireland, where that special system was not at all practised, and where, indeed, no change had taken place in the previous routine of administration. The combined effect of the passing away of the Irish Famine and the subsequent vast emigration to America, at once tended to empty the numerous jails where the Maconochie and Crofton system had never been practised, and also the four or five estab- lishments where it then existed. There was scarcely any virtual difference in the comparative results, either of the presence or absence, of that system, so far as the numbers of Irish prisoners were affected. Indeed, during the period in question, a similar diminution of the yir^ popu- lation of Ireland took place. The famine had caused a rush of many of the starving people into all the prisons, both convict and local. When it passed away, their inmates again rapidly decreased. And further, it is to be noted that after Sir Walter Crofton ceased to direct the Irish convict prisons, they became worse than those of Great Britain, rather thaii superior. Sir W. Crofton wrote to the Prison Congress at Rome, in 1885 : " I wish it to be known at the Congress that I have had nothing to do with the Irish prisons for many years, and that I am entirely opposed to the system pursued by the present Prison Separation ami Clussijication. 1C7 Directors. The evil results of that system are shown in the Report of the inquiry recently made by the Royal Commission." The " Irish " plan, at its best, then, was no exception to the failure of all nmde.s of coiigregafe imprisonment. Even the "intermediate" prison of the system, the open farm at Lusk, near Dublin, did not, in any very special way, prepare, for the ordinary conditions of free life, the very small number of convicts (from 30 to 50) there engaged in the cultivation of land and in quarrying. For although they were not surrounded by walls, and although they were occasionally sent into the village on errands, or to attend church, yet, for practical purposes, they were as completely shut in from the discipline and trials of ordinary life, as the inmates of other prisons. They were effectually watched and guarded by means of officers, police, and tele- graphs, and all of them being near the expiration of their detention, any known misbehaviour would lead to the for- feiture of their money earnings, and would also involve an extension of their punishment under more penal conditions. Beyond all of which, the men were better fed and cared for, than thousands of the free peasantry outside. Grave charges were also made before the Royal Commission, in 1879, even against the morals of the selected convicts of Lusk. At the end of 1887 the Government abandoned this distinctive relic of the once unduly praised " Irish " convict system. Partial British Homage to the Merit of Cellular Separation. The English Prison Acts of 1863 and 1878 did indeed maintain, as to the letter, a legal recognition of the supe- riority of separation in local jails. And in so far as this has been consistentl}' carried out, or at least approximated, which has been the case in many of these establishments, i. 188 certainty of mdhoritatke control, either inside, or outside, of some place of detention, and increasing in duration with each repetition of the offence. With the adoption of such a Progressive System, there would be felt, by the habitual misdemeanant, a consciousness that every fresh grasp of the Law would be certainly some- what heavier than the previous one. And such a feeling could hardly fail, ere long, to exercise a salutary deterrence. Hitherto there has been a prevalent sense amongst this class of offenders that the Law can be trifled with, with comparative impunity. But with a certainty of cumulation, this impression will disappear. And the very gradual character of the cumulation will give it a feature of moderation and merciful consideration, to which, neither the offender nor the public, can reasonably object. Any habitual misdemeanant remaining in one locality, would of course be recognisable, on being again brought before the court. And if he, or she, chose to flee to another part of the country, the use of the Bertillon System of Measurement, with or without other similar means of identification, would, in general, soon enable the authorities to recognise the fugitive. But even where the latter might for a time elude detection, yet if he resumed his offences he would soon feel himself under the same steadily tightening grasp of law. So that, in any case, there would be a prevalent power and efficacy in the adoption of such a system, especially as compared with the great evils inevitable, wherever and whenever, such system is absent. Considering the minor nature of the offences of this class, the detention might be of a comparatively mild character. Educational influences might be specially introduced, and certain alleviations permitted, which might not be appropriate in the treatment of persons guilty of serious crimes. 184 Penoloyiail and Fiririitive Printq)h's. II. — Gradual Cumulation for Habitual Criminals. Secondly, in regard to Criminals, as distinguished from Petty Offenders, or Misdemeanants, the same principle of progressive or gradual cumulation is equally needful and similarly applicable, though under severer conditions. This class may be generally divided into offenders guilty of crimes against /vro/;<'>'2'^ and those guilty of crimes agaii.st the person. The latter, in general, deserve much more severe treatment than the former, although too often they have been practically regarded as being less culpable. Tlie brutal violator of women, the still more brutal violator of children, or the perpetrator of atrocious cruelty upon man or beast, such enemies of society are incomparably worse than the petty thief, or even than the persistent stealer of property, provided the latter never adds personal violence or intimidation to his crime. To let off criminals guilty of personal violence, with light punishment, or brief detention, is in itself a serious crime against Society. It may especially be a cruel outrage upon the rights and the safety of every woman and child in the community, over whom, in particular, the law ought always to hold its a3gis of effectual protection. Tlie Coroner of a large city once remarked, in substance : " When I think of the many corpses of the victims of violence, which I have had to look upon, such as weak women with battered faces, blackened or blinded eyes, arms and legs twisted or broken by kicks and blows ; poor little children maimed and emaciated ; to say nothing of their violation and ruin of purity ; when I think on these terrible outrages, I feel indignation, whenever the law, or morbid public indifference, cruelly relaxes the rigour and certainty of just punishment against barbarous men who have wrought such awful misery upon lives and homes." In regard to both classes of Criminals (whether against the Person or against Property), it is evidently just and A Fiv(/ir-s.sirr Sz/sfe/n of Soi fences. 185 necessary that even the tirst sentences should be of a severer nature than those passed upon Misdemeanants ; and also that in case of serious injuries against public security being repeated, such a scale of cumulation should be adopted as will be adequate to secure the interests of the community, together with the reformation and deterrence of such offenders. At the same time, it would be unwise and mischievous to allow any merely aihitrar// classification of crime, hitherto laid down by tlie Law, to interfere with the adoption of the needful cumulation. For the object to be sought, namely, the repression of crime, will be hindered, if merely conwn- tional estimates of the comparative enormity of particular crimes, such as Burglary, Forgery, Horse-stealing, and .so forth, are permitted to interfere with the adoption of a scale of cumulation applicable to crime in general, and depending for its ultimate severity, or continuing operation, not so nmch on the nature of the particular crime com- mitted, as on the evidence of intractability and depravity afforded by the criminal's relapse into evil courses. There must necessarily be some exception to the application of cumulation for crime, as in the case of persons guilty of Murder, or Rape, two offences of extreme gravity. But the ordinary run of crimes, to which the Law hitherto has attached varying penalties, may with great advantage be subjected to a uniform scale of ciimulation, in proportion mainly to the repetition, rather than to the nature, of the offence. When one of the highest legal dignitaries in Great Britain introduced into Parliament a proposal for the Codification of the Law, after setting forth some of the anomalies and artificial distinctions which abound in exist- ing legislation, he said, '' I propose to make a clean siccep of all this rubbish." And in like manner, if a wise and eftective system of Cumulation of Sentences is to be introduced it may be necessary to i-ejx'al certain laws, in regard to 186 Peituhxjicfil (1)1(1 Prevent ire Principle!^. particular crimes, which, by their merely conventional character, may fairly be designated by that eminent Jurist's expression. Such impediments being cleared out of the way, in Great Britain and, where necessarj', in any other country, it would be practicable to deal, in a much better manner than hitherto wath Crimes, as distinct from Misdemeanours. But, at the same time, it is desirable to make only such changes in existing practice as may be necessary. British law has long recognised two years as the maximiun period for the infliction of separate imprisonment, as distin- guished from detention in association, in the Convict Establishments, or " Public Works," where those under sentence are, for the most part, engaged in occupation in the open air. It may therefore be desirable to adhere to this limitation. But, of course, many criminals especially those habitually or persistently such, require a longer discipline than two years. Hence the British convict system has retained this class under extended terms of from three to twenty years, or even for life. But it is becoming widely recognised that such very long sentences, especially with severity of treat- ment, are lacking both in mercy and in efficacy. The two years' maximum of imprisonment, in the sense of separate confinement, should by all means be retained for those criminals whose sentences may extend to that period of detention. But all the longer periods, beyond the two years, might, with great advantage, continue to be spent in establishments for agricultural or handicraft industry, more of the nature of an adult " Reformatory " than of a Prison, in the strict sense of the word. And, not only so, but for certain classes of criminals, undergoing long terms of detention. Conditional Liberation under some effectual supervision, might be advantageously adopted (as, indeed, it is at present, to some extent, both in England and else- where), under prudent limitations, and as a reward foi" A Pivi/j'fs.sirc Si/xtcin of tSeiitcitrcs. 187 good conduct in the previous stao-es of detention. In proportion as a criminal repeats his crime, he should have longer sentences of restraint, with more severe conditions of treatment and in special establishments. The element of classification might be introduced with advantage for such offenders, by means of appropriating particular penal institutions exclusively to those re-con- victed. So that a man thus re-convicted might find himself placed under a stricter regime tlian those who had only been convicted a first time. In all cases of bad behaviour, either whilst under deten- tion, or whilst conditionally liberated on probation or bail, the criminal should be again subjected, for awhile, to a further period of strictly cellular separation. In England, and, perhaps, in certain other countries, some of the existing penal establishments might, with certain modifications of discipline and arrangement, continue to be available for the worst and most intractable criminals, whilst for those guilty of brutal cruelty, rape, or murder, special prisons might be set apart. These would not require to be very large or costly, for the class needing them would be comparatively few in number. But the discipline and treatment, for the long periods, should be of a milder character than that generally enforced hitherto. A main object of such prolonged detention should not be the punishment of the criminal, but rather his removal from the connaunity, and the protection of aocictij from a repetition of serious outrages upon it. Crimes of such a character are too grave to allow the professed, or even the real, reformation of the ofiender to warrant any early opportunity of exposure to temptation which might result in a recurrence of former atrocity on his part. Hence the danger and unwisdom, for this class, of the crude systems of " Indeterminate " Sentences, (so- called) which, in certain American States, permit criminals guilty of the uord outrages an oi^portunity of returning to 188 TcnobMiiviO and Prevciifirr Prii/('>j)/rs. tlie coniuiunity in periods as short as eighteen months or two years, in many instances. For even where any prolonged infliction of punishment, as such, may rightfully be deemed unnecessary, yet the safety and well-being of the community may still require a lengthy seclusion of the former criminal, solely for the sake of that community. Hence, while it may be just to remove from such criminals the specially punitory features of an earlier stage of treat- ment, it may be still essential, for the sake of others, that they should remain for a long time secluded from circum- stances and temptations which would again render them dangerous. For most truly does the Bible declare that even " One sinner destroyeth much good." (Eccles. ix. 18). It is important always to bear in mind that habitual offenders, whether criminals or misdemeanants, are, tc/ici/ at lihertij, a cliief source of contamination to persons not hitherto guilty of transgressions of the law. Hence it has been repeatedly found that the detention of small groups of such habitual offenders, in prisons or reformatories, has been followed by a remarkable diminution of vice and crime in the localities from which such pests have been removed for any considerable period. Hence, too, the mischief of very short detentions, under so-called " Inde- terminate " Sentences, as at Elmira (N.Y.), for example. Greater difficulty attends the apportionment of sentences to habitual Criminals, as compared with habitual Mis- demeanants ; and it is obvious that, in regard to the former, a considerable liberty of discretion must be permitted to the Judge or Magistrate, before whom the facts connected with the criminal are laid. But here also, certain considerations may materially guide to a decision and to the adoption of some measure at least of progressive cumulation. In the ffrst place. Larcenies (or thefts more or less small in amount) con- stitute the greater portion, or more than half, of the cases comino: before the British Courts. And of the remaininjx A Pi'oyrtKstcf S//sf(iii of Si'iifonccK. 189 cases, another considerable portion consists of Assaults, \ which, in general, arise more from sudden oi' drmdcen irritation than from deliberate malice. As to Thefts, the amount stolen is usually a matter of accident, and should not in general be made (as it too often has been made hitherto) a chief factor in determining the duration of the sentence. If a thief robs a man of his purse, the latter may contain only half-a-crown, or a cheque for a large sum of money. Again, another thief may break into a house, only expecting to find a small booty, and may, to his sur[)]'ise, come upon nuich more valuable property than he had anticipated : and the temptation to steal the whole of this may be too great to be resisted. Hence the amount of theft is largely a matter of accident, and should not lie regarded as the measure of the criminality concerned. An incomparably more important guide to the right measure of punishment, is the adaptability of sentences to produce the most salutary effect upon the criminal class as a whole. And these are most influenced by a knowledge that a certain progressive increase of punish- ment will follow repeated offences. Such a progression cannot be established whilst arbitrary and irregulai- sentences, sometimes very severe and sometimes very lax, continue to be given. The efficacy, for most criminals, of a moderate fi)-st sentence, is proved by the fact that at least half of the criminals now brought before English Courts of Justice, and awarded from three to twelve months' impris(jnnient, are never brought up again, and do not enter tlu; class of habitual criminals. Hence the adoption of such moderate inflictions as three or six months, as normal first sentences for crime, is fully justified by experience, and may witli advantage be generally accepted as a wise pi'ecedent, irrespective (with few exceptions) of the amount stolen. 100 PoioJogical atid PrcirHfkc Pj-incip/rs. But as criminals who are not checked by a first sentence, are also unlikely to be deterred by a second, of similar duration, therefore, in view of the seriousness of their crimes, whether of j^lunder or violence, reasonably pro- longed increments of detention should be enforced. It may be fairly assumed that a second theft or assault (within at least five years of a first offence of the kind) should be punished by one year's detention, and a second similar offence by two years. Two years would exhaust (in Great Britain) the hitherto existing legal applicability of separate imprisonment. The writer, after long and careful inquiry into the operation of separate imprisonment, in Great Britain, Belgium. Holland, and other countries, is of opinion that British legislation has taken a wise step in assuming two years as the maximum limit of separate imprison- ment. He believes that the prolonged periods of ten, seven, five, or even four years, of cellular separation, adopted in certain Continental prisons, are not safe for the generality of prisoners. They may appear to be so, in many instances, while irreparable injury may never- theless have been done to body and mind. On the other hand, however, in 1875, a Commission appointed by the French Government to consider the respective merits of separate and associated imprisonment, arrived, after the most careful examination of facts, at a decided conclusion to recommend that all prisoners detained for periods not exceeding one year, should be subjected to cellular separation. Even that limit, which may be assumed as an extremely mild one, in view of the general French dislike of separation, would include the great majority of prisoners in every country. But, on the whole, a ma.rimion of two years' separation, may perhaps be assumed, as having the best claim to con- stitute a wise limit in this respect. There is one form of industiy wliieli may be A P I o(j rcssive Si/stciii of Sffi')i^in(jle one. Criminals should not be regarded as belonging to the habit net J class, until the}' have undergone several, at least, of the first stages of such a moderate but certain cumu- lation of penalty. In most cases the patience and majesty of the law might fairly afford them three or four oppor- tunities of this kind. This course would greatly restrict the number of persons to be further and finally dealt with. But after these trials of the operation of imprisonments, such persistent offenders need, even when at liberty, a special vigilance and oversight on the part of the authorities. Differing Opinions respecting Supervision. But there exists on this point considerable difference of view amongst judges, magistrates, and prison-officers, who may, on either side, be regarded as competent to form some opinion. The writer once received, almost simultaneously, two letters, one from a most experienced magistrate, and the other from a veteran prison governor, conveying opposite views on this question of supervision, at least as now practised in Great Britain. And often many similar divergencies of opinion in regard to it have been noticed. Yet, on careful examination and comparison of these views, it will be found that they do not differ so much as at first sight would appear to be the case. They generally admit the value and even necessity of some kind of supervision, for some classes of discharged prisoners, but they differ as to its nature and extent. Some of them decidedly object to its exercise by the Police, whilst approving it when entrusted to the opera- tion of Discharged Prisoners' Aid Societies, or to private " patrons " of judicious character. Others, again, who still recognise the value of supervision, whilst exercised by the police, denounce as needlessly cruel and even mischievous, 208 Penological and Preimtive Principloa. the protracted terms, such as five or seven years of surveil- lance to which many criminals are sentenced under exist- ing law. In this matter, as in most other things, the best procedure will probably be found to consist in a medium course, or partial combination of the different views ex- pressed by thoughtful and experienced observers. Some of the possible disadvantages of Police Supervision"^ have already been obviated, in England at least, by con- fining its delicate and confidential functions, as much as possible, to the chief or superior authorities amongst the force, and by strictly prohibiting the subordinate or less intelligent members of that body from taking any part in the relations between discharged convicts and their employers. The co-operation of private benevolence — - especially in connection with Discharged Prisoners' Aid Societies, and " Prison Gate Missions," has also been very advantageously united with the action of the police. The question of the period of time over which the super- vision of a discharged habitual criminal should extend, is also one on which differences of opinion exist, and which deserves more attention than it has hitherto received. It is probable that, at least so far as the police are concerned, a duration of one or two years' surveillance would, in most cases, be better than the more protracted terms of five or seven years ; though, of course, special pro- longations would still be needful in various exceptional instances. There should not be a too general or indiscriminate resort to police supervision. It should be strictly confined to habitual as separate from incidental offenders, two classes requiring very different treatment. * Police Supervision. — A sentence of "Supervision" in Great Britain requires its subject to report himself, in person, to the poHce once a montli ; and also to notify promptly to them every change of residence. Faihnc of cniiiiiHaiicc with these and scuuc otlier cnnditidus involves re-iniiiris(inineiit. Ilahitaal Ojf'cj/der-s and Sajj/'rci^sioii. 209 Tlieie has been, on both sides of the Atlantic, a fre- quent expression of opinion, by prison officers and penolo- gists, that Habitual Offenders, or Reeidivistes, of the violent class, should, after two or three perpetrations of such crime, be imprisoned for life and never again be suffered to prey upon society. One of the ablest of American penologists, Professor Franx'IS Wayland, of Yale College, in an essay entitled " The Incorrigihlc," strongly urged this course. He referred to the numerous horrible atrocities committed by criminals who had previously undergone various periods, longer or shorter, of congregate imprison- ment, and who, also, in many instances, had had such terms of detention shortened by remissions for presumed " reformation," or " good behaviour," on the mere g^round of that obedience to prison regulations in which the most practised villains are apt to be the most exemplary, so long as it is their interest to obtain, thereby, any relaxation of their penalty or discipline. So many murders, rapes, arsons and burglaries have been perpetrated in America by these " reformed " criminals, that Professor Wayland suggests, in the interests of the community, that the only safe course is, on a third conviction, to shut them up for life in a penal institution. Further, he deprecates, for this class, any reliance upon police supervision, as being insufficient. In the United States this surveillance is certainly very imperfectly organ- ised, and perhaps, under tlieir circumstances, almost un- attainable there, to any sufficiently effective extent. Professor Wayland says, " If it be argued that police supervision, after release, would avert the danger, I answer that it is far more easy, wise, and safe, to exercise it within prison walls. The authorities of a hospital might, with just as much show of reason, release a small-pox patient in the most contagious period of that dreaded disease, and then provide that while the dangerous symptoms continued he should remain under sui)ervision. I believe that thei'o P 210 Penological and Prevcntice Principles. is but one cure for this great and growing evil, and tha this is to be found in the imprisonment for life of the criminal once pronounced incorrigible." He adds, " We shall do no practical injustice to the criminal, if we provide that a third conviction for such felony should establish his status as incorrigible." There is some weight in this objection to permitting dangerous habitual criminals, of this particular class, to be at liberty, even under supervision ; and on the whole, for such ruffians and such morally inveterate desperadoes as some of them are, it would be the better and safer plan to have recourse to prolonged detention in institutions specially adapted for the purpose, as on islands, for example, or in places where escape would be very difficult, but where, at the same time, considerable space would be available for agriculture and other industry. To a large extent this system of long detention for vio- lent criminals has already been carried out, in England, in the form of Penal Servitude. For such persons it is almost impossible to devise a course of treatment free from grave difficulties and disadvantages. The British plan, although requiring modifications, is one of the best yet adopted for this particular class. The writer ventures to difi*er from those authorities, such as Professor Wayland and others, who advocate a sentence of absolute life imprisonment for all desperate felons who have been convicted a third time. For inflictions of deten- tion, really for life, tend in practice to become a slow form of the death penalty, and hence may be more cruel, in the aggregate, than the immediate operation of the gallows, or the guillotine. The writer believes that even for violent criminals, it will be, on the whole, more advantageous to all parties concerned, that gradually progressive but definite sentences of confinement should be passed, rather than of perpetual imprisonment. But the gradation of sentences should be certain, instead of d Hdhifual Offenders, and Supervision. 211 uncertain and irregular, as hitherto. No sentence sliould ever be repeated a second time. Every successive infliction should mark a fixed advance upon the preceding one. Hence sentences on desperadoes should proceed on some such scale of increase as a moderate increment of two years in succession : having regard more to the number of repetitions of brutal crime, than to the character of each act. A ruffian, knowing that the certainty of such a moderate scale of prolonged confinements awaited him, would be far more deterred than heretofore. A series of half a dozen of such moderately definite sentences would ultimately involve, to most, if not all of the worst characters, a lifetime of secure detention. After two or three terms of such protracted discipline they would, in general, have become incapacitated for further mischief ; meanwhile they would have had always before them a ray of hope, useful alike for their own moral development and for facilitating the duties and permanent safety of the officers in charge. No country in the world appears as yet to have practically carried out a moderate, certain, regular gradation, such as is here advocated, for this particular class. Special Advantages of Supervision. In regard to a moderate, but not excessively prolonged, supervision of discharged habitual offenders, Mr. Barwick Baker remarked — " For myself I have no blind confidence in prison-effected reformation, and I should like to keep a watch for a long time on those who have gone wrong. I believe that such a watch is a more wholesome kind of punishment, as well as being far cheaper than an imprisjn- ment. I am aware that some tender-hearted gentlemen will talk of the hardship of suspecting a man who has indeed stolen, but has since ' expiated his offence,' as it was once absurdly called, by an imprisonment. I have had much to do with criminals, au'l I kn(t\v wfll tliat there !• 2 212 Penoilociiral and Preventive Principles. is scarcely any time when a man requires a friendly watch so much as when he is just turned out of prison. Of all means o^ punishment, or prevention, I consider surveillance is the most valuable. As a punishment it is so slight, that it may be continued for a long period. If twelve months of surveillance be equally disliked with one month of im- prisonment, the one will keep a man out of mischief for one month, the other for twelve. The jail more or less unfits a man for hard labour ; work under license especially accustoms him to it. No judge can tell how much each prisoner will suffer in the time allotted to him. One man will suffer acutely from that which another will hardly feel. But surveillance has this peculiar quality, that it adapts itself to the requirements of all." It must, however, be always provided that the surveil- lance shall be friendly, as well as strict ; that it shall be vigilance for the interests of the former offender, and by no means exclusively for his relapses or failures. It must be a means to hold him ap. The more often a man has been in prison, the more likely he is to return thither. This is abundantly proved by experience. Statistics show that the first brief term of imprisonment, in cellular jails, is the most successful in general; inasmuch as three-fourths of the persons who have undergone a first incarceration, separated from others, avoid prisons ever after ; but nearly one-half of the number who have been twice imprisoned, at least in association, have to be further re-committed. Nearly three-fourths of those who have been thrice in custody, return for a fourth time, or oftener. Hence the moi'e habitual that any crime has become to any persons, the greater the necessity for maintaining some special supervision over them. Licensing Out to Employers. In many of the Reformatories for Juvenile Offenders, both in England and elsewhere, the practice has been Habitual Ojf'ciulcni and i^apercixion. 218 adopted, with much advantage, of licensing out these young persons to private employers, under certain needful conditions as to supervision, payment and discipline. The State is thus relieved of a portion of their maintenance, whilst they are placed under a favourable but gradual pre- paration for a full restoration to the privileges of liberty. A similar principle might perhaps be beneficially adopted with certain classes of adult petty offenders, who, from the power of their evil habits, require a prolonged surveillanc(i when outside the walls of prisons. In some American States, it is the practice to allow many of the criminals to exchange their imprisonment for the service of private employers, chiefly on the ground of immediate economy to the taxpayer. But, with a few exceptions, there does not appear to have been, as yet, a sufficient preparation or security for such a step, there. Systematic Organization of Supervision. In some countries, as for example in Great Britain, the adoption of a more regular and certain system of dealing with Habitual diminals would necessarily involve a preli- minary modification of the existing arrangements, or legisla- tion, in regard to the special department of Police Super- vision. But in au}' case, and in every land, the successful application of duly Graded Sentences and of Conditional Liberation, under Supervision, must largely depend upon the degree of organization of central and local action, for the adequate registration of convictions and for the recognition of habitual ofienders, and also for a due cognizance of their location and movements. A special staff of officers is needful for these objects. Considerable progress has been made, in London in parti- cular, in this form of departmental organization, by tiie authorities charged with the supervision and registration of habitual criminals. There is always need for a more prompt and complete interchange of information between the 214 Penoloyica] and Preventive Princip/es. Metropolitan and Provincial officers, in regard to the con- stantly changing movements of the members of the class in question. The greater co-operation of the local Magistrates and Patronage Societies may be very advantageously secured, by the police and prison authorities, for this object. It has been suggested that in each district, the magistrates should appoint a small committee to look over periodically, with the chief of police, the list of persons under supervision in their neighbourhood. In case of any of those under conditional liberty, removing to another district, this change of residence should be notified to the authorities iu the Metropolis, and by the latter promptly sent down to the locality into which such new visitors have just ai-rived. By .such a complete interchange of observatioDS and registers, on the part of both local and central authorities, every change of residence by conditionally liberated offenders should be ascertained, recorded, and circulated, throughout the whole period of the vigilance imposed upon them. In so far as any system of supervision lacks this provision, it is defective in an important element. The practice of placing some of the conditionally liberated criminals under the systematic supervision of private patrons, has been adopted with considerable success at Neufchatel, in Switzerland. A former intelligent governor of the prison in that place, Dr. GuiLLAUME, introduced this plan, together with other carefully designed efFoi ts to reform offenders. When released provisionally, they are required to present themselves every week before a patron, who also receives regular reports of their behaviour from their employers, and transmits these to the authorities, as a guide in determining the period of each offender's absolute liberation. Class Prisons. Not only sliould Sentences be graded, but also, wliere the I Habitual Offenders and Supervi>iio}i. 215 best of all classification, that of" individualization in the cell, is not yet secured, some advantage raay accompany the adoption of distinct prisons and discipline for each class of re-convictions. The convicts committed for the shorter terms should not be placed in the same establish- ment, or under the same reejhne, as those sentenced for the longer periods. In particular, the class of ruffians, or criminals guilty of cruelty, might with advantage be generally placed in special prisons, with a more penal treatment than other offenders. For cruelty is the worst of crimes. It was one of the former defects of the British Convict Prisons, that they intermingled all classes of criminals in the same establishments. Latterly some improvement has been introduced in this direction. Many of the re-committed convicts have been kept permanently apart from those undergoing a first sentence. With re-con- victed desperadoes, under a certain and regularly cumu- lative system of sentences, a material part of the efficacy of their treatment, both as to deterrence and to security, would consist in their orderly distribution into prisons specially adapted for each stage of re-committal. This would, at least in some degree, facilitate the dis- criminative management of such peculiarly difficult sub- jects. Throughout the terms of custody they should have op- portunities, as at present in the convict prisons of various nations, of securing for themselves successive ameliorations of their treatment by " good marks." The cell or tlie n\ hip might still furnisli the ultimate resorts for special chastise- ment. As far as practicable, personal industry should be rendered (as outsiilc, under the ordinary conditions of life) a basis of self support. For the skill acquired under long detentions would, in many cases, enable such prisoners to exercise very profitable industries of various kinds. They should, of course, as often hitherto, be permitted the 216 PciiG/oyical and Prevcnfirc Pj'iiicij/h>s. stimulus of some present and prospective share of the results or value of their labour. There is good reason to conclude that, on the adoption of the gradually cumulative system advocated by the writer, the first stages would generally suffice for their object, and that comparatively a small residuum of " intractables " or " incori'igibles" would remain to be dealt with, under the admittedly difficult problems of the final and most pro- tracted terms Indeed this result has been partially at- tained already in Great Britain, in so far as the plan here described has been approximated to. But throughout, for every description of habitual of- fenders, whether of the less dangerous or the desperado class, the main element of repression must always consist in the certainty of a moderate gradation of restraint. Such certainty is the imlispensable and primary condition of success. Characteristics of the Chronic Thief Class. And there is another matter to be borne in mind, both on grounds of justice and expediency. Tiiis consists in the general character and antecedents of Habitual Oifenders, as a class peculiarly pervaded by hereditaiy moral weak- ness. They are, by nature as well as by habit, very irresolute, and easily tempted. To very many of them, society owes a special debt, of sustaining their attempts at amendment, and efficiently encouraging their good resolutions, by means of a kindly supervision and control. Tliis just claim has been too often overlooked. Mr. Percy Neame, a Chief Superintendent of discharged convicts in London, informed the writer that his experience of this class had especiall}' shown him their inherent laziness and indifference to moral elevation. He estimated the number of the " residuum " of habitual offenders and vicious loafers, in London alone, at scores of thou- sands. They cluster chiefl}' in " nests" or certain low Ilalntnal Off'cndorH and SiqxTviisioii. 217 streets, and " rookeries " known to the police. They can easily supply all their wants by theft, at which they are ade])ts. One of them remarked to Mr. Neame, " I can rob ninety-nine pockets out of every hundred safely," that is without detection. If labour is offered them, they will not undertake it for any ordinary wages. They are content with their condition ; they raise no " bitter ciy," and only laugh at the philanthropists and legislators who desire to elevate or reclaim them. They prefer to remain as they are ;,they can exist on a few pence per day, and often do so. iThe product of one easy theft will maintain them for weeks, or months, in their fascinating idleness. A little lisb, bread, or porridge is sufficient for many of them. They ai'e not very drunken, as a class, but incorrigibly lazy. Work is the one thing they most abhor ; they are often too indolent even to wash themselves ; they prefer to be filthy ; their very skin in many instances, aliuost ceases to peiform its functions. Nearly all the discharge from some of their bodies is by the bowels; and if comjjulsorily washed, such people become sick. They neither know nor care for God. During their spells of imprisonment they ai-e stupidly indifferent to the chaplains, and doze through their ser- mons ; and they are often allowed to do so, for peace sake. Many of them come out of their lairs at night, and prowl aVjout like wild beasts. Tiiey watch for opportuni- ties of theft ; they crowd to conflagrations, or riots. Most of them ai'e very ignorant : Itut the more dangerous of them are those who have been educated. Education tends, in general, to prevent crime ; yet it renders a minority of this class more potent for mischief". If seven out of every ten young persons are prevented, by instruction, from be- coming ciiminals, the other three may thereby be rendered more shrewdly mischievous. Mr. Neame stated that some of the worst thieves are those who have previously had a training in Board Schools, and that the most depraved girls 218 Penological and Preventive Principles. and women are amongst the more educated ones. He and other official observers would confine popular charitable and " Board School " education strictly to the " three R's," or Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, wnth the Bible ; and nothing more. But the Bible is just the essential element which is too often excluded from popular or State education. •' Adult Reformatories." In 1SG8 Mr. Bar wick Baker suggested a system of " Adult Reformatories," with special reference to their suitability for habitual offenders of the less violent descrip- tion, and for inveterate drunkards. He drew attention to the marked success which had already attended the system of partially indeterminate sentences and progressive libera- tion, in the case of the lads committed to ordinary juvenile Reformatories. Their inmates were usually sentenced to five years' detention on a second conviction. They first underwent a short imprisonment of about a month or less, by way of a preliminary penal discipline. This was followed by two or three years of farm labour, under strict oversight; after which they were placed out in situations, for the remainder of their terms of sentence, and permitted to earn their own living, but under certain conditions of supervision and liability to be returned to the reformatory. It was at first regarded as a chimerical or Utopian idea to propose to retain disorderly lads at labour in open fields, and in buildings not surrounded by any high walls. Nevertheless the experiment was carried out with remark- able success. The attempts to escape from such institu- tions were very few in number. Mr. Baker therefore urged that the same principle should be tried with certain classes of older oftenders, who should be sentenced, espe- ciall}^ in the case of habitual thieves, to a term of years of " liability to imprisonment," to include a preliminary period in an " Adult Reformatory." i Habitual Offenders and Supervision. 219 But tlieir chief punishment and discipline would consist in prolonged vigilance and supervision ajfer their liberation, and whilst maintaining themselves by their own labour, and not being supported at the cost of the honest taxpayers. They might also be required to pay, out of their earnings, a small sum of from sixpence to a shilling per week, or about the amount of their" beer money," during all their term of liability to imprisonment, as a salutary reminder and proof of theii' indebtedness to the community, and as some return to the State for the expense of their supervision. The offender being thus steadily kept in check, but not inside a prison, would be an abiding visible witness for the disadvantage of evil courses. But when confined in jail, be is out of sight, and in a great degree out of mind, so far as his comrades are concerned. To make prisons self- supporting is desirable, but most difficult, and with few exceptions almost impossible. But to render the culprit self-supporting, whilst still under the restraint of an authoritative vigilance, is thoroughly practicable, and would tend to the best interests, both of himself and the public. To a large extent, the increasingly popular system of conditional Liberation (botli by the "Ticket of Leave" plan for convicts and b}^ the holding of punishment in abeyance, through the application of the " First Otienders Act ") supplies, without cost to the taxpayers, the place of Arlult Reformatories. But for certain offenders and especially for habitual drunkards, a prolonged detention in such institutions seems indispensable. The Identification of Habitual Criminals. Of late years, much aid to the identification of criminals has been derived from the atloption of M. Adoi.phe Bertillon's "anthropometric " system of measurement of certain bone dimensions / Prisoners and by V'rce 3Ien. 229 morality, which everywhere must be promoted by the ex- tensive multiplication of small holdings of land, amongst a people. This will ever contribute a mighty barrier against which the waves of anarchy and revolution will beat in vain. It is a material element for the diminution of crjme and misery, as well as for the general prosperity of a country. / Chapter X. PERPETUAL OR LIFE IMPRLSONMENT. Failure of Life Detention. Experience proves that all long imprisonments tend, from various causes, to defeat their own object, whether for deterrence or reformation. The penal effect is necessarily counteracted by the unavoidable extension of sach com- parative indulgences as are needed to maintain life and health under such conditions of duration. These relaxa- tions help to diminish the fear of punishment amongst the criminally-disposed portion of the outside community ; and may render the lot of the prisoner more favourable than the gravity of his offence should permit. With the lapse of years, also, the power of habit operates with an effect injurious to the original purposes of detention. But in the case of imprisonment for life, there are added to these objectionable features, further evils arising from the absence of hope and the pressure of despondency. The criminal who is sentenced for a very long, but definite, term of incarceration, even if for fifteen or twenty years, has at least a powerfully alleviating influence in the pros- pect afforded by the hope of ultimate restoration to the friendships and pleasures of free life. Whereas perpetual imprisonment is accompanied by the darkness of despair, at least as to this mortal existence. And as to matters of Perpetual or Life Inipiisoninent. 281 still higher importance, and the preparation for a happy eternity, it can hardly be seriously argued b}^ any one really conversant with the unavoidable conditions of life- imprisonment, that the perpetual association of its subjects with other criminals, under a hopeless prolongation of the worst influences, renders spiritual conversion probable. Rather must it be a miracle, under such circumstances. Inconsiderate Sanction of Life-Imprisonment. Almost the only possible justification for the horrors of life imprisonment is that it has been regarded as constitut- ing a substitute for Capital Punishment, which many persons consider to be a still greater evil. For more than a quarter of a centur}^, the writer has devoted special attention to this question of Capital Punishment, and has been brought into much personal intercourse and correspondence with others interested in the subject, throughout the world. He has endeavoured to examine, impartially and broadly, all that can fairly be alleged for and against this infliction ; not merely from the point of view of tlie reformation of murderers, but mainly in regard to the securit}?^ of the community at large. And, on the whole, it appears that the great and inevitable diffi- culties peculiar to this penalty have rendered its infliction so universally irregular and unreliable, that a more certain but secondary punishment would, in general, be a safer one for the protection of society. (This may, perliaps, be considered apart from such very exceptional cases as those of wholesale muixlerers, like the Chicago anarcliists of 1886, or other immeasurably atrocious enemies of the human race and of all law and government.) Meanwhile several impressions connected with this question have been forcing themselves upon the writer's mind, which he deems it his duty briefly to express. In the first place, he has increasingly noticed, from observation and inrpiiry, that very few, comparatively, of 232 Penological and Prerentice Principles. the persons who advocate the abolition of capital punish- ment, have been able, or have taken the trouble, to make themselves acquainted with the extreme practical difficulties attendant upon the provision of an effectual substitute for that penalty. Very few of them have ever devoted their personal attention to the actual features of prolonged imprisonment, even under the most merciful forms of its existing administration. Some of the advo- cates of that abolition have been remarkably ignorant of matters connected with prisons or criminal treatment. It is to be desired that those, as a class, who oppose capital punishment, could have devoted much more serious and practical consideration to the substitutes, proposed or imagined, for that infliction, than has hitherto been given. Especially should the real nature and evils of life-imprison- ment be more studied and weighed. The more this matter has been investigated by the writer, the more has he become convinced that, in at least a large proportion of instances, absolute life-imprisonment is not so much a substitute for capital punishment, as a slower and more disadvantageous method of inflicting it. Cellular imprisonment for life is certainly a most cruel mode of killing, by protracted torture. But this is seldom resorted to, in modern times, even in the countries where the great merits of short periods of separation for ordinary offenders are partially recognized. Life-prisoners are, almost everywhere, subjected to the milder system of association, and with the ordinary conditions of labour and general discipline undergone by other convicts. Unneces- sary severity, towards this class, does not appear to be a feature of the prison administration of most of the countries of Christendom, apart from the duration of the sentence. In the chief penal establishments of various nations there may be observed a certain number of murderers, who, after spending twenty, or even more years, continuously in prison, still retain a good degree of health, both of body and mind. Perpetual or Life Iniprisoiuiieiif. 2;>8 The writer once noticed in the prison of Ag'gerhuus, near Christiania, in Norway, a murderer who had already spent thirty-seven years in prison, and who then appeared little the worse in consequence. In another prison, also in Christiania, he observed, at the same date, a murderess, who had undergone twenty-four years of her life-sentence. She was working with apparent contentment. Three years later, the writer referred to her, in a letter to the Governor of Christiania prison, who in his reply remarked, " The female prisoner, now 76 years of age, is in excellent health, because she is of a quiet nature. But, on the contrary, one of her two comrades and helpers in crime, died very soon in prison ; whilst the other became lunatic, and was par- doned, after the lapse of many years." At Ghent, in Belgium, and at Leeuwarden, in Holland, murderers im- prisoned for twenty and even thirty years, have come under the author's observation, and have proved to him the fact that it is by no means impracticable to carry out perpetual imprisonment, in some instances, without destroying the bodies and minds of its subjects. Practical Testimonies of Cruelty of Life-Detention. But with many others the results are most disastrous to mind and body ; unintentionally cruel, in fact. It would perhaps be impossil)le to find any prisons conducted with more mildness and mercy than those of Sweden, under the Oscars. Yet, a former Chief Director of these establish- ments, M. Almquist, in a general report in 1885, prepared for the Prison Congress at Rome, made the following observations respecting his intercourse with the class of convicts whose original sentences of death had been com- muted to life-imprisonment, who had already suffered upwards of twenty years' incarceration, and whose appli- cations for liberation had repeatedly been refused : — " I have found them in a condition of despair, and they asked me, ' Why did you spare us from tlie infliction of death, 234 Penological and Prerentice Principles. only to keep us here in association with the vilest criminals ? You have buried us alive. The King's clem- ency to us is no real mercy. On the contrary, it is the severest aggravation of our punishment, to compel us to drag out our lives, without a ray of the hope of mercy.' " A still more remarkable official statement, and one which deserves the most serious consideration by all advocates of life-imprisonment, was afforded by the report of the Directors of the State Prison of Wisconsin, contained in a British Parliamentary paper, on " Homicidal Crime " (C 2849, 1881). The State of Wisconsin, it may be noted, had abolished capital punishment since 1853. And this is the description of the effects of the substitute there adopted, as given by the Directors : After protesting against what they term " the indescribable horror and agony incident to im- prisonment for life" they add, " The condition of most of our life-prisoners is deplorable in the last degree. Not a few of them are hopelessly insane ; but insanity, even, brings them no surcease of sorrow. However wild their delusions may be on other subjects, they never fail to ap- preciate the fact that they are prisoners. Others, not yet classed as insane, as year by year goes by, give only too conclusive evidence that reason is becoming unsettled. The terribleness of a life-sentence must he seen, to he appreciated ; seen, too, not for a day, or a week, but for a term of years, Quite a number of young men have been committed to this prison in recent years, under sentence for life. Past ex- perience leads us to expect that some of them will become insane in less than ten years ; and all of them, who live, in less than twenty. Many of them will, doubtless, live much longer than twenty years, strong and vigorous in body, perhaps, but complete wrecks in mind. May it, therefore, not be worthy of legislative consideration, whether life- sentences should not be abolished, and long hut definite terms substituted ; and thus leave some faint glimmer of hope for even tlie greatest criminals ? " (page 63.) Perpetual or Life liiqiriHoniufiii. 285 This statement must, however, be regarded as a some- what specially and exceptionally unfavourable picture of life-imprisonment. And further, there may, perhaps, have been some unusual features in the Wisconsin discipline, though it is stated to be " mild " in its character ; and the dietary appears to have been a liberal one. British Testimonies. In 1878, the then Chief Director of Britisli Prisons — Sir E. F. Du Cane — said before the Royal Commission on the Penal Servitude Acts, " I myself do not think much of life sentences at all. I would rather have a long jfixed term. I think all the effect on the public outside would be gained by a shorter period." Before the same Commission, a similar condemnation of life sentences was uttered by the then Chief Director of Irish Convict Prisons, Captain Barlow, who said, " My own individual feeling is this : I would be reluctant to keep men in prison for their lives ; but if they are to be kept all their life, the latter part of the sentence ought to be something like the treatment in a Luna- tic Asylum — comparative freedom and relaxation of rale." It may here be remarked that even the condition of those murderers who have been consigned to some Lunatic Asylums, calls for the introduction of further improvements in those establishments. For example, one of the better-managed amongst Criminal Lunatic Asylums is that of DuNDRUM, near Dublin. But the Irish Government Commissioners have reported in a recent " Blue-book," on this institution, that, during the year, they had been " ap- prehensive of dangerous results from an accumulation of prisoners, fully three-fifths of whom had been charged with murder, some of them being quite mne, and many, though peculiar in their conduct and language, still intelligent, meditating schemes of escape ; whilst others, whose offences were less flagrant, coalesced with them — all yearning after freedom, and impressed with tlie belief that, do as they 236 Penoloyical and Prerentice Principles. might, being inmates of a lunatic asylum, they would be irresponsible for their acts." This is a very suggestive official statement, from several points of view. It is at least indisputable that persons thus officially declared to be " quite sane " should no longer be detained in a Criminal Lunatic Asylum. As to criminal lunatics, however, better oversight than that reported from Dundrum is secured in some other similar institutions ; but at a heavy cost for the neces- sary super-abundance of precautionary arrangements. For example, the official retui-ns of Broadmoor, in Berk- shire (for English Criminal Lunatics), show that one warder is employed for every six inmates, whilst at the Scotch Prison for Insane Criminals, at Perth, the propor- tion is still greater, or nearly one to five ! At Broadmoor the inmates cost about £70 each. Gravity of the Alternative. The writer may here refer to the case of a j^oung man who belonged to a respectable class of society, but who, under circumstances of special excitement and provoca- tion, had committed a murder, for which he was sentenced to death. His father came to London, seeking to procure a commutation of the sentence. In the course of his efforts in this direction he called upon the writer to ask for information on certain points. Amongst other matters he was anxious to learn something of the ordinary condi- tions of convict life. When he was enabled to picture to himself something of the nature of the circumstances in which his unfortunate son would still be placed, if spared from the gallows — merely to spend the remainder of his life in association with the vilest and most atro- cious criminals — the poor father bent down his head in prolonged silence, feeling perplexity as to the grave dilemma presented, and being dubious whether, after all, the infliction of death, before his son's mind had further Perpetual or Life Imprisoninent. 237 undergone years of pollution and despair, might not be the less cruel alternative. The nature of such an alternative has been too generally overlooked by many philanthropists interested in abolishing Capital Punishment, but comparatively indifferent or igno- rant in regard to its substitutes. The writer once remarked to a Member of the English Parliament (since deceased), who took an active part in the public advocacy of this abolition, tliat in his opinion the reform of convict prison discipline was a needful preparation for the discontinuance of the death penalty. But that gentleman took a precisely opposite view, and said, " No, I regard the abolition of Capital Punishment as the basis of criminal discipline reform." This conclusion, which is opposed to that of the most experienced observers, has been, it may be feared, a too frequent one. And its tendency has been to delay the attainment and practicability of the very object desired — the ultimate safe disuse of the death penalty. Sir Walter Crofton, after long experience with Irish convicts, stated, before the Capital Punishment Royal Commission of 1865, that, in his view, the due consideration of the question of abolishing Capital Punishment " entirely depends upon our having, in our secondary punishments, an effective substitute provided." He was prepared to approve the abolition of the death penalty, if special prisons and a special discipline could be appropriated to the murderers. And with such arrangements he believed life sentences could be properly carried into effect. Otlier authorities, however, were not so assured on this point. Italian Life Imprisonment. The country which has probably had the largest expe- rience of life sentences, as to mere number, is Italy, where during recent years, many thousand prisoners, under this category, have been undergoing their detention, generally 238 Penological and Precodlve Principles. in association witli other convicts. The Naples corre- spondent of the London Daily New^ has described, in that journal, a visit which he had made to the Ponzo Islands, near that city, where, at St. Stephano, many hundred life- sentenced prisoners, chiefly murderers, were located. One of the inmates had committed twenty-one murders, besides robberies and other crimes ! Other similar desperadoes were also in the company. The visitor remarked as follows : — " The chatter, the din of the chains, the confused hum of 800 voices, the forbidding countenances, were inde- scribable. It was a very pandemonium. The director told me that though he would have guards at the door, if I wished to enter a cell, it was not quite safe to trust myself amongst the convicts. Sentences of punishment for life are carried out to the letter in Italy ; therefore the criminal has no hope of improvement, nor fear of rendering his position more terrible ; and murders have repeatedly occurred within the prison." The Italians have manifested an extreme regard for the lives of atrocious assassins, but sometimes, also, as extreme a disregard for those of respectable citizens. In their hatred for capital punishment, they have substituted for it a worse penalty, by such life-imprisonment as that described above. Injury to the Soul. Too many of the opponents of death-punishment seem to forget that it does not merely consist in the immediate operation of the guillotine, the bullet, or the gallows. This may be mercy itself, compared with the prolonged injury inflicted upon the spiritual and mental powers, extended over many years, by means of the hopeless misery of the solitary cell, on the one hand, or by the corruptions of filthy and blaspheming convict gangs, on the other. A process thus continued, may ultimately be as real an execu- tion of death, but by slow operation, as the more visible Perpetual or Life Iiiipri^ioniiioif. 239 and instantaneous deprivation of life. Nor, on the impor- tant plea of a better preparation for eternity, can much, if anything at all, be claimed in favour of permanent vile association with the refuse of mankind, as compared with a prompt ushering into the presence of God, who is tiie perfection of both mercy and justice, in His judgment of the past, present, and future actualities and possibilities of the lives of all. This has often been little regarded by some of the best-intentioned persons. Of life-imprisonment, it may conclusively be pronounced, very bad is even the best form of it. Years of inquiry and observation have increasingly pressed this conviction upon the writer ; and he earnestly hopes that both the opponents and the advocates of Capital Punishment will devote a more comprehensive attention than has hitherto been given, towards ascertaining the most effectual means of diminishing the causes of the crime of murder, and of devising less objectionable methods of dealing with its perpetrators, than either the universally uncertain penalty of deatli at the hands of the executioner, or the horrible mode of punishment wliich has for the most part, and in most countries, been substituted, by the infliction of imprisonment for life. Precedents for Twenty Years' Maximum. The British Government has been compelled materially to relax, not only the certainty of execution in regard to capital sentences, but also the full enforcement of the life imprisonment nominally substituted. At least this has been the case in a considerable degree. It has been the practice of the authorities to bring under special official revision the case of each life-prisoner, on the expiration of a certain number of years of detention. Formerly this period was twelve years, but it lias since been extended to twent}'. After undergoing tliis amount of detention, many murd'.'rers have been set at liberty, under certain conditions, 240 Penological and Preventice Principles. or precautions. And it does not appear that any serious inconvenience has resulted. Thus the utter hopelessness of life-imprisonment has been partially obviated. In Portugal, also, the term of twenty years has long been adopted as the legal maximum of imprisonment, as distinguished from banishment to Africa. That country has by disuse abolished capital punishment since 1843, and by statute since 1867 ; and it has been stated by various competent observers, that murders have not subsequently increased ; although this has been questioned by others. Certainly the period of twenty years, thus legally adopted for most of the worst criminals in Portugal, and practically favoured in Great Britain, has much to recommend it, as a suitable maximum of detention, even for criminals guilty of murder, rape, or treason. It may almost be said to be the only reasonable alternative to capital punishment, if it be admitted that life-imprisonment is merely a method of slow execution. Its adoption by definite sentence, and with a provi- sion, in general, against any commutation, would extend at least the hope of ultimate freedom to almost every subject of it, the exceptions being very few. It would furnish a basis for an easier administration of prison dis- cipline and authority, than with absolute perpetuity of durance. Although it may be here remarked, in passing, that so far as the enforcement of obedience is concerned, life-prisoners are, as a class, found to be as amenable to it as others, if not more so. Nor has general experience con- firmed the fears of those who object to the abolition of capital punishment on the ground of its endangering the lives of the ofiicers administering life-imprisonment. This danger exists in the concentrated mass of murderous villainy in certain Italian prisons. But in the better managed penal establishments of Great Britain, Holland, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Germany, and other countries, the murder of an officer by a life-sentenced pi-isoner is a circumstance Perpetual or Life Iniprixoiinwnf. 241 of the very rarest occurrence. It is, in fact, remarkable by- its habitual absence. Special inflictions, or deprivations, are always influential with any class of prisoners, and, indeed, more so, in some respects, with those detained for long terms than with others. But a fixed limit of twenty years would greatly aid the discipline of its subjects. And what is of more importance, so far as the public are concerned, it would, in most cases, avail to practically incapacitate, or effectually deter the persons who pass through it, from any repetition of their crime. The mere natural operation of age, decay, and disease, would tend towards this result ; and not only so, but it would, in a considerable proportion of cases, render the limit of twent}^ years a virtual sentence in perpetuity, by the intervention of death. But meanwhile the elements of hope and other desirable influences would be largely present, notwithstanding. Under the wisest and best system of criminal legislation, even twenty years' detention would be only necessary for a small minority of ofl'enders, such as nnirderers and a few others. If carried out under duly adapted and reasonable conditions, the character of the dietary and other allow- ances to the criminals of this class might usefully be made dependent, at least in some degree, Upon their own industry and exertions. In many instances, if not in all, the convict might be required, or enabled, to contribute materially towards the cost of his detention, and occasionally, perhaps, be allowed to earn something for his family, or for his own future sustenance, in the event of liis surviving the twenty years. The establishments to be specially appropriated to this class, should, by means of an extensive area, admit of exer- cise, gardening, and agricultural or other labour, to a degree which " prisons," in the ordinary sense, have not generally rendered available hitherto. Of course, various modifica- tions of tlic pi'inci))lc of a tixcd iiiaxiiinnn limit tnight be u 242 Penological and Prerentice Princi^ilcs. practicable. Some might suggest twenty-five years as the utmost period, allowing five of these to be " worked- off," or remitted, in reward for " good marks." But, on the whole, twenty is probably a better maximum than any other number of years, and one less open to objections, either as to undue prolongation, or too short limitation. The re-infliction of brief terms of cellular solitude, during the twenty years, would be a constantly available and very powerful adjunct, as a reserve power, for the punishment of misbehaviour and the maintenance of dis- cipline. In the case of murderers, at least, their liberation, after this detention of twenty years, might be accom- panied by certain conditions as to future residence and supervision. It may here be remarked, however, that murderers, as a class, are not the most degraded or most hopeless of criminals. In many instances, their one terrible crime has been an entirely exceptional manifestation of passion or rage, called forth by some tremendous temptation. Neither the above, nor any other plan whatever, would be free from some practical difficulties ; but, especially in view of the precedent of British experience with more than 40 per cent, of the convicted murderers, it is very desirable to adopt, more systematically and completely, some sucli arrano-ement, instead of the greater evils hitherto attendant both, on life-imprisonment and on the inevitably irregular penalty of death. Society would then be more effectually protected from murder and from similar crimes, because their punishment would be much more certain and general than heretofore. The claims of the criminal, to a just mercy, would also be met more largely and more humanely ; whilst the grasp of the law would be strengthened, instead of relaxed. CnAPTER XI. THE PrXLSHMKXT OF DEATH. In addition to the remarks in the preceding chapter, on Capital Punishment, as specially connected- with its ordinary substitute, life-imprisonment, a few general observations on this subject may be of interest to the reader. A primary object to be kept in view, in considering the question of Capital Punishment, is the nature of its ultimate and general tendency, wliether to increase or decrease homicidal crime. And in connection witli this, constant regard must be had to that fundamental principle of Penology, that certainty is a more efficacious element in punishment than extreme severity. As I'egards the presumptively deterrent character of the Death Penalty there is great diversity of opinion amongst practical persons. Indeed, absolutely opposite conclusions have repeatedly been arrived at by men of similar autliority and experience. For e xample, the eminent jurist, Sir J. FiTZJ AMES Stephen, declared beTore the Royal Commission of 1865 : — " I think that Capital Punishment deters people from crime more than any other punishment, and that it deters them in two ways. I think that the effect of it is appi'eciable — and in some cases considerable — in a direct and ordinary manner; that is to say, when a man is going to connnit a crime, he thinks, • If I do this. I shall be p. '2 244 Fciioloiiical and Prereiitice Principles. hanged for it.' But besides that, there is a secondary effect of Capital Punishment. People are aware that murder is punishable b}' an ignominious expulsion from the world. They therefore get to consider murder as a very dreadful thing." Another experienced Judge, Sir George Denman, told the same Royal Commission, " My own feeling is that the law of Capital Punishment, as it exists, does not operate at all ; and that if you take the various classes of murderers, there is more, on the whole, done by Capital Punishment to induce murders, than there is to prevent them." Now, unquestionably, there is some ground for each of these diverse opinions. But the w^riter ventures to think that they are reconcilable both with each other, and with a final conclusion as to the weakness of Capital Punishment, when the following consideration, urged in his own evidence before the same Commission, is taken into account. He then said : — " I believe that the punishment of death is the most deterrent punishment possible to a certain class of minds, jyrorided it be inflicted with absolute certainty ; but I submit that that is merely an imaginary and theoretical condition, and that Capital Punishment never is, never has been, and, we may reasonably conclude, never will be, inflicted with absolute certainty. " But (he added) on the other hand, I would also submit that there is another class of crime which altogether precludes the idea of any efficacious deterrence at all. I allude to the large proportion of homicidal crime which is committed under the influence of over-mastering passion, drunkenness, rage, or jealousy ; there the argument of deterrence, which I admit in certain other cases, cannot apply at all." Special Obstacles to its Infliction. If the punishment of death could be inflicted with as nuich certainty as pi-olonged imprisonment, then it might The Piini-s/i//tPnt of Death. 245 be more deterrent than the latter. But, as a matter of simple fact and experience, the world over, a number of circumstances, special to this particular penalfj/, conspire to render its infliction uncertain in a most extraordinary degree. Even in Great Britain, where, perhaps, the law is carried out with less uncertainty than elsewhere, only about 25 per cent, of convictions result from committals for trial in capital cases : and then, further, nearly half of these con- victions are finally followed by commutations. In other countries, generally, a still smaller proportion of executions result. The official statistics of the various nations prove this clearly and strikingly. Whence comes this peculiar obstacle contributed by this one penalty to its own enforcement ? From several sources. Partly because it is a fatal and irrecersible punishment. Hence the highest degree of certainty in evidence is reasonably demanded by juroi'.s"and by public opinion, in murder cases, where, at the same time, there is usually less certainty of evidence procurable than with any other crime. For murders are generally committed in secret, and the only real witness, the victim, is destroyed in most instances- So that where the most direct testimony is needful, only indirect or circumstantial evidence is, in general, obtainable as to the simple matter of fact. Execution of Innocent Persons. In spite of tlie utmost care, it is known tliat even the strongest circumstantial evidence has sometimes led to the conviction and death of absolutely innocent persons. It may be admitted that in " the old hanging days," and when execution followed sentence, after a very short interval, there were greater dangers than in the present day, of executing the innocent. But, notwithstanding the anxiety on the part of modern judges and juries to avoid any mistake, j^et, from time to time, fatal miscarriages of justice occur. Tin- following are a few cases, from English 24b' Penological and Preventive Principles. experience only, during the last half of the Nineteenth Century, when judges and juries have been scrupulously careful, to avoid mistakes. In 1865, one Polizzioni was sentenced to death in London. By dint of great exertions, on the part of his friends, he was proved to be innocent, and received a free pardon. — In 18G5, another Italian, Giardinieri, was sentenced to death, at Swansea. By similar efforts, he was also just saved in time, and pardoned as innocent. — In 1867, J. Wiggins was hanged in London, solemnly exclaiming, when dying, " I am innocent, innocent, innocent." The woman he was said to have killed, had, the day before her death, intimated her intention of killing herself. And the coroner's jury, after examining twenty-six witnesses, had declined to inculpate Wiggins. The final evidence against him at his trial was most imperfect, and there is reason to believe that another person was the real murderer. — In 1873, two men (Hayes and Slane) were hanged at Durham, for a murder committed in a scuffle in a dark passage at Spennymore. Many persons in that county believed one of them, at least, to be innocent. Perhaps both were. A respectable lawyer, of Durham, wrote to the Howard Association : " Hayes is really innocent, and has been mis- taken for another man who is now at large. Slane, un- fortunately, was in the passage at the time the assault was committed. I have seen the place where the deceased was assaulted : and it is impossible for the boy (the chief witness) to have seen what he swore he did." Speaking in Parliament, in 1869, the HoME Secretary said, that within half a year, out of eleven cases of capital sentences (each following very careful trials by jur}?^) five sentences had to be set aside by him. Of two he stated, — " It is beyond all question that Sweet was an innocent man ; it is equally certain that Bisgrove was insane." In the three other cases it became evident that the persons concludcii to have been murdered had died from accident i TJie PunkJuncnt of Death. 247 or other causes. The Home Secretary was silent on one case : that of one of the remaining six who were executed — Priscilla Biggadyke, of Lincoln — who died protesting her innocence to the last, and some years later it was proved that she had been unjustly sacrificed. This poor woman was charged with poisoning her husband with arsenic, and the circumstantial evidence was strong' ao-ainst her. She protested her innocence in Court, but was not believed. On the morning of her execution, she exclaimed: "You are not going to hang me, are you? God knows I am innocent." But the hangman did his ghastly Avork and his victim's remains were interred in the murderers' burial ground, in the open space in the great round tower of Lin- coln Castle. Some years afterwards, a man iji the village where Mrs. Biggadyke had lived, became ill, and on being informed that recovery was hopeless, he manifested great anxiety, and said : " I cannot die until I make a full con- fession of my guilt. It was I who poisoned poor Biggadyke. His wife, who was hanged for it, knew nothing of it. I went into the house, while she was mixing a cake, and put arsenic into the bowl when .she was not looking." In the Home Secretary's speech just quoted, he added another important statement: ''The judge is constantly obliged to pass a sentence of death when it is quite certain that the .sentence will not, cannot, and oaght not to be exe- ciUeciy In other words, the English judges are constantly obliged to pass sentence upon the English law itself — law which should ever be honoured and upheld. . As showing the truth of this, it may be mentioned that at the Oxford Assizes in 1870, Baron Martin, in sentencing to death a woman for the murder of her child, three years old (not infanticide), said — " The killing of your child is, undouhtedhj, murder; and the sentence is death for such crimes." He added, ''Bat, ax, far an lies in ///// poaer that sentence irill not ttc carried oat ! " 248 Fenoloylral and Prevenfire Priiicij)/e.s. Homicide and Insanity. Again, even where the fact of murder may be clear enough, the deadly issue of the penalty often raises special pleas as to just responsibility, in connection with homicidal insanity. For it is an unquestionable matter of scientific demonstration that insanity and homicidal tendencies are peculiarly and fiequently associated. Dr. Willi AM Guy, F.R.S. (Vice-President of the Statistical Society), published a comprehensive series of observations extending over thirty years, and proving his conclusion that, " Insanity plays a conspicuous part in the terrible drama of homicide." He showed that whereas the proportion of insane persons was less than two to every thousand of the whole population of England and Wales, the ratio of insane to sane crimi- nals in general was 57 per 1,000, but that amongst the particular class of criminals committed for murder, the proportion found insane was 145 per 1,000 (or 14^ per cent.). Juries who would willingly consign such unfortunate persons to prolonged confinement in a lunatic asylum, or even in a prison, naturally shrink from finding a verdict y which would send them to a death on the scaftbld, with its shame and horror. In such instances again, the capital penalty often seriously defeats its own object. A Stiuking Illustration. And, in general, evidence is reasonably deemed suiiicient to warrant a verdict resulting in imprisonment, when the same may not be felt to be adequate for a fatal and irre- versible decision. In the event of subsequently discovered error, as to the former decision, some compensation can be made to the innocent, but not so in the latter case. Some years ago, five men were arraigned before an English jury for a very atrocious murder. To the public astonishment and indignation, they were acquitted. One of the jury, on being privately remonstrated with, replied in substancr. The riinishiiieiif of Death. 249 " We were almost certain of the guilt of the accused, but not quite. The law did not permit us to return a verdict of manslaughter, involving imprisonment. That we would have given. But we felt that nothing short of absolute certainty, which was unattainable under the circumstances of the case, would justify us in consigning five men to the irrevocable destiny of death. We therefore, had no alter- native, but to acquit them." A similar result has occurred in many cases. Thus the capital penalty tends to promote the escape of the guilty, and so to encourage murder. In other words, the superior deterrence which, it may be admitted, attaches in the abstract, to the death penalty, is practically counteracted, or nullified, by its unavoidable and special uncertainty of enforcement. That is to say, it ha;^ the (penologically) fatal defect of being very ireak in action ; whereas the crime of murder should have the most vigor- ously certain repression. ^ The " Anthropologists " and " Mad Doctors." Of late years, a certain school of thinkers, chiefly Italians, under the leadership of M. LoMBROSO, have started some theories respecting the responsibility or irre- sponsibility of many dangerous criminals and murderers, which have very properly been objected to by more practi- cal observers — and in particular by an able Italian, Professor Lucchini. In England, a small group, popu- larly termed the " mad doctors," have propounded somewhat similar views. Whilst, doubtless, these gentlemen have been warranted by the facts of tlie hereditary tendencies, the functions, and the enviroiniient of many criminals, in claiming for such circumstances a large amount of just consideration, yet they liave, on the other hand, too often ignored the absolute and essential right of the community to be effectually protected from the criminal, irlicther insane or not. Even the inmates of lunatic asvlums know well the dis- 250 P('iioluiily -S, (ji- one-tenth. 252 Peiio/ogirril and Preceiitivp Priiiripha. were executed ; that in Norway, 4 out of every 5 con- demned murderers escaped execution ; that in Denmark, out of 94 sentences for murder, during many years, only one had been executed ; that in Bavaria, 249 trials for murder only resulted in 7 executions ; and that in Germany, gene- rally, the proportion of executions had been similarly very small. These figures relate only to murder, and not to other crimes, for wliich the infliction of the capital penalty is still more unusual. For example, the same " Return " showed that in Austria, out of a total of 806 capital sen- tences in the decade, only 16 were executed. The " Judicial Statistics " for England and Wales, for twelve of the latest years of the nineteenth century (1881- 1892), show that during that period there were 2,105 verdicts of " Wilful Murder " returned by Coroners' Juries which were followed by 775 trials, resulting in 322 con- victions and 181 executions. So that only a quarter of those put on trial for wilful murder were hanged, and out of those sentenced to death nearly half escaped that penalty. The chances of escape for female murderers are still more extreme. For out of the 44 women con- victed of murder, in the above twelve years, only 7 were hanged. Thus 5 out of every 6 female murderers escaped the gallows. In the United States, in one year of the last decade of the century, 1891, there were 9,800 murders, which were followed by only 132 legal executions and 190 " illegal lynchings." So that, even reckoning the latter as executions, 29 out of every 30 nuirderern in that country, escaped the capital penalty; although it Is enacted as the punishment for murder in nearly every one of the States. If this condition of things does not come under Mr. Mill's supposition, "When it is impossible to inflict a punish- ment " — what worse eventuality is to be looked for in that direction ? This world-wide inqiossibility of carrying capital punish- The Pnimhment of Beaih. 258 ment into effect, with even a moderate degree of cer- tainty, constitutes a principal reason for objecting to it. Such a general and intrinsic defect is fatal to its claim to efficiency. It may therefore be compared to a woman without virtue, or a soldier without courage. Notoriety. The special notoriety attendant on Executions and Capital Trials has a great attraction for many criminals, whose morbid vanity is excessive. But no such mischievous interest attaches to imprisonment. In the autunni of 1889, innnense popular excitement was aroused by the death- sentences passed on a woman at Liverpool, and on a youth at Glasgow. Scores of thousands of persons signed peti- tions for commutations of those two sentences. When they were commuted, the excitement almost immediately disap- peared. No other penalty, but that of death, produces such pernicious popular interest in murderers, or such interference with the enforcement of law. But this is iii('rit((hle, whilst that particular penalty is retained. Experience of an Observer. An habitual prison visitor remarks, as to the presumed superior deterrence of this punishment, in a book published by Messrs. Blackwood (Edinburgh, 188!)), entitled " Scenes from a Silent World : " — " We desire to state, in the strongest words we can use, that this argument in favour of the death penalt}' is absolutely and radically false. We do not make this assertion without warrant ; our prac- tical experience has been very extensive. Crimes of violence arc for the most part connnitted in the blind heat of passicm, by persons who never give a thought to the penal consequences of the deeds to which they are dri\en by the frenzy of the moment. Apart, however, from this, there remains the fact, which we cannot assert too empha- tically, that death is not the punishment which lawless men 254 rcnoJogicdl und Pvevontiro Fvinciplc^. dread the most. Such men often fiercely desire death. They seek it ; they look forward to it as the cure for all mortal ills — the sure and painless refuge from the agonj^ of life." Suicides. ^ In confirmation of the latter statement, it is noteworthy that the statistics of Suicide show that the number of persons who kill themselves are many times more than those who kill others. It is stated that for every person who murders ^ another, there are seven who kill themselves. An Unwise French " Wit." A French " wit " has exclaimed " Abolish Capital Punish- ment ! By all means ; but let Messieurs the assassins commence ? " This is often quoted as a smart saying. But experience shows it to be bereft of practical wisdom. More atrocious murders are committed in those countries which are still waiting for " Messieurs the assassins to commence," than elsewhere. For example, the Tropmann nufold murder at Paris, in 1870, and the sercnfold murder, soon after, at Uxbridge, in England ; also the multitudes of murders in Corsica, Spain, and the Southern United States. Devils do not cast out devils, however long they may be waited for. Only fools will wait for such a result. Evils, whether moral, social, or legal, can only be overcoine by (jood influences. Convictions Facilitated by a Secondary Penalty. It is important to observe that in the countries which have adopted prolonged imprisonment, under reasonable conditions, as the punishment for nnirder, that crime has not increased in frequency, whereas the convictions of its perpetrators have materially increased. In Holland no execution has taken place since 18fi0; in Belgium none since 1863; in Finland none since 1824: in It.vly none TJic P/(jiis///i/fi/f of DcdtJi. 255 since 1876 ; in Portugal none since 1843. Several American States have also abolished the death penalty, and one or two of them have also restored it again. But the general prison system in America is not favourable to the repression of murder, whether with or without the death penalty. By far the chief proportion of American murders take place in States which have always retained the punishment of death. Italy, however, has not adopted other measures needful to diminish murder. And she has retained, in general, a most pernicious association of criminals in prison. Indeed many murders have been committed i)iHide Italian jails. Switzer- land abolished Capital Punishment, and in 1879 accorded permission to the Cantons to reimpose it. But scarcely any executions, if indeed any at all, have taken place in that country since the nominal restoration of the penalt}'. Professor Francis Wayland, of Connecticut (where the death penalty continues), stated recently that " in twenty years of experience in Massachusetts, out of 178 trials for murder of the first degree, 118 were acquitted, 2G were pronounced guilty of murder of the second degree (non-capital), and only 29 were pronounced guilty of the capital offence. Thus the juries in more than two- thirds of the trials brought in no conviction ; and nearly half of the verdicts rendered were foi* a less offence than that charged. " In Connecticut (with the death penalty), during the ^ thirty years ending 1880, 97 persons were tried for murder in the first degree. Of these 13 were convicted of murder in the first degree, whilst 42 of these were convicted of nun'der in the second degree. • " In 1852 the State of Rhode Island abolished the death penalty, substituting imprisonment for life. Turning to the records of the County of Providence, we find that during the thirty years next succeeding the date of the abolition of Capital Punishment, out of 27 trials for 256 Toiologual and Prerciitice Principles. murder in the first degree, there were 17 convictions, or considerably more than 50 per cent." General N. M. Curtis, U.S.A., remarks hereupon: "The large number of acquittals in the trials for murder in the first degree, in States where the punishment is death, is unhappily no evidence that those arraigned were innocent and unjustly charged, but rather that their escape was almost wholly due to the aversion of juries to the infliction of the death penalty." The Bible and Capital Punishment. The Bible is often appealed to, in this question ; and it may fairly be quoted on either side. The Old Testament unquestionably permitted Capital Punishment for murder and for other crimes. But there were no suitable prisons, as a substitute, in those days. The New Testament did not expressly condemn the death penalty : yet neither did it expressly condemn Slavery, or Polygamy. But its spirit is opposed to these. The general Scriptural argument on this subject may be narrowed to this simple point : Is it right to put men to death, unless experience proves that it is absolutely necessary to do so ? Then the solution must depend upon the verdict of experience and history. God spared the life of the first murderer, though punishing him effectually. The Redeemer declared that He came " not to destroy men's lives, but to mve them," both for time and eternity. The Testimony of Experience. The Right Hon. Joseph Henley, M.P., said in the House of Commons, in 1869 : — " I do not think that there is any man wlio, in the early part of his life, had stronger opinions iipon this subject than I liad. These feelings were created very much b}^ the opinions of jvidges and others ; but I have since watched the matter anxiou.sly and carefully, and I cannot resist the looic of facts. Wlien I look at tlie whole The Piinis/t/noit of Death. 257 class of crimes from which the punishment of death has been removed, and am unable to find any increase in this class of crimes over murder, for which the punishment has .been retained, I cannot bring myself to believe that capital punishment has that deterrent effect that some persons believe it has. The opinions of the judges and of the police are entitled to the greatest weight ; hut they do not weigh with me agai)iHt facts. You have now had before you the facts of more than thirty years ; and I do not think that any one who looks carefully into those facts can maintain that the crimes from which the penalty of death has been removed have thereby increased." Eael Russell ox Capital Punishment. John Earl Russell, Prime Minister of Great Britain, recorded the following as his own conclusion on this question : — " For my own part, I do not doubt, for a moment, either the right of a community to inflict the punishment of death, or the expediency of exercising that right in certain states of society. But when I turn from that abstract right and that abstract expediency to our own state of society — when I consider how difficult it is for any judge to separate the case which requires inflexible justice, from that which admits the force of mitigating circum- stances — how invidious the task of the Secretary of State in dispensing the mercy of the Crown — how critical the comments made by the public — how soon the object of general horror becomes the theme of pity — how narrov/ and how limited the examples given by this condign and awful punishment — how brutal the scene of execution — I come to the conclusion that nothing would be lost to justice, nothing lost in the preservation of innocent life, if the punishment of death were altogether abolished. " In that case, a sentence of a long term of separate confinement, followed by another term of hard labour and hard fare, would cease to be considered as an extension s 258 Penological and Preventive Principles. of mercy. If the sentence of the judge were to that effect, there would scarcely ever be a petition for remission of punishment, in cases of murder, sent to the Home Office. The guilty, unpitied, would have time and opportunity to turn repentant to the Throne of Mercy." The Weight of Evidence. Whilst much may be fairly urged in support of, as well as against, the Capital Penalty, there appears to be a decided superiority of practical advantage in favour of its abolition. Yet it is a very serious matter either to retain or to abolish. Capital Punishment. In the event of its abolition, the most careful measures are indispensable to secure an effectual substitute, combining a due regard for public security, on the one hand, with avoidance of cruelty to the criminal, on the other. Prevention More Efficacious than Punishment. It needs to be remembered that punishment, of ichatevcr kind, is merely one out of many elements, in the suppres- sion of murder, as of other crimes. The countries where murders are comparatively few, are those where the two great influences of Prevention and Punishment are each rendered efficacious. Of these the former is very much the more powerful. Prevention is chiefly secured by the promotion of Religion, Education, Temperance, and the prohibition of the use of Weapons hy private citizens. Even in England, an appreciable proportion of the murders and homicides perpetrated, were shown by a Parliamentary paper (issued in 1893) to have been the acts of persons carrying pistols. The districts where there are most murders are those where private citizens habitually carry weapons ; or where drunkenness specially prevails ; where punishment, of whatever nature, is comparatively uncertain ; or where ecclesiastical absolution is easily obtainable. Such The Punishment of Death. 259 countries are Corsica,* Spain, Italy, the Levant, and the Southern States of America. Capital Punishment is retained equally in Massachusetts and in Texas ; but the difference in the amount of homicide in the two States is immense, owing to the free use, in the latter, of the pistol and bowie knife. There are several hundred " lynchings " annually in the United States ; and nearly all of these occur in districts where the death penalty is retained. Preventive means are far more efficacious, everywhere, than those of a merely punitory character. '' Corsica. — The experience of Corsica is very instructive. Owing to the liereditary practice of tlie Vendetta in tliat ishmd, and the ahiiost universal canying and use of arms, there are more murders committed there than in any other part of Europe. In the live years ending 1850, there were 431 murders and assassinations in Corsica. Then a law was passed proliibiting the carrying of arms by private persons. What resulted? In the next five years there were only 146 murders and assassinations ; truly a large total, but a great diminution from the previous state of affairs. This indicates that it is rather prevention that avails, than an ineffectual, because generally impracticable, fatal penalty. s 2 Chapter XII. PRISON LABOUR. Again Regard Maixly the Test of Final Results. The subject of penal labour should be mainly considered in reference to the chief end contemplated by criminal systems, and also in connection with the purposes of different prisons, and of successive stages of treatment. Tln'ough a neglect of this necessary discrimination, serious mistakes and grave injuries, both as to prisoners and communities, have frequently resulted. And the descrip- tion of labour which may be eminently suited to minor offenders, or to the discipline of specially reformatory institutions, may be mischievous, if adopted for those violent and outrageous criminals for whom a deterrent or sternly repressive treatment is, at least for a time, needful. It often occurs, that through the pursuit of delusive ideas of " economy," in regard to prison labour, great waste and loss are incurred. It has been repeatedly forgotten, in practice, that the most truly economical form of criminal treatment is that which eventually reduces the number of offenders to a minimum. It is this final result, this ultimate proportion of- crime, which constitutes at once the test, and the real guide, as to the best selection of criminal labour, and, indeed, as to all other matters bearing upon penal discipline and prevention. Prison Labour. 261 In some countries, notably France, Italy, and the United States, where this final test has been largely overlooked, and where the merely immediate profit of prison labour has been unduly regarded, there has been a far larger concurrent increase of general crime than in other nations, such as Great Britain, where the influence of the deterrent element has also been taken into view, as a material part of the real question of economy. An official " Report of the New York State Prisons," in 188G, declared : " The percentage of criminal population in the United States is excessive, in comparison with some other countries. It very much exceeds that of England and Wales. In the United States there are more than three times as many convicts, in proportion, as in the former country." Yet no community has been so apparently successful as New York and some other American States, in regard to the amount of immediate pi'ofit obtained from prison labour. If a nation, by congregate labour in its prisons, gains, say £50,000 profit, but, at- the same time, through the increased criminality occasioned by corrupting association in those jails, has to pay millions more of money in consequence, the alleged " profit " on the prison labour is utterly fictitious. Or, at best, it is an illustration of what is ''penny in'sc and pound foolish." On the other hand, a naticm which makes the ultimate diminution of crime the main object of its prison discipline, and therefore adopts the cellular system, with religious and educational instruction, and Sloyd training in handi- craft skill, may, even with a greatly increased cost per prisoner, and with comparatively little or no profit on labour, nevertheless effect a large ultimate saving, by the decrease of crime thus promoted. The principle of justice to the honest worker, and to the non-criminal pauper, should always have some consideration in the selection of occupation for offenders. The writer has visited a large town in North Europe, in one part of 262 Penological and Preventive Principles. which he found the aged and unfortunate inmates of the workhouse toihng at very heavy mangling and other hard labour ; whilst the criminals, in an adjoining jail, were occupied with exceedingly light and easy forms of industry, such as working with scissors, gum, and paste, in the fabri- cation of stationery, ornaments, and fancy goods. In many of the Continental prisons, similarly light occupation, more suitable for poor, honest girls, is distributed, for months or years together, to atrocious criminals. This ought not to be. It is doubly unjust, both to the prisoners and to various classes outside. It is also injurious to the com- munity, as a whole. Distinctively Pexal Labour. The specially penal and deterrent stages of criminal treatment may require labour which would be injurious or useless in other stages, or for a prolonged period. In certain cases, a few hours, days, or even weeks of cellular solitude, without any labour at all, may be a wise discipline ; and one calculated to produce, in an idle otiender, a salutary desire for work, as an alleviation of confinement. But a prolongation of such inaction would be unwise and cruel. Again, some forms of merely penal work, of little if any pecuniary value, may also be effica- cious, but only for short periods. The writer on one occasion observed, on the ti'eadwheel of an English prison, a gang of refractory vagrants who had riotously refused to pick oakum. They were accordingly sent to jail for a week or two, where they had some hours daily on the wheel, in addition to their previous oakum task, and with cellular solitude at night. This process was found to have a wholesome effect in that and similar cases. But to pro- long either the treadwheel or the oakum picking for con- siderable periods, would be mischievous ; though for brief initial stages of discipline, or for an occasional impressive Prison Lahour. 263 reminder of reserve power, such modes of penal occupation may be of service. Skilled Labour. The teaching of a skilled trade to criminals, especially when young', is, for many of them, a very desirable thing. But an ordinary prison is not always the best place for imparting such a training. It is, however, to be noted that comparatively very few skilled artisans iind their way into prisons, either in Europe or America. It is the wilfully or the unfortunately ignorant and unskilled who constitute the majority of their inmates. And as, also, the larger number of offenders are only detained for short terms, it is often practically impossible to furnish a knowledge of a trade to them. Years of patient training are usually needed for such a process, and that, too, under circumstances, some of which are almost, if not quite, incompatible with the essential conditions of impi'isonment. Hence the industries practicable in most of the ordinary jails, are such as require little skill and few tools, as, for example, Mat and Basket-making, Net-work, roufjh Weavinfj" or Spinninjr Brush-making, Marble- polishing, the sorting and sifting of various mixed matters, DiiTirinir, Washinf:, Cleanino: and the simpler foinns of Masoniy, Stone-cutting, Shoe-making, Tailoring and Car- pentry. Only in connection witli long imprisonments, can skilled trades be effectually imparted. But long detentions are, at best, a mode of punishment which it is to be hoped may be of more and more limited application, as nations become wiser and more practical in their methods of preventing crime and of reforming offenders. But in so far as this extension of imprisonment coiitinues, it is important to make the labour of those subjected to it as valuable to the State as can suitably be done. And this end may be accom- plished better by various forms of skilled industry than 264 Penological and Preventive Principles. otherwise. This problem has claimed considerable atten- tion in most civilised countries of late years. In some of the European and American convict prisons many of the inmates have been brought from a state of previous igno- rance to a skill and dexterity, which have subsequently enabled them to gain an honest and comfortable livelihood.. Forty, fifty, or more different forms of occupation are carried on in these various establishments. Some of the products of their inmates are masterpieces of their kind. The specimens of work occasionally exhibited in London from the British convict prisons, and the handsome assort- ment of articles displayed in the Labour Exhibitions at Prison Congresses, have elicited surprise and admiration from many visitors. In a few places, special shops have- been opened for the exclusive sale of articles of prison manufacture. A very interesting one was noticed by the. writer at Christiania, where the clothing, carving, furniture, fishing apparatus, ornaments, and miscellaneous goods,, showed remarkable care and skill on the part of the local jDrisoners and their officers. Varieties of Prison Industry. Amongst the great variety of work in which the- prisoners of different nations are employed, may be men- tioned the following : — Masonry, Carpentry, Tailoring (with making of Uniforms, etc., with and without Sewing Machines), Boot and Shoe-making, Weaving and Spinning, Smithwork,. Moulding, Metal Casting, Sawing, Printing, Bookbinding;. Envelope Making, Painting, Tin work. Ironwork, Cooperage, Making of Chairs, Carpets, Blankets, Cigars, Watches, Brushes, Baskets, Toys, Umbrellas, Sticks, Buttons, Coins, Harness, Hats, Caps, Portfolios, Sacks, Tiles, Slippers^ Flags, Bedsteads, Boxes, Bags, Combs, Chains, Portman- teaus, Saddlery, Gloves, Ships' Fenders, Mats, Ropes,. Wheels, LTpholstery, Porcelain, Girdles, Lamps, Toolsy, Prison Labour. 265 Stoves, Utensils, Corsets, Fans, Accordions, Artificial Flowers, Tents, Carriages, Bottles, Pocket Books. The manufacture of Cloth, Linen, Muslin, Lace, Stuffs, Hard- ware, Plush ; Work in Leather, Wire, Feathers, Cardboard., Hair, Straw, Mosaic, Gilding Plating^, Turning, Engraving, Enamelling, Lacquering, Embossing, Photography, Litho- graphy, Polishing; Picking Coffee Berries, Grain, Oakum, etc. ; Breaking Sugar, Stone - cutting. Stone - pounding, Marble-polishing, Oil-pressing, Wood-carving, Telegraphy, Clerkage, Washing, Knitting, Cleaning-up, Cooking, Wood- splitting, Cutting up Linen for Paper Mills, Gardening, Agriculture, Mining, the Construction of Dykes, Forts, Railways, etc. Prison Labour for the State. There are several modes of disposing of convict labour. They are as follows : Firstly, Labour for the State. This plan, which has been adopted in the British convict prisons, has had a very limited acceptance in America. For whilst it possesses the important advantage of retaining the prisoners under the entire control of their own officers, it is seldom attended by pecuniary profit ; and, in general, it results in heavy loss. Further, the nominal value of such labour is apt to be exceedingly delusive ; as, for example, in the estimates, placed in the Home Office Reports upon the work done by English convicts. There are also special facilities, for official corruption and negligence, almost inseparable from this system. It has been the source of some of the most objectionable features of British convict discipline and disposal. It was tried, for a time, in New York State, but a Superintendent of Prisons there has referred to it as. having proved a lamentable failure, in every sense. In Ohio, in 1884, the Legislature abolished the contract system, and adopted the plan of exclusively employing the convicts on State account, as in printing and the manufac- 26G Penological and Preventive Prinaples. ture of hardware and woollen goods. But less than a year's experience of this arrangement was so costly and unsatisfactory, that it was relinquished in favour of " piece-work " labour, for sale to private or public bidders. In Great Britain, the convict labour for the State has been chiefly directed to the construction of fortifications, docks, harbours, and buildings ; the cultivation of land, the manu- facture of uniforms, clothing, boots, etc., for the army, navy, police, and prison officers ; together with printing and binding, for certain departments of the Government. Doubtless a portion of this work is of genuine value. But much of it has certainly been wasted. And some of the valuations of British convict labour, published in official " Blue Books," have been of an absurd character. Leasing or Hirixg Out Convicts. Secondly, at the opposite extreme from the above system, is the mode of " leasing out " convicts to persons who entirely relieve the State of their cost and custody. This abominable system was long carried out in the Southern United States generally. But during the last years of the Nineteenth Century, it has been gradually abandoned in most of them. But several still retain it. Under this j)lau, the leaseholders take the whole charge of the con- victs, and in some States, re-sell their labour to railway companies, mining proprietors, and other large employers. The unfortunate wretches, thus leased out, are located from time to time in stockades or camps. The pistol, the lash, and the bloodhound are freely used to enforce discipline and to discourage escapes. Disease and death make terrible havoc in the convict ranks, which include many unfortunate children. The rate of mortality is enormous, and the permanent ruin to the health and faculties of the survivors most melancholy. The Superin- tendent of the convicts of one State reported that out of Prison Labour. 267 one hundred who had been pardoned by the Governor, more than a quarter were children from ten to sixteen years of age ; and nearly another quarter "were hopelessly diseased, blind, crippled, or demented." Murder, rape, blasphemy, unnatural crime, and every form of vice, formerly prevailed amongst these gangs. The Contract System. Thirdly, there is the common " Contract System," by which, whilst the convicts are retained inside a prison, their labour is (for a certain sum of money paid to the State) placed at the disposal of a contractor, who is allowed to make his own rules as to time, occupation, and taskwork, with little, if any, restriction in these matters, on the part of the authorities. This system is also chiefly an American one, and has been largely adopted in the Northern States. It often tends to sacrifice the discipline of the prisons to the interests of the contractors ; but it is not accompanied by the cruelties of the Southern " leasing out " system. Yet it is not wholly free from cruelty. For under it, there is a great inducement to over- work prisoners and to disregard tlie necessities of the weak or sickly ones. It also offers the contractors much temptation to bribe the prison officers, and to favour the stronger and more dexter- ous criminals, even when morally worse than the weaker or less skilful ones. It frequently throws the prisoners into too close communication with persons from outside, as mes- sengers and others. But it has often resulted in large profits to the State ; and it must l)e admitted that it has trained many thousands of men to habits of self-supporting industry. Limited Contract Arrangement. Fourthly, there is another mode of contract labour which is subject to more rigid conditions, in the interests of the 268 Penological and Preventive Principles. discipline and for the protection of both prisoners and officers. Under this system, the time and skill of the prisoners are let out, for a certain sum, to contractors, who are strictly limited as to the conditions of labour and as to the introduction of assistants and trade instructors from outside, or any special interference with that degree of discipline and regularity which the authorities may deem essential for the main objects of imprisonment. This plan of limited contracts is extensively adopted in the larger prisons of the European Continent, and occasionally in America. It differs rather in degree, than in essence, from the laxer system, previously described. And when the regu- lations are judiciously framed and firmly insisted upon, it is attended by marked advantages, both to the State and to the convicts. Also, it introduces, for the benefit of those prisoners who are willing to learn a trade, a class of prac- tical instructors, much superior, as such, to the warders, who- are usually devoid of special industrial knowledge and skilL " The Piece Price Plan." Fifthly, there is a further variety of the Contract System,, which, in the United States, is usually termed the " Piece Price Plan." It enables the authorities to retain full control over the discipline and occupation of the prisoners, whilst disposing of the products of their labour to a contractor. But the latter agrees to buy from the prison authorities only those articles which they may choose to supply him with, and which must be finished to a certain standard of perfection ; and he only takes such quantities of them as may accord with his own convenience and the state of the markets. This places the prison managers, under great pecuniary disadvantage, as compared with the other and more common contract systems, under which the contractor pays a fixed price, per head, for all the labour of the prisoners, for a term of years, irrespective of changes in the outside markets. Prison Labour. 269 On the whole, it appears that so long as large prison workshops, and extensive congregate industry in jails, are to be maintained, less evil and greater advantage will result from the moderatelj^ limited contract system, as long carried on in certain American States as, for example, in Illinois, and in many European prisons, than from either the " Piece Price," or the comparatively unconditional contract plans. The experience of the chief Continental nations confirms this conclusion. Competition of Prisox with Free Labour. Both in America and Europe, but especially in the former, much difficulty has at times arisen, in connection with prison labour, owing to its real or imaginary influence upon the interests of the honest artisan outside. In the United States, opposition has been vigorously raised against remunerative prison industry of any kind. But it is to be observed that the only reasonable ground for such hostility has been furnished by some of the prisons, on the congre- gate system, in which large quantities of one or two particular classes of goods have been manufactured, espe- cially by the aid of powerful machinery ; thus causing a disproportionate concentration of criminal labour. Considerable injury has at times been inflicted upon British free industry by the surreptitious importation of the products of the crowded prison workshops of the Con- tinent, especially Germany and France. Some years ago, when most of the work in the English jails was concentrated upon the single occupation of Mat- making, there arose a strong protest from the outside workers engaged in that liandicraft. And there was a certain amount of justiflcation for their plea. The Govern- ment then took measures for diminisliing the proportion of this particular industry in their prisons, and in consequence the complaints of the free workers almost disappeared. But the Government went too far, ond from a weak 270 Penological and Preventive Principles. yielding to party voters, totally abolished Mat-making in many or most jails; thus causing an unjust treatment of short term prisoners, for whom a moderate amount of Mat-making is a peculiarly suitable occupation, and easily learnt in a very brief time. In France and Germany some difficulty has occurred in connection with other trades ; but the French authorities have also endeavoured to conciliate the outside workers by arrangements with the chief local representa- tives of trades, whereby the prices put upon the products of prison-labour are, to some extent, regulated by mutual agreement. But this is not always an easy matter to secure in practice, inasmuch as the nominal prices of goods may be materially modified by " discounts," or by some private understanding between buyers and sellers. And the lowering of prices of prison products, even to a small extent, may possibly affect the general markets over a comparatively wide area. It is important to bear in mind that the labour of crimi- nals is, as a rule, less skilful than that of free men. It must necessarily be so, and in a large degree. And, as a matter of fact, the more thoroughly the competing in- fluence of prisons, upon free labour, is examined into, the more plainly does it become manifest that it is, and must continue to be, of very inconsiderable proportion. Any injury to free industry, arising from prison com- petition is, at the worst, a very limited inconvenience. It need never occur, to any noteworthy extent, with but a moderate distribution of criminal labour over a variety of industries. This is obvious, when it is remembered that, even in the countries where prisoners are most numerous, they form a very small proportion, in comparison with the free population. In England there are less than one thou- sand prisoners, on a daily average, to every million of the population. Taking this as an approximate general rate, it is obvious that the thousandth part of any community, distributed over a number of occupations, cannot constitute Prison Labour. 271 a serious industrial competition. This is still more evident when it is remembered that amongst the prisoners, the women form a considerable number, whilst many con- victs, of both sexes, are very ignorant and unskilled ; and a certain proportion are invalids, or unable to do any work. So that the utmost amount of the rivalry of prison-labour with free industry is very limited, very exceptional and very local ; and from general circumstances it can hardly ever be otherwise. A curious illustration of the inconsistency of some per- sons is afforded by the fact that whereas, in Great Britain, almost the only trade affected by prison industry has been that of mat-making, it is this particular handicraft that American trades-unionists have approved for jail-occu- pation. A report on prison industry, issued by the "Bureau of Labour" of the State of Michigan, mentioned that a committee from the great Trades Union, named the " Knights of Labour," visited a Pennsylvanian prison to inquire into the crafts taught. When they found that mat- making was a principal industry there, " they went away perfectly satisfied," and said that the manager " had struck the right thing." How indignant the British Trade Union of Mat-makers must have felt, if they had been present to hear this verdict. Trade Union Injustice. Li several American States, sectional trade tyranny has occasionally succeeded in compelling the authorities to keep the prisoners in idleness. The results have been their de- moralisation, with great additional cost to the taxpayers. The Governor of Trenton Prison, New Jersey, in 1883, most earnestly protested against the folly and cruelty of thus stopping the labour of the inmates, in the assumed and imaginary interests of a few politicians outside. He re- marks " Only those acquainted with prison management, 272 Penological and Preventive Principles. and who liave repeatedly heard the piteous appeals of convicts, deprived of work, to be restored to the same, can form some idea of the terror of the punishment inflicted by the State upon its convicts, in keeping them in idleness, confined to their cells ; and how the maintenance of disci- pline and the enforcement of the rules for health and cleanliness are made almost impossible, under such a state of affairs." Another prison governor reports, as a result of enforced idleness in his establishment, impaired health, disobedience, discontent, and general recklessness. Latterly many of the convicts at Sing Sing prison, New York, have been compelled to be idle, at the dictation of selfish but influential trades-unionists, who succeeded in obtaining unwise and timorous interference by the State Legisla- ture with the prison administration. Great evils have consequently resulted. Some of the anti-prison-labour agitators deprecate the absolute idleness of prisoners, aad suggest their being employed in cultivating the ground, or on fortifications, etc. But these alternatives are not always practicable ; and where they are resorted to, they almost invariably result in heavy loss to the community and are of little use to the criminal, as a training for an honest livelihood, instead of his easy and profitable thefts. For every penny which such substitutes may enable a few outside workers to gain, many shillings or pounds must, in consequence, be imposed upon the general taxpayers. Machinery tn Prisons. It has been largely against the employment of machinery in prisons that the outcry, in regard to " competition," has been raised. And this is a principal point to bfe noticed. For there is some reasonable force in this objection ; though not nearly so much as has sometimes been urged. It was recently observed, by the governor of one of the largest prison factories in America, that " the goods manufactured Prison Lahoiir. 273 by us bear about the same proportion to the whole amount made, that one drop of water, in Lake Michigan, would to the whole amount of water in that lake." Yet it is obvious that the employment of hundreds of prisoners, may, with the aid of machinery, produce, in certain localities, a marked influence on some occupations. And whilst each of these criminals has a positive natural right to compete with others, whether on behalf of himself, or his family, to say nothing of the tax-payer, yet, for the sake of conciliation, it may be desirable to abandon this special adjunct to jail labour, and to restrict the latter wholly to hand-work. Sloyd for Prisox Occupation. Sloyd, or general training in the use of tools, is an excellent occupation for prisoners, especially in cells. It really teaches and trains them to get a future livelihood, or to become handy as emigrants and workers anywhere. Consisting, as it does, chiefly of a succession of graduated exercises in manual skill, where v/fiii/afe dexfcrif// is the main object in view, rather than the immediate production of saleable goods, it renders prisoners less competitive with the outside market, or with free labour, than by ordinary jail-occupation hitherto. The Danes, Finlanders, and Swedes, especially MM, Abrahamsox and Oygn^us, have been the chief promoters of Sloyd, as an educational process of great value. ^I. Otto Salomon, a Swede, has written an excellent manual upon the system, entitled " T/ie T/ieor// of Educational Sloyd" (London, George Philip & Son). Mr. J. S. Thornton, of Leytonstone, has actively advocated the introduction of Sloj'd into Great Britain. The progressive Sloyd Exercises consist of such graduated practice as the following : — L^se of Knife in long cuts, cross- cuts, oblique cuts; Choj^ping with axe; Boring; Use of Saw and Tenon, lengthways, perpendicularly and obliquely; Chiselling and Paring, in the flat, perpendicular, and con- T 274 Penological and Prevent ice Principles. cave ; Planinj: ; Gouoinrr • Bevellinsj ; Punchino; • Nailino; • Clamping ; Dovetailing ; Glueing ; Screwing ; Panelling ; Slotting ; Lock-fitting ; Staving ; Hooping, &c. Amongst the simple objects which a beginner in Sloyd may try his skill upon, after a course of preliminary exer- cises in the use of tools, are such as making Pointers ; Flower-sticks (round and rectangular); Pencil-holders; Key Labels ; Rulers ; Paper-knives ; Pen-trays ; Knife-boards ; Thread-winders ; Scoops ; Clothes-racks ; Stools ; Boxes ; Ladles ; Bootjacks ; Drawing-boards ; Brackets ; Picture- frames ; Tea-trays ; Buckets ; Cabinets ; Tables, &c. (See also the " Jlandhool; of Sloyd" published by George Philip & Son, London and Liverpool.) Cellular Separation, with Hand Labour, the best Solution of this Question. The Report of the Michigan " Bureau of Labour " records some instructive remarks by the Governor of the Philadelphia State Prison, Mr. Cassidy, who said that all the prisoners in that institution, about one thousand, were employed at hand-labour, in making shoes, hosiery, mats, chairs, and cigars ; no steam-power being used. He considered such manual labour far superior, in its educational and training efficacy, to ordinary machine- work, " which furnishes neither brains nor muscles, the inventor of the machine providing all the necessary thought required." The inmates of that prison are taught to produce articles finished throughout by themselves. The exercise of some intelligence on their part is thus secured ; and, in general, they are much better enabled to earn a live- lihood afterwards than if they had been confined to some single process of machine-work, or to the making of one portion of an article, whilst having nothing to do with its other parts, or with its completion. Further, in that prison, the inmates are confined to their cells, both by day and Prison Labour. 275 night. The aggregate advantages of the plan there pursued are, that the prisoners are helped to reform, or at least are ' not depraved by evil association ; their competition with outside craftsmen is reduced to a minimum, by hand-labour, without steam-aid ; their intelligence is exercised by the avoidance of that subdivision of occupation which converts , men themselves into mere machines, or parts of machines ; and they obtain a better price for their work. Mr. Cassidy remarks : " All prison officers should be mechanics ; and only employed regularl}^ after a test of their capacity as such." In the Philadelphia prison the industrious and well- behaved prisoner is required to perform a moderate mini- mum task daily, based upon the estimate of the work which may reasonably be accomplished in six hours, but which is found, in practice, to be equal to about three hours of free labour. On the completion of the six hours' task, no pri- soner is obliged to do more for that day. But if he chooses to continue his exertions for several hours longer, he is credited with one-half of the profits of such extra performance, or "overtime." The money is not given to him until his dis- charge ; but it may be, with his permission, sent to his family or relations. In addition to tliis, every prisoner there, may, by general good behaviour, earn a remission of one month ofi" the first year of his sentence, and two months off each subsequent year. Beyond certain privileges of visitation and correspondence, no immediate rewards are obtained in this institution. The local authorities do not believe in the discharge of their prisoners on parole, or under supervision by the police. Mr. Cassidy observes, " Under that system, tlie worst professional criminals reap all the benefit." The Philadelphia prisoners are not allowed to be visited by mere idle sight-seers. This is a laudable departure from the custom existing in many American jails. A strictly limited contract system enal)lcs many of the products of the labour in tliat prison to be sold to a local firm of merchants. T 2 276 Penological and Preventive Principles. On the whole, it is to be noted that nearly all the diffi- culties which have occasionally arisen in connection with the- alleged, or partly real, competition of prison with free labour,, hav^e resulted from the congregate, as distinguished from the separate system, and from the use of machinery. The asso- ciated inmates of large penal establishments, especially wheru aided by steam and water power, can manufacture articles, of various kinds, to an incomparably greater extent than the tenants of solitary cells. The manual labour and separate discipline in the latter may be rendered more helpful to the prisoner, both tech- nically and morally, whilst his competition with the outside worker is infinitesimal and perfectly legitimate. Whereas, the crowded workshops of non-cellular prisons may inter- fere perceptibly with local free industry ; whilst at the same time their demoralising influences habitually tend to. increase the total number of criminals requiring restraint,, and so to involve the tax-payers in an ultimate expenditure- far exceeding the apparent immediate profit resulting from the organisation of associated penal industry, and the aid of powerful machinery. Thus the prison labour question, for its best solution, brings us back again to the advantages of the Separate System. No associated prison indnstri/, no corrupting gangs, no- steam power. With these simple conditions, the competition will always be an inconspicuous minimum ; even where the " Contract System " is retained, as it may be, with some advantage, under the reasonable conditions requisite to protect and maintain the discipline. Chapter XIII. PRISON OFFICERS, THEIR RESPONSIBILITY TO GOD. Difficulty of Obtaining Well-Qualified Custodians. One of the numerous reasons for adopting, as far as possible, other means than imprisonment, for the repression of crime, consists in the great difficulty of selecting or training .suitable custodians and instructors of criminals. A Government, or a State, cannot readily obtain, or constitute, a class of persons combining the qualifications needful for efficiency in this direction. Their most essential charac- teristics — those of a moral and religious nature — are precisely those respecting whicli a State Department is apt to be peculiarly unable, or even unwilling, to exercise ■discrimination. And yet the appointment of proper officers is one of the most important matters connected witli any penal system. Mr. Frederick Hill, wlio was for many years an efficient Inspector of British Prisons, remarks in his work on " Crime " : " Of such supreme importance do I regard the appointment of good officers, tluit I should expect better results, in one of the worst built prisons, where no system ■of discipline was prescribed, but where there was an earnest i for its Prcvcntio)i. 331 exclusive rights .should be now permitted. They should promptly be abolished, and absolute Free Trade in local food substituted. Enforced Public Audit of all Investment Companies AND Societies. Considering the misery and discouragement to thrift occasioned by the dishonesty of many Investment Com- panies and Societies which have invited and received the savings of the poor and of others, it has become imperative that every such body shall be obliged to submit every year to an independent Government audit, with a detailed annual publication of receipts, expenditure, and invest- ments, and giving the names of all parties responsible for the same. Some so-called " insurance " Companies have derived a large portion of their profits from the " lapsed jyoUcies " of poor people. This, also, ought to be checked in some way. And further, the Governments should facilitate the appoint- ment of responsible State Trustees, and Executors, who should, for moderate fees, be rendered available for the service of private individuals and families. Juvenile Pauperism. Tliis is best dealt with by Boarding-out, by small grouped Cottage Homes (in lieu of Union Houses) and by enforcing Parental Responsibility. [Vide next Chapter, on " Child-Saving."] Ministerial and Lay Relief. Two very shrewd Scotch ministers. Dr. Chalmers and Dr. Guthrie, strongly enforced tlie principle that, in view of the almost inevitable temptations to hypocrisy and impos- ture, " the person who ministers in spiritual things should not be the one who deals out temporal cliarity to the poor." Lay agency, in this matter, they held to be far superior. 332 Penological and Preventive Principles. Even the Apostles delegated to Deacons the charities of the primitive Church. Clergymen and Ministers are not usually persons of business habits, or capacities. They are peculiarly apt to take extreme views, to be either too " hard," or too " soft," and to entertain narrow prejudices. Technical and Agricultural Education. — Denmark. The industrial training of the children of the poor is a great means, in many cases, of preventing their becoming paupers. And in various ways it promotes their happiness and prosperity. Much has been done in many countries, of late years, in the extension of Technical Education, especially in German}^, France, Great Britain, Belgium, etc. But the industrial education of the agricultural poor has not, in general, had sufficient attention directed to it ; ex- cept, perhaps, in Denmark. Mr. J. S. Thornton, who has studied Danish institutions, states, that a work like that of the English University studies-extension, has for fifty years been carried on in Denmark with conspicuous success. For six months in winter, the ploughmen, the hedgers and ditchers, and labourers of all kinds, go to winter schools — as it were to a rustic University — and receive the best teaching. There are some scores of such schools in that small country, and many special Agricultural Schools. The aim of these Danish people is not to attain a different social position, but to do their ordinary duties with a higher motive and more thorough efficiency. There are, too, nearly thirty High-school Homes in Denmark, at which old fellow-pupils may meet each other, in after life, at holiday times. They are like hotels, and the tariffs are suited to the scantiest purses. A visitor's bill for five days was only 9s. 6d. In France, the State makes grants in aid of establish- ments where the pupils are taught the cultivation of fruit and the best methods of preserving it. Paiqjcrism, Suggestions for its Prevention. 333 Overcrowded Dwellings and Pauperis>l There can be no doubt but that both Pauperism and Vice have been materially increased, in many large cities, by the overcrowded dwellings of the poor, a matter inti- mately connected with the laws affecting- land and build- ings. The subject is confessedly most difficult ; but, con- sidering its extreme importance, it should have more attention than it has had hitherto from Governments and Parliaments. It is one of the greatest of national interests. The evils involved demand that mere local and vested private " rights " shall be, wherever necessary, resolutely over-ruled. iEdiles are wanted, j^ublic officers armed with effectual jDowers to prevent the erection, or continuance, of all dwellings unfit for human habitation. Such officers, as District " Surveyors," are now, to some extent, fulfilling the functions of a^diles in England. But it is also of importance to impose some checks, or oversight, upon these, so as to secure the public from possible abuses of their power, in order to extort bribes. Such abuses are not altogether unknown in connection with the office of district " surveyor." The ancient Roman populace, on the occasion of the threatened violation of the purity of one young woman, rose en masse, and exclaimed with united voices, " Tribunes ! we will have Tribunes." Incomparably greater is the need for ^DILES in many modern cities. For the purity not of one, but of myriads, of women is being stained, or de- stroyed, l)y the extent of overcrowding. Lives also in thousands, both of young and old, are being sacrificed. And the bodies of those who continue innocent and virtuous are, in multitudes, ruined for life by the insufficient ven- tilation, the overcrowding, the defective drainage, the thin, damp walls, the leaky roofs, of the many " scamped " and "jerry "-built tenements (not homes) of the poj^ulation of great cities. Innumerable young persons have been 334 Penological and Prerentlve Principles. permanently ruined, in London alone, by rheumatic fevers, consumptions, etc., caused by horrible " run-up " buildings, and small and nasty ill-ventilated dwellings, with their mortar of half-baked clay, their raw, shrinking timber, gaping joiner's- work, foul chimneys, unsound roofs, damp basement-rooms, and inefficient drains. The most bestial vices are being occasioned by this overcrowding, both in town and country. Thus the news- papers have reported such cases as the following: — A young woman having had three children by her own father and brother ; another girl with several illegitimate children by her brother : a young woman having had four children by her own father. How can such horrible vice be un- known, under the conditions of life in many European and American cities ? IxDusTKiAL Councils and Arbitrations. Inasmuch as Strikes and Lock-outs have been, of late years, prominent causes of Pauperism, by throwing mul- titudes out of employ, both temporarily and permanently, and inasmuch also as both the workers and the masters have usually had some warrant for their respective action, it seems eminently desirable that there should be established, on a far more general scale than heretofore, standing Councils of Employers and Employed, for periodic consul- tation, and for Arbitration of disputes when practicable, so as to diminish these terribly disastrous strikes as much as possible. It is instructive to note that in Belgium, where Councils of this nature have been regularly established, strikes appear to have become less frequent. Present Salvation. Salvation has by many well-meaning religionists been made too exclusively a matter for the future. Whereas, in its reality, it begins now and is intimately connected with Pauperism, Suggenfionfi for Uh Prevention. 335 the physical conditions of this life. Christ devoted great attention to hodiJy helps. And the Psalmist instructively remarks, " That Thy way may be known vpon earth, Thy sewing health among all nations." (Psalm Ixvii, 2.) A London newspaper has remarked : " Our good people of the Churches are, too generally, all up aloft in the 'ettions.' They preach and talk about predestination, transubstan- tiation, justification, supererogation, and all the other ' ations.' It would be a more preietieal work to preach ser- mons urging the duties of treating horses mercifully, and selling vegetables and fish honestly. With some noble exceptions, preachers comparatively seldom descend to the real sins and virtues of daily life and its citizenship." Yet it is truly a icork of God to promote healthy dwellings, and to diminish vice-fraught overcrowding and pestilent diseases. Such physical civic improvement is a genuine ministry of sanctification and justification ; that is, by tend- ing to make men more holy and more righteous. More of the true Gospel is needed — the Gospel of the good tidings o^ 2)re(etical evevy-day salvation from the evils of the prese/tt life, as a material preparation for the right reception of the faith and hope of a better life hereafter. The bound- less grace and paternal goodness of God, in Christ, and the requirements of His crystalline holiness, alike call upon the Churches, and on their individual members, for more practical exertions to serve Him by removing this great evil and stumbling-block from His people. For how can persons, crowded in foetid dens and styes, be rightly pre- pared for the pure citizenship of Heaven ? However, progress is, happily, being made, in this matter also, on both sides of the Atlantic. Vagrancy. In 1882, the Committee of the Howard Association instituted a careful inquiry into the extent and means of diminishing Vagrancy and Mendicancy. They collected 336 Penological and Preventive Principles. the opinions and experiences of practical men in various parts of the kingdom, and then published them, with the addition of some general remarks and recommendations. In particular, they advised as follows : — " Every applicant for Poor Law relief, whether Vagrant or otherwise, should be absolutely certain of immediate compliance, and then of immediate investigation, by Parish Officers, or Magistrates, for legal decision and punishment if deserved. The need- ful powers and facilities for this investigation should be secured to the Local Authorities, by law and executive arrangements. Every recipient of relief should be afforded the opportunity of proving his honesty and industry. On producing such proof, or vouchers, he should be promptly speeded on his way in search of occupation elsewhere, or aided by any means available for afibrding employment in his present position. But if inquiry proves that he is a lazy and culpable vagrant, deliberately willing to prey upon society, he should be effectually checked in his purpose, either by a term of cellular imprisonment, or of detention in a workhouse. " The public should be made to feel that every destitute person, without exception, is quite certain of obtaining, on application, prompt assistance adapted to his needs — benevolently adapted, if honest, and correctively and deter- rently adapted, if the reverse. Then, and then only, will the public conscience be thoroughly at ease, in the steady refusal of alms to the unknown vagrant. Then, and then only, will the same public conscience permit a thorough and uniform enforcement of the penal provisions of the Laws of Mendicancy." This Report of the Howard Committee attracted much attention at the time. Amongst other manifestations of public approval, it was, on two occasions, specially recom- mended to local notice, in Reports of the Kent Justices, in 1883, signed by Earl Stanhope, Viscount Hardinge, Lord Sydney, and several Members of Parliament. Pauperism, Suggestions for its Prevention. 337 The Dorset Vagrant Check. In the English county of Dorset, vagrancy has been checked, at least in a greater degree than in most other districts, by the systematic adoption ot" gifts of bread to any vagrant applying for the same. Arrangements have been made, chiefly through the praiseworthy efforts of Captain Amyatt E. Amyatt, the district Chief of Police, that at sixty police-stations of the county, not more than five miles apart, a ticket for half a pound of bread shall be given to any beggar, or vagrant, asking for it. This is well known to the public, who are thus better satisfied than in other places, that no beggar need starv^e. Hence there is less alms-giving. And this must always be a chief preventive of Vagrancy. For in most counties and places, five out of every six vagrants, never come to the parish authorities, or casual wards, for relief, but rely entirely on the wheedling or intimidation of private persons. Hence nothinor that does not induce the latter to withhold their mischievous alms, will effectually check vagrancy. But with the certainty of bread gratis (and lodging) at every few miles, all over Dorsetshire, the vagrants, whether in search of work (which most of them never wish to find) or otherwise, can always and promptly obtain a meal. The Dorset people willingly subscribe the necessary cost of the bread. About 20,000 bread tickets per annum are distributed to vagrants in Dorset, at a cost of £130, which includes £90 for bread, £12 for printing, £16 gratuities to Police Super- intendents for their extra trouble in the matter, and £5. 5s. for collector's conmiission. The local Mendicity Society have issued a large red poster which is pasted on walls, over the count}^ as follows : — " Beggars ! Caution ! The Dorset Mendicity Society being established throughout the county, No Wayfarer can want for Food; whilst Lodgings can be had on application at the Union, z 338 Penological and Preventive Principles. " The Committee therefore earnestly request that the Charitable and Humane will NOT GIVE MONEY, or direct relief to Beggars, BUT give one of the Society's Tickets, which ensure food being given. The Tickets can be ex- changed for Bread at all Towns and most of the principal Villages throughout the county." In addition to these posters, the Committee distribute small handbills of a similar character, and which also state that " Subscriptions in aid of the Society, not exceeding £1 nor less than 2s. 6d., will be received at the several Banks in the County. Tickets are distributed free to all Sub- scribers, and can be obtained by them, at the different Police Stations throughout the County, and also from Captain Amyatt, Honorary Secretary, Dorchester. By the adoption of this System, the annual saving to the Rates, both in the Jail and Unions, has been considerable ; not to mention the amount saved to Public Charity, to- gether with the Prevention of Fraud. As an illustration of the extent to which imjDOsition is practised on the Charitable Public, a Clergyman lately resident in a suburb of Manchester faithfully searched into every case which ajDplied to him for relief. He thus examined 200 cases ; only two applicants gave him their right address, and one of these cheated him." The Tickets are supplied in punctured sheets of twelve each. On one side of each ticket there is the following- inscription : " Dorchester Mendicity Society. Dorchester Union District. Half a Pound of Bread will be given for this Ticket at Dorchester, 43, South Street, or at Broad- raayne, Maiden Newton, etc. [six places named] and at any of the places of Relief in the adjoining Union." On the reverse of each ticket is printed : " The Shop- keeper is ©nly to give Half a Pound of Bread for any number of Tickets presented by the same Vagrant. Per- sons living in the neighbourhood are not to be supplied Paiq)cnsm, Sufjrjcstions for its Prevention. 339 with bread under any circumstances. The Shopkeeper to fill in the Ticket as below. " Name of Vagrant , Date ." The Committee, in their Annual Report for 1895, stated that : " It is most desirable that there should be some uniform method of dealing with Vagrants : " 1. A supply of food on the road, so as to take away all excuse for Indiscriminate Almsgiving. " 2. A uniform task of work at all Unions. " 3. Separate cells in all Casual Wards, as a deterrent to professional Vagrants, and a protection to hond-fidc Workmen temporarily out of work. We must do what we can to prevent the latter from joining the ranks of the Tramps." The Dorset System has been in operation for many j^ears, and with fair success. It has also been adopted in certain other counties, such as Herefordshire. The system of "Way Tickets " (other than bread tickets), adopted in some counties, is considered by the Dorset Society to be very objectionable, as tending to partake of a License for begging. But the bread tickets have not this tendency. On the icJiole, the Dorset plan appears to be the best Anti-Tramp System yet put in action in Great Britain, and it approximates Edward Denison's suggestion. Public Folly and Vagrancy. It is of special importance to bear constantly in mind that the great majority of vagrants do not come under the cognisance of the Poor Law authorities, or even of the Police. For every hundred tramps wlio apply at casual wards, probably nearly a thousand live wholly upon private alms. Hence measures of mere deterrence do not touch the main body of vagrants, at least in Great Britain. For this great majority of tramps, who avoid all wards and poor- houses, and resort at night to private lodgings, will continue to form a vast social nuisance so long as the public, and especially the women of the poorer classes, persist in the z 2 340 Penohgical and Preventive Principles. cruelty of indiscriminate almsgiving, and thus actually entice beggars and vagrants to remain in laziness and vice. The Chief Constable of Stafford says that from enquiries he has caused to be made, he finds that the average tramp gets two shillings and sixpence per day and plenty of broken victuals. Of course, if vagrants can thus obtain their fifteen shillings a week or more, with food in ad- dition, and without any work, they are exposed to an irresistible temptation to remain idle and vicious. In view of this prevalence of positive temptation to evil afforded by multitudes of falsely " charitable " and self-deceived " good-hearted " people, who, under the guise of kindness, are leading their fellow-men into sin, it is evident that until public opinion, especially amongst the poor, is more enlightened in this direction, no effectual cure of the evil can be obtained. Meanwhile vagrants are a perfect plague to the poor especially. They bully and threaten with violence women and girls, and sometimes carry out their threats into rape and murder. A recently published work states (from re- turns of the Scotch Constabulary) that there are in Scot- land, alone, an increasing number of 50,000 tramps, who cost the public, at a low estimate, five shillings a week, or nearly two millions sterling per annum. It is added : " We have known them entering cottage kitchens with the simple order, ' Gie us some tea, half a pound o' sugar, and a joog o' milk,' and they get it." This intimidation of lonely cottagers, by tramps, is also a feature of various parts of England. But the only effectual cure for it must come from the public. In cannot be suppressed by deterrent measures, but only by the community, and especially the poorer classes, abandoning their present too general folly of giving money to beggars, who, as a body, are rogues. The Clergy and Ministers of the Gospel, also the con- ductors of the Newspaper Press, the Charity Organisa- Pauperism, SuggcHtions for its Prcccntion. 841 TiON Committees and Municipal Bodies, may, with great advantage, and in every locality, further assist the educa- tion of the popular mind in reference to the mischiefs and cruelty of pernicious or unconditional almsgiving, a prac- tice which instead of doing good, only increases evil habits and mercilessly hinders the recipients from being compelled to obey the Scriptural precept of honestly providing for themselves and their families. Chapter XVI. CHILD-SAVING. Most emphatically in regard to both Pauperism and Crime, " Prevention is better than Cure " : and hence the utmost importance attaches to all methods of rescuing neglected youth, as early in their lives as possible, from circumstances which must neccessarily tend to their ruin and render them pests instead of blessings to the community. These methods consist chiefly in the promotion of Parental Responsibility, Religious and Industrial Educa- tion, kindly but authoritative supervision on the part of the State, the Boarding Out System and the carefully limited use of Institution Life whether in small Cottage Homes, or Reformatories or Industrial Schools, together with aids to Migration or Emit^ration for some of the children. Enforcement of Parental Responsibility. It is recorded of a boy, named John Scott, that having been caught trespassing and stealing apples, his father was summoned before a magistrate and ordered to make com- pensation to the aggrieved person. This was done ; but Mr. Scott also chastised his son, and looked more carefully after him for the future. That lad afterwards became Lord High Chancellor Eldon ; but had he been punished Child- Saving. 343 by imprisonment, and his father allowed, with impunity, to neglect his responsibilities, the results might have been very different. This incident was rightly regarded by an able penologist, Mr. Alexander Thomson (of Banchory, N.B.) as being a suggestive one, in reference to the funda- mental principle which should regulate the treatment of youthful offenders. So far as practicable, correction should be secured by enforcing parental responsibilities, and by bringing good influences to bear upon the homes. If these objects cannot be effectually secured, then only should other measures be adopted. Nature begins with the home and the parent. So should law and philanthropy. Well would it have been for innumerable parents and children, if the wholesome principle, adopted in reference to Lord Eldon's father, had been more generally regarded. But, unhappily, the unwise and cruel practice of imprisoning young children, and of almost exclusively making them, instead of their parents, responsible to the law for their offences, became too frequent. Abuse of Reformatories and Industrial Schools. Gradually, a partial sense of the folly and injustice of this course led some good men to labour, with much ultimate success, for the establishment of Reformatories and Industrial Schools. They had widely observed that not only are adult criminals very difficult of reformation, but that association with them tends to render the recla- mation of young offenders almost as hopeless. Whereas, by wholly separating at least the one class from the other, they found that the probability of rescuing the young in- creased in a direct proportion to the early stage at Avhich they commenced these wise efforts. The success of the class of institutions thus introduced for training criminal and neglected youth, and as sul)sti- tutes for the prison, has been marked and decided. Large has been the consequent measure, both of prevention and 344 Penological and Preventice Pi-lnaples. cure. But, as time has gone on, there has also been mani- fested in this, as in so many other matters, a tendency to proceed to a mischievous extreme, and to develop what has been, not inaptly, termed an " Institutiox Craze." It is right and necessary that orphans, or utterly friend- less and destitute children, whether virtuous or delinquent, should be cared for, at the cost of the State, or of the charitable ; but in certain countries, and especially in Great Britain and some of the United States, much more than this has been done. Wilfully idle, drunken and improvident parents, have been, in thousands, relieved of their natural responsibilities, and with mischievous effect. Numerous establishments, some of great extent, have been erected and maintained, at a heavy cost to the honest and industrious portion of the community, in which pauper, criminal, and neglected youth have been received, with a facility and almost with an open welcome, which has prac- tically put a premium upon parental vice and carelessness. These children of the deliberately improvident, or criminal members of the population, have often been loaded with comforts and advantages, far superior to those possessed by the offspring of the honest working man. Indeed, the latter has been taxed for the support of the former. This folly has been perpetrated on a large scale, and has consti- tuted one of the most extensive perversions of originally well-meant philanthropy and legislation. So far as Great Britain is concerned, a threefold mistake has been committed in this matter. Firstly, the responsibility of the parent has been largely disregarded, or not enforced. Official statistics show that, on the average, only about a shilling in the pound, or one- twentieth of the cost of the children, in English Reforma- tories and Industrial Schools, has been obtained from their parents or friends. Neither is their responsibility, in general, brought home to them in other ways, as by punishment. Child-Saving. 345 Secondly, the multitudes of young persons thus taken over by the State, have often been crowded together, with- out due classification, and with a demoralising mixture of those of tender years with older and vicious youths. Hence the numerous outbreaks, riots, and incendiarisms, which have taken place in Reformatories and Training Ships. More than a few of these have, at one time or another, been set on fire by their inmates. Hence, also, the frequent complaints, by prison officers, that some of the worst convicts are those who have been trained in such institutions. It has often been practically forgotten that the mischiefs arising from evil association may be as potently active in " Reformatories " as in Prisons. And a want of care, in this respect, has certainly been attended by serious results to the inmates of many such institutions, and has lessened the popular estimate of their efficacy, as places for advantageous training. A Welsh High Sheriff has characterised some of the large " Training Ships " as " mischievous floating prisons, of one large cell." The chaplain of one of the largest and best managed of Reformatories, near London, wrote to the Secretary of the Howard Association : " The evils resulting from a promiscuous intercourse of the elder and younger boys in Reformatories can hardly be described in words. The corruption to which I allude is the root of almost every outbreak of insubordination, incendiarism, and so forth, of which we so frequently hear, in connection with Reforma- tories. You will be doing good service to the State, by continuing to draw the attention of the public to this most important subject." Thirdly, it is to be noted, as a special blunder, that after spending large sums of public money upon the Reformatory and Industrial Schools of Great Britain, and after employing able and painstaking instructors to furnish a course of training, of several years' duration, a considerable proportion 346 PcnoJogical and Prcvenfii'c Principles. of the young people have been sent back to their parents, who have often proved to be their worst enemies. These fathers and mothers have repeatedly undone all the good and costly work achieved in the schools, and have urged the boys to theft and the girls to prostitution. By a perversity of sentimental folly, the imaginary so-called " rights " of such parents have been allowed to sacrifice the real rights of their children, and to ruin the latter, for life, in body and soul. For example, at the large Industrial School for Middlesex, at Feltham, it was found that the relapses into beggary, or crime, amongst the former inmates who had been claimed by their parents, were three times more numerous than those amongst the orphans and other lads whom the mana- gers had been able to place out in situations away from their relatives and old comjaanions. The mother of a Feltham scholar, being remonstrated with for beguiling her lad away from some honest occupation, replied : " What is the use of children, if you do not get something out of them ? " Recent British legislation has however tended, though not yet in sufficient degree, to lessen the control of vicious jaarents over their children, when the latter have been taken in charge by the State. In this matter, America is in advance of England. The reports of the various Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, furnish abundant and most painful demonstration of the utter unsuitability of a certain class of parents to be ever again entrusted with any control whatever over their offspring, when the State has once had occasion to interpose for the custody of the latter. The writer recently saw a boy in a prison-cell who had been convicted of theft, perpetrated at the instigation of his mother, who used to turn him out on the streets, and give him a strapping if he returned empty-handed. Such parents are sadly too numerous. Such blunders as these have materially limited the use- Child-Saving. 347 fulness of Reformatories and Industrial Schools, though, happily, in spite of them all, these institutions have been a great improvement upon the old plan of committing delin- quent children and j^ouths to prison, amongst adult criminals of all classes. The French are, in regard to this particular, somewhat wiser than their British neighbours have hitherto been. For, in France, those parents whose wilful neglect, or bad conduct, causes their children to be taken charge of by the State, are thereby, very proj)erly, deemed to have forfeited all rights and control over their offspring; and permanently so. It is important to bear in mind the distinction existing between the English " Reformatories " and " Industrial Schools." The former are for such youths — chiefly the elder ones — as have actually committed felony or other crime, and who have usually undergone a brief preliminary imprisonment. Whereas the Industrial Schools are for the reception of the class of young offenders who have not been imprisoned ; and also for the rescue and protection of children who have not yet been guilty of any legal offence, but who, from their circumstances and surroundings, are in special danger of being ruined, unless promptly prevented by the interposition of the State and local philanthropy. On the whole, it may be briefly assumed that "Reforma- tories " are for criminal youths, whilst " Industrial Schools " are for non-criminal children. Where parental responsibility can be enforced, the train- ing of children at home is incomparably better than the pauperising system of throwing the burden of them wholly or mainly on the State. Many a vicious or idle parent, who now complacently permits his offspring to bo thus maintained at the expense of his hard-working neighbours, and even eagerly endeavours that such shall be the case, would promptly bestir himself, if obliged to perform a cer- tain amount of labour for the State, or to undergo a term 348 Penological and Precentive Principles. of cellular confinement for the neglect of his natural duties. The imposition of adequate fines, or of such chastisement as the above, in failure of payment for the institutional training, would often secure a lively and wholesome deter- mination to take more efficient care of children, previously and voluntarily left in the way of temptation. Training of Institution Officers. In so far as it is absolutely necessary to have Institutions, whether for the care of youth or of adults, their officers should have some special training, or at least qualification, for their duties. Miss F. P. Cobbe, writes : " On one occasion I visited an enormous Workhouse where there were nearly 500 sick and infirm patients. The Matron told me, with a toss of her cap-string, ' I never nursed anybody, I can assure you, except my husband, before I came here. It was misfortune that brought me to this ! ' " Miss Cobbe adds : " How many other Masters and Matrons receive appoint- ments with as little fitness for them, or simply as favours from influential and easy-going Guardians, who may guess ? " Turbulent Youth. Both in England and in the Colonies, many youths are comparative veterans in crime and vice. Thus in Aus- tralia much of the crime in cities is committed by lads, locally termed " larrikins." Respecting these, it was stated by Mr. P. Pinnock, a magistrate of Brisbane, Queensland : " In one year, there were 157 cases of young men, mostly under the age of twenty-one, few being above that age, who were brought before my Court, and who were stated by the police, to be living on the prostitution of women." Many Australian authorities attribute this " larrikinism " chiefly to parental neglect, or cruelty, or positively vicious training. As to young girls, Mr. Pinnock added : " There are facts which I dare not tell. We have to protect girls from Child-Saving. 349 their fathers ; sisters from their brothers. It is something horrible." The London Spectator, has suggested that for the class of turbulent lads who give so much trouble in England and abroad, more facilities and inducements should be provided for the application and exhaustion of their exuberant phy- sical energies, by means of numerous PUBLIC GYMXASIU^NIS. Prizes for skill in athletic sports are useful inducements to such a class to devote their time to harmless muscular training. Even in many of the better disposed among these, the animal development so predominates over the mental and spiritual, that they resemble the American youth who shrunk from the idea of a Puritan " Heaven," saying : " Whatever could I do there ? Unless they could employ me in some good hard work, such as hoisting up one of them Pearl Gates, or the like." Truant Schools. Both for many of the class of turbulent youth and for wilful and neglected children, other means than Reforma- tories may often be used with greater advantage. For example, in London, in particular, valuable results have already been secured by means of the " Truant Schools " of the Metropolitan School Board. An important paper by Mr. Drew, Chairman of the Industrial School Committee of that Board, remarks : "After nearly thirty years of close acquaintance with the juvenile population of this great metropolis, I have no hesitation in saying that — Truancy is to he credited with nearly the whole of our juvenile criminality. The problem of the day, therefore, is to get all idle children out of the streets, and to save them from themselves and their evil surroundings by giving them a good sound secular and religious education." Mr. Drew shows that in order to lielp this aim, there must always be the needfully deterrent discipline of Truant 350 Pcnolofjical and Preventive Principles. Schools held in reserve for all wilful truants. He shows also the salutary influence of such compulsory detention on its subjects. A first detention of two months usually suffices to ensure future school attendance. For others, " a second dose of about three months seldom fails to cure altogether." But he adds that much good work in this direction would be done " if our hands were not tied behind our backs." By this he means, partly, that the Home Office has persistently disregarded the claim, so often urged, " for special Magistrates to deal with School Board cases, and in other places than Police Courts." Further and especially, he urges that the age of State control over both boys and girls should extend from sixteen to eighteen years of age. Nor does Mr. Drew forget a much-needed word on behalf of a more stringent enforcement of parental responsi- hilitij than hitherto, wherever possible. Even a fine of half-a-crown on a careless or reckless parent, for the child's first truancy, would often be of life-long benefit to both parties. For there are, unfortunately, thousands of parents who are too glad to saddle their children upon the honest taxpayers, for maintenance in Reformatories and Industrial Schools. And it is double folly to gratify such a vicious wish. Nor should it ever be forgotten that if parents are not their children's friends, they are apt to become their worst enemies. In Massachusetts, and in Australia, special Magistrates and special Courts are now set apart for dealing with Juvenile Delinquenc}'. This is also urgently needed in European countries. Day Feeding Schools. Another means of child saving, especially in large towns, consists in the establishment of Day Feeding Schools. These may be, and in some places are, modified forms of Child- Saving. 351 the ordinary schools, under the local " School Boards." They were adopted, with much success, at Aberdeen, as long ago as 1841, through the exertions of the benevolent Sheriff William Watsox. The children of the poorest and lowest class (and, it must be noted, of this class only) were admitted, free of cost to the parents, the expenses being furnished partly by volun- tary subscriptions and partly by municipal or other local grants. Four hours of lessons, five hours of manual in- dustry, and three good meals, constituted each day's routine ; with the exception of Wednesdays and Saturdays, when half-holidays were given. The attendance was wholly voluntary, at any rate, during fourteen years ; but subse- quently a few children, of a special class, were sent by official order. But, generally, the free meals constituted effectual inducements to punctuality and regularity of attendance. The instruction given was of a simple and practical nature (" the three R's "), Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, with some Geography and object lessons. Each day's pro- ceedings began and ended with prayer, Bible reading, and a little singing. A loving faith in God and Christ was carefully inculcated, and constituted a most valuable feature in the method, and one which honourably dis- tinguished it from certain more ambitious schemes sub- sequently carried out on both sides of the Atlantic. The simple manual industry was also a prominent element which some later systems might with advantage have adopted. The boys were taught Shoe-making, Tailoring, Carpentry, Box-making, and other useful handicrafts, (as in the common or " Slojd " schools of Sweden and some other countries). The girls were employed in Knitting, Sewing, Box-making, etc. The cost of the food and training, altogether averaged about £6. 10s. per annum. Hence the net expense (after deducting the children's earnings) was just five guineas a 3'ear, for each. This was 352 Penological and Preventive Principles. a much cheaper course than the subsequent development of costly institutions, " District Pauper Schools," " Board Schools," with elaborate systems, which have by no means surpassed, if, indeed, at all approximated, in efficiencj^, the simple plan, devised and so long successfully carried out, by those shrewd Aberdeen philanthropists, who had their reward in a most material diminution of local pauperism, mendicancy, and crime. In another Scotch cit}^ — Glasgow — it was complained by the JS^B. Daily Mail, that the erection of only six of the many Board Schools in that place had cost the rate-payers £174,000 ; that tM'enty-four of the teachers' salaries were not less than £400 each, and several were £500 ; and that the indebtedness of the local School Board in fourteen years had nearly reached the enormous sum of £800,000 ! " Day Feeding Schools " have subsequently been esta- blished in various other towns of Great Britain, but perhaps never with such complete and successful organisation as at Aberdeen, where the industrial, partially self-supporting, and decidedly religious training, was carefully combined with judicious elementary instruction, strictly limited to that which was necessary to render the children useful and contented in their ordinary sphere of life. One or two other features in the Aberdeen schools deserve notice They did not provide clothes for the children (with some exceptions) nor lodgings. In so far, they insisted on the discharge of the responsibilities of the parents and friends of the scholars. For some of the most destitute, however, a little special provision was made in these respects, but only as exceptional cases. Day Feeding Schools are mainly advantageous in so far as they are only resorted to for the poorest class, and as substitutes for the entire, or almost entire, relaxation of parental responsibility, which accompanies long and costly detentions in Reformatories, Industrial Schools, and similar institutions. Child-Saving. 353 It is to be particular!}^ noted that, at Aberdeen and also in some similar schools at Edinburgh, the children remained under parental control, and no abrupt change took place, as between themselves and their homes. They were not, as in the English Keformatory and Industrial Schools, maintained as costly boarders, independent — or nearly so — of parental support, and then, on discharge, suddenly and completely returned to their homes, unconditionally, after a long and entire separation. Boarding Out. In Europe, America, and Australia, the practice of boarding out pauper children, especially orphans, in care- fully selected cottage-homes, has long been practised. And as a mode of " Child-saving " it is in general far superior to any institutional training, besides being much cheaper. An indispensable condition of its success, however, is the necessity of the regular and efficient oversight, or visitation of the children who are placed out. The English Poor Law system of 1834, excellent as it was in some respects, did not make sufficient distinction between the claims of the able-bodied paupers and of the children and the aged. Hence a certain measure of practical injustice to the latter, and especially to the young, ensued. And, of later years, the very efforts to amend this, have resulted in a grave departure from the fundamental principles of the system of 1834, by rendering the condition of thousands of pauper children, one actually to be desired, hy hard-working, self-supporting parents, for their own offspring. This is at once obvious from the circumstance that whereas labourers and mechanics, with wages varying from 15s. to 50s. a week, and with families of six or eight in number (though often more), manage to maintain them, at from one to three half-crowns a week (and thousands of them do this with marvellous skill and success), yet they A A 854 Penological and Preventive Principlei^. see the pauper children, of the thief, the drunkard, the tramp, the idle scoundrel, and the wilfully improvident, maintained for years in costly palatial District Schools, or still more costly " Grouped Homes " and at an expense to the ratepayers of from three, or four, to six or even eight, half-crowns per head per week. For some District Pauper Schools, " Grouped Homes," and Training Ships, run up to from £26 to £35, and occasionally even to £50 or more, per child, per annum ! Such outlay, for paupers, is not only outrageously unjust to the over-burdened rate and tax-payer, but also to the honest industrious class of the poor themselves. It ought to be a fixed principle that every paiiper child, as such, should not involve, to the State, an expense of more than about two half-crowns a weclc. Noio this is Just exactly the average cost of the Boarding-out system. In many districts of Great Britain and Ireland (as for example largely at Leeds, Glasgow, etc.), pauper children are boarded out, at a cost averaging rather less than two half-crowns. And thanks to the care hitherto taken in selecting and supervising their homes, this class are unsur- passed by any other class of State-supported children, as regards their health, their morals, and their training for the common needs of industrial life. They are not plagued by ophthalmia, as are so many of the inmates of costly '' District Schools." They are not exposed to the still more perilous contagion of immoral and dishonest companions in the masses of barrack-like institutions. Ill-treatment is of rare occurrence amongst them — rarer, decidedly, than the occasional ill-treatment of children in Workhouses and District Schools. And as to " Baby Farming," this is an evil which almost invariably is owing to purjwscd neglect, on the part of vicious parents of the ;^oy?-pauper class. Boarding-out, as habitually regulated, is the reverse of " Farming Out " ; though some persons have confused the two. J CJilhl-Sdviiig. 355 Boarding-out, then, is evidently in accord with the icisc jDrinciples of the English Poor Law Reform of 1834. Henco it should be more extensively encouraged, both by the Local Government Board and by the Guardians of the Poor, but altvai/s with due regard to effectual supervision, to careful selection of the foster parents, and, last l^ut not least, to the necessity of guarding the children (other than orphans) from the ultimate misery of again falling into the clutches of that class of unnatural parents (worse than the so-called " brutes ") Avho regard their offspring merely as objects to be preyed upon and despoiled by themselves. The Australasian Colonies do not limit Boarding-out (as hitherto in England) to the class of orphan and deserted children. In South Australia seven out of every eight pauper, or delinquent, children of the State, are Boarded- out. This saves the Colony many thousands of pounds per annum ; with additional moral and other gain to the chil- dren also ; and further, it is tending to decrease pauperism in general. Several hundred Ladies in that Colony (as also in New South Wales and Victoria), discharge gratuif- oiis/i/ the duties of the selection and visitation of the homes of the boarded out children. Ireland and Scotland practise the system more ex- tensively than England, and with good effect. One of the Cork Guardians of the Poor writes to the Howard Asso- ciation, that the Boarding-out-system has considerably reduced the number of pauper children in that Union, because : " Formerly, parents living in Cork made it a prac- tice to send their children to the Workhouse, where they could see them every week. But, as soon as the Boarding- out system connuenced, those children were sent out of town, and then, in one w^eek, i/o A-.s-.'? f//a)/ forf// of theiti urrc cidinicd hy their jKireiifs ; so that it actually operates as a deterrent plan." The Cork Guardians report also that " when the children arrive at thirteen years of age they are in\ariably adojitcd A A 2 356 Penological and Preventive Principles. by their foster parents, and then cease to be any further charge to the ratepayers." Eflectual supervision, however, is most essential ; but even this should be arranged wisely and not be over done. An experienced lady. Miss Jo ANNA M. Hill, of Birming- ham, writes, on this matter, to the Howard Association : — " The point needful, at present, seems to be to counteract a tendency to what is named ' thorough ' supervision ; that is, methods practised by supervisors, which force upon the child's mind, both that he is an alien in the family and that he is being used as a means of inspection of the per- sons whom he ought to regard as parents. Proper inspec- tion should be carried on so that the child should not perceive this." These are timely words. Nevertheless the necessity of thorough and searching supervision is everywhere indispensable. In certain districts of Canada, and especially in Nova Scotia, terrible outrages have been committed upon boarded-out girls, in remote districts of wilderness and forest, far away from the needful oversight and control. In the western United States, also, evils have occasionally attended the wholesale distribution of city children, in out- of-the-way ' homes ' ; and protests have been raised on behalf of better care and discrimination. Children and Institution Life. The experienced Chairman of a New York Boarding-out Committee thus contrasts the defects of even the best insti- tutional training of children with the advantages of family life under the Boarding-out system : — " Children brought up in a well-systematized institution, must be made to conform to certain discipline and machi- nery of government essential to its good management. The same drill which makes a good soldier annihilates the individuality of the boy. His wants are all provided for, without care or responsibility on his part : he cannot Child- Saving. 357 realize that on liis own frugality, his own industry, his own integrity, depends the future he may expect. How can girls prepare for cooking in a plain home, in a building where large ranges are used ? How learn to wash and iron, in huge laundries, where the entire wash of a large establishment is done ? Will not children used to the comfort of steam-heated halls and to being waited on, find it a hardship to break ice for water to drink or wash in, to bring water from a well, to chop wood, bring coals from a cellar, make fires at dawn, — all experiences likely to come to them in a hard-working after-life ? In a word, does such treatment toughen a child, and give him strength to fight his way in the world ? Does it not rather weaken him ? " But more serious than all this, is the want of fathering and mothering, ' the ride on father's knee, or the cuddle in mother's arms,' impossible even to the best-intentioned matron, except in the very smallest of institutions, say for eight or ten. How shall they attain the development of character gained in the rough-and-tumble of every-day life, with its petty annoyances, small discipline, little pleasures ? No shut-in existence can fit a person for the battle of life ; and these children are born to such a combat as surely ' as the sparks fly upward.' They need primarily the home life, — cufi's, and caresses, sympathy and reproof, self-restraint and self-reliance. These are not on the cur- riculum of any institution : even the little English Grouped Pauper Homes are but a substitute for a reality, and they come twice as dear. The matron at Magill said : ' I would never have a lot of young children together: they never de- velop. They only grow up into half-idiotic men and women. We have only five now, and they are as bright again as when we had twenty.' Children massed in large institu- tions are, as Miss Florence Hill, Mr. Brueyre and others have observed, singularly backward and stupid, showing a want of pluck, dependence on others, inability to shift 358 Penological and Preventive Principles. for themselves, — characteristics which develop into the grown pauper. Again, there are many girls who are immoral from the barrack system ; hardly any from foster- homes. They are ignorant of money, the rights and duties of property, the necessity for providence and economy. Sent out to service, they are called stupid because they have never seen the articles they are called on to use. Perma- nent children are subjected to the influence of casuals, and to association with corrupted children,— a class recognized in all institutions. Lastly, however good the institution, the children are still a class apart, looking naturally to the public for support. " On the other hand, when we place a child in a home, by a small payment, with its sliare in the household work, it gives something for what it gets, and we place it in its natural surroundings. Children should be placed as nearly as possible in the same material conditions as those in which they were born. Rough conditions are as nothing, if the influence is good, morally and physically. Instance after instance, in many lands and in many tongues, is given of the attachment between foster-parent and child, to the extent of retaining the child without payment, and final adoption. One little fellow shouted out to the neighbours, ' I've got a father now.' Living the same life as his nurse, sharing the family joys and sorrows, brought up in the same cottage and without other treatment than that of his foster-brothers and sisters, the assisted child becomes an integral part of the family." — {Report of Com- mittee of U.S. ChiM-Savin(j, 1893.) How TO Inspect. Miss H. M. Mason, Government Inspector of English boarded-out children, says : — " Persons living on the spot, and seeing the children every day, may yet have no idea of their treatment, if they do not, by partly undressing them from time to time, ascertain their bodily condition. The Child-Saring. 359 feet are a better guide than anything else to the treatment of a child ; for it is in the hollows of the ankles that strata of dirt accumulate most visibly. The removal of a stocking also often reveals broken chilblains, blisters and sores, nails uncut and broken below the quick, or growing into the foot. The neck, shoulders, and upper part of the arms also show dirt, bites and marks of vermin, skin complaints and blows. Beating is generally begun on the upper part of the arms. I sometimes find bruises there, evidently made by sticks ; and where this is the case, I undress the child as much further as necessary. I have thus, now and then, found a child covered with bruises. . . . Continual or even daily visiting may reveal nothing of the true condition of things {i.e., without actual examination by the visitors). Qiiestioii.s are so useless a form of investigation alone, that I wonder anyone can resort to it." Foster-parents often laugh afterwards at the credulity of the " good ladies," who believe all their replies to mere questions. JFonim are necessary for the inspection of children, whether boarded out or in institutions. Again, Miss Fra>'CES Power Cobbe has remarked : — " I have sat in an Infants' Ward when about two dozen gentlemen tramped through it for what they considered to be ' inspec- tion,' and anytliing more helpless and absurd than those masculine ' authorities ' appeared, as they glanced at the little cots (none daring to open one of them, while the awakened babies screamed at them in chorus), it has seldom been my lot to witness." What Foster-Parents to Choose. Miss Joanna M. Hill, who has been connected witli the boarding-out of many hundreds of pauper children, remarks : — " That it is essential that no persons should be selected as foster-parents who have not an adequate means of livelihood, iiidependenf/// of the money they receive for the child placed witli them, and secondly that the foster- 360 Powlogical and Preventive Principles. parents should not derive a jyrq/it from the children. These conditions greatly tend to prevent unsuitable persons from offering themselves as foster-parents." Miss Hill also considers that boarded-out children should not be removed from one home to another, without urgent necessity. Cruel Treatment and Murder of Children who ARE NOT Paupers. The extensive farming out of lower and middle-class children, not of the pauper class, together with the abuse of BURIAL CLUBS, has long been a national scandal — thoupfh perhaps prevailing even more frequently abroad than in England. For instance, in France there are professional baby-starvers or suffbcaters, styled " angel-makers." Some twelve murderers are hanged annually in England ; but hundreds, if not thousands, of child-murderers wholly escape detection, or even suspicion. The old Canaanites used to pass their children through the fire to the gods. Too many people, both in Europe and America, quietly pass little children to the grave by " accidental " over- laying, or by " drugs," or more frequently by slow starva- tion, which no one can prove, and which is done so cunningly as to secure medical certificates of " death by consumption," or other " natural causes " ! Nor are these poor little children only those " farmed out " to be " nursed " cheaply. They are often thus slowly murdered by their own parents at home, either for burial fees, or to escape the cost of maintenance. Mr. Benjamin Waugh (well known for his good efiforts for ill-treated children) and others have perseveringly ex- posed much of this terrible evil, but, it may be feared, that much of it escapes even suspicion. Dr. Barwise writes tO' the editor of the Birmingham Post : — " You are, to my painful knowledge, absolutely within the truth when you state that evert/ year, hundreds of parents are guilty of child-murder in tJiis town. The fact is, there are no certain Child- Saving. 361 signs whereby starvation can be detected. Frequently, the first thing the mother says is, ' I suppose you "will give me a certificate if ani/tJiinfj happens.' Hardly a day passes without my hearing it, and I generally find that the parents would gain several pounds from some insurance office if the child died." Mr. Justice Wills has declared : — " Often it would be a much more correct definition of these so-called insurance societies to say that they are f/^^ri'^A-insurance societies." 300 deceased children's garments were recently found in one baby-farmer's house. Well may the Globe declare : " We are convinced that this cruel business flourishes in England to an extent of which the public is little aware." But little has yet been done to diminish these terribly numerous and unpunished child - murders. Placin'g-Out versus Institutions, in America. — Michigan. In the United States a National Committee on Child- Saving report, in the last decade of the Nineteenth Century (1893), as follows : — " In most of the States dependent chil- dren are yet provided for in the County Poorhouses, which are admitted nurseries of crime and pauperism. In them the children often spend years associated with the insane, the idiotic, and with adult paupers, the mental, moral and physical wrecks of their own debased lives. In the larger number of the States there are no proper Reformatories or Industrial Schools for minor delinquents ; nor is there any classification of prisoners, the young child being placed in contaminating association with adult criminals in the same jail, workhouse, or prison." However, in some of the Northern and Western States great progress is being made, either by the adoption of Boarding-out, or of the establishment of separate Institu- tions for the training and correction of neglected children. It is important to note that whereas, in Great Britain, 362 Penological and Preventive Princij)les. boarding-out usually implies 7;r/y/mc«^ to the foster-parents, this is not the case, generally, in America, where the children placed out are mostly adopted, for their services, without other payment for them. But it is to be especially noted that those States, such as Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Rhode Island and others, where the Placing-out system is chiefly relied upon, have far less pauperism than such States as New York and California, where the " Institution Craze " prevails. Michigan, through the efforts of Mr. C. D. Randall and others, has been an honourable pioneer in the great work of child-saving by placing-out. She does not board out her State-wards immediately on their becoming such, but first gives them a, prelinii)iar// training, for a year or so, in a School, at Coldwater, consisting of a number of buildings for small groups of children. After they are educated there awhile, they are placed out amongst farmers and cottagers (who adopt them), under continuing State supervision, and the State reserves to itself the power of withdrawing any child, at any time, from the care of its foster-parents. The State, it is important to observe, does not allow parents who have ill-treated their children to resume control over its wards. Parental neglect forfeits all future right over the children, who are thenceforward under the exclusive care of the State until they attain the age of twenty-one years. (The European State of Luxemburg has a somewhat similar system.) Whilst pauperism has enormously increased in New York, California and other States, it has diminished by fifty per cent in Michigan, whilst the population has mean- while increased sixty per cent, since the establishment of the Boarding out system. It is only fair to New York State however, to remember that, through the influence of Dr. William P. Letchworth and other citizens, her Legislature in 1875 enacted "The Children's Law, which required that healthy children. Cliihl-S((v'ntg. 363 over two yeaxs of age, should be removed from the poor houses and placed in families, orphanages, or large, boarding - schools. This was a pioneering experiment which has subsequently been followed by other States of the Union, though not nearly, as yet, to the extent which is essential. New York has also limited the success of her experiment by relying too much upon institutions as compared with boarding-out. A Cause of the "Institutiox Craze" in U.S.A. It is stated that the reason why the " Institution Craze " prevails, so extensively and so mischievously, in New York California, and some other American States, is because it is specially encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church, as a means of enabling it to educate, at the taxpayer's cost, large numbers of children under its own exclusive care. This may l)e excellent policy from a mere sectarian point of view, but it is very bad economically. And further, it tends greatly to pauperize lazy and vicious parents. Massachusetts Juvenile "Probation" Officers and Courts. The evils inseparable from every system of imprisonment, either for younger or older offenders, have obtained such practical attention in Massachusetts, in particular, that its Legislature has, during recent years, enacted provisions for an extensive substitution of " PROBATION," or Con- ditional Libert}^ instead of incarceration. This principle was first adopted there, with children and young persons, and being fomid successful with them, it was extended to udults, with satisfactory results. From 1846 to 1866, Massachusetts had established a series of Reformatories or Industrial Schools, instead of prisons, for criminal and neglected children. These institu- tions proved to be useful, but also very costly, the expense of the inmates being often £50 each per annum. They 364 Penological and Prevcntice Principles. also involved (as in Great Britain and elsewhere) some danger of collateral disadvantage, such as, for example, a risk of relieving vicious parents of their natural obligations, and of pauperising them and their children, at the expense of the honest tax-payer; and, further, of training young persons, in large masses, in ignorance of many of the lessons to be imparted only by family life. Hence, in 1869 and 1870, the Legislature, with a view to more preventive effort, committed the general care of juvenile offenders to a special " State Agency," whose mode of operation is as follows. Every complaint against a boy or girl under the age of seventeen, must, before being brought into any Court, be laid in writing before a State Agent, or one of his assistants, for investigation. When the case comes into Court (and portions of the time in Courts are exclusively devoted to such juvenile cases) the Agent, or Sub-Agent, attends personally to act for the State, as watcher, counsel, advocate, or prosecutor, according as the circumstances require. If the complaint is a first charge against the accused, and for a light offence, nothing follows but a simple admonition, or the passing of a suspended sentence ; a small fine for costs, being, however, enforced, if practicable, on the parents of the child, where the latter is not an orphan. If there appears to be a prospect that the child will need some further restraint, or influence, than its existing care- takers seem likely to exercise, the Agent requests (and usually obtains from the Court) a sentence of " Probation " for a given time, he undertaking (for the State) to bring up the young offender again, if needful, and meanwhile to watch over him, or her, and devise measures for his or her benefit. Such sentence of Probation formally places the child under the oversight of the State Agent ; but the child may still continue at home. The term is renewed when needful. In cases where there is reason to apprehend an utter Child-Saruig. 3G5 absence of suitable liome care or restraint, for the child complained of, the Agent is authorised by the Court to take it away for the State, and to put it entirely at the disposal of the Massachusetts " Board of Health, Lunacy and Charity." This body usually places its younger wards in private families, on the BoARDiNG-OUT System, under due official conditions, and with regular supervision by a few paid, and numerous unpaid, but officially appointed, visitors. This plan is almost always tried, before having recourse to a Reformatory School. But the latter is used where boarding-out appears insufficient in disciplinary influence. Finally, where the subject of this care proves intractable, then, as a last means of control, a prison is resorted to. But comparatively few children are consigned to jail in Massachusetts. Both the moral and economical results of this system are advantageous. The number of children in the Reformatory Schools has greatly diminished. The chief part of this eco- nomy, by prevention and reformation, results from keeping the children out of the " institutions " of all kinds, and securing their better oversight, either in their own homes or, in adopted ones. A State Report says : " Almost all juvenile offenders are to be found without homes, or health- ful home influences. Rarely does one come from a good family." The Principle Applicable Elsewhere. The principle of the Massachusetts mode of dealing with juvenile offenders, and with their parents, may be adopted in other countries, without involving tlic use of precisely the same means. Thus, instead of appointing a series of additional officers throughout any district, as State Juve- nile Agents, the services of existing functionax'ies may be effectually utilised. One Magistrate in each locality might be requested, by the Government, to devote his sole atten- tion to juvenile offenders. And in each place, this Magis- 366 Penological and Preventive Principles. trate should have one or more policemen, or, still better, one or more volunteer helpers, placed under his orders, with the object of watching over the cases of any criminal or neglected children in the locality, specially requiring authoritative influence. The chief purpose would be, in the first place, to give the parents or relatives of the said children such oversight or guidance, as might enable them to discharge their responsibilities aright, and to avoid the necessity for further compulsion. But, persuasion failing, fines or other forcible influences would have to be used. If these proved insufficient, the magistrate should be empowered to have recourse, at his discretion, and according to the circum- stances of each child, to Boarding-out, or Emigration, or a Reformatory, or, as a last resort only, to Imprisonment. But, as in Massachusetts, it should be the frst aim to pro- mote the roliinfari/ efficiency of the parents ; the second, to prefer selected and supervised Family training (by Board- ing out, or Emigration), to the costly and congregate life of large Institutions ; and the third, to use such Institutions in preference to the Prison, so far as possible. EuRorEAN Union Tyranny over American Youth. The large number of American children who are boarded out are generally able to obtain an honest livelihood after- wards by farming, gardening, and land cultivation. But American youths who seek for handicraft occupation, find cruel and generally insurmountable obstacles placed in their way by the injustice and tyranny of Trades Unions, chiefly officered by European immigrants. A leading American journal T/ie Century, thus complains (in 1893) of this very serious infringement of the national rights and liberties : — " Under the present conditions of trade instruction and emplojanent in this country, the American boy has no rights which organised labour is bound to respect. He is denied instruction as an apprentice, and if he be taught his trade in a trade school, he is refused Cltild-SaviiKj. 367 admission to nearly all the trade unions, and is boycotted if he attempts to work as a non-union man. The questions of his character and skill enter into the matter only to dis- criminate against him. All the trade unions of the country are controlled by foreigners, who comprise the great majority of their members. While they refuse admission to the trained American boy, they admit all foreign applicants with little or no regard to their training or skill. In fact, the doors of organised labour in America, which are closed and barred against American boys, swing open, wide and free, to all foreign comers. Labour in free America is free to all save the sons of Americans. " In the earlier days of the Republic, the American mechanic was everywhere known as one of the sturdiest representatives of American character. He was an honest man, a good workman, a loyal, faithful citizen. To-day he is an almost extinct species. As a nation, we lead the world in mechanical skill, yet we are the only nation in the world that has almost ceased to produce its own mechanics. We not only take the great mass of ours from other countries, but we accept their poorest speci- mens, and, having accepted them, we allow them to control the field against our own sons." Such a serious state ' of affairs is a cause of much of the great mass of Vagrancy and Pauperism which already afflicts this comparatively young Republic. The Loxdon " City Custom of Apprentices." The New England " Probation System " was not alto- gether a novelty. It had, in part, been exemplified in the Capital of the Mother Country, for centuries previously, in a form established by the wisdom of our forefathers, and known as the " City Custom of Apprentices." By this " Custom," which has liad the force and sanction of Law, the semi-private Court of the Chamberlain of London, at the Guildhall, has exercised a controlling power over all 368 Penological and Preventke Principles. apprentices in " the City " properly so-called. This tribunal has long afforded a prompt, cheap, and excellent mode of dealing with their delinquencies, except such as may be of a graver nature ; and it has been much valued by the citizens. A master, having a ground of complaint against an apprentice, obtains for the nominal fee of one shilling, a summons for him to appear before the Chamberlain, who quietly and impartially investigates the case, and gives such advice or warning to the parties concerned, whether apprentice or master, as often suffices to prevent further trouble. But where the misbehaviour, or obstinacy, of the youth, appears to call for something more stringent, he is sent, for about a fortnight, to a private " Bridewell," belonging to the Municipality, specially appropriated to the detention of these young persons. Several days of quiet reflection usually sufiice to accom- plish the desired end, and, on the apprentice expressing regret, or apology, for the past, and promising amendment for the future, he is, in most cases, liberated by the Chamberlain without further infliction. This mode of treatment involves no public trial, is not reported in the newspapers, is not attended by demoralising contact with criminals, and is, in short, a valuable form of "probation" and a substitute for ordinary imprisonment. It is further to be observed that the experience both of the " City Custom of Apprentices," and of Massachusetts " Probation," alike furnish good ground for believing that the long and cod I ij detention of juvenile offenders, in Reforma- tories and Industrial Schools, might, in many instances, be safely dispensed with, through the adoption of some form of probation or supervision, useful alike to the young people themselves and to their parents or friends, and in no wise so expensive as the Institutional plan of disposal. Recent proposals for the unification of London Govern- ment render it doubtful whether the Chamberlain's juris- diction over the City youth will be permitted to continue. CJdM-Sarwg. 369 But during the term of its continuance, it has been, on its limited scale, a great benefit. Some of the youths " saved " by it, have subsequently become honoured civic magistrates, instead of being ruined by committal to jail. The Sheffield System. In some towns in England, the pauper children have been placed in " grouped homes," or clusters of cottages, each containing a score or so of children and under a house father or mother. But these groups are very costly, and they con- tinue the undesirable feature of separating their inmates from the surrounding population as a distinct pauper class. An improvement upon this plan has lately been instituted at Sheffield, through the efforts of Mr. J. Wycliffe Wilson, J.P., and others. It consists in distributing the children in cottage homes in different parts of the town, in the midst of the working population, under foster-parents, acting under the constant supervision and direction of the central Board of Guardians. The children go to the public schools with the children of the working population around them, and are as much depauperised as possible. This excellent system is in fact, a sort of " Boarding out," under specially advantageous conditions of control and inspection. And it is worthy of extensive imitation in other localities. Juvenile Emigration and " Boarding Out." In connection with this subject there may be added a few words on the Emigration of young persons, whether of those who have been in Reformatories, or those of a pauper or neglected class. In Great Britain, considerable attention has recently been directed to this method of permanently facilitating the interests of these wards of the State or of philanthropy. Thousands of them have been sent to Canada and the United States, through the efforts of various benevolent persons and societies. It lias been found that although tliere is an increasing jealousy, in the B B 370 Powlogical and Preventive Principles. United States and Canada, against any form of pauper emi- gration from Europe, there is much readiness, on the part of farmers and householders there, to receive partially- trained children and employ them in industrial occupation. This arises from the comparatively high value of laboui" in those younger and less crowded countries. But in any arrangement for the systematic emigration of the young, it is important to secure two things. Firstly, they shcaid have a preliminary training, for about a year, before being- sent abroad, and secondly, some effectual means should be taken, for their due supervision and visitation, in their new homes. Otherwise, serious abuses may arise ; as has indeed sometimes happened, both in regard to children sent from Great Britain, and also as to some of those migrated from the crowded American cities of the Atlantic sea-board to the Western States. The need for the train- ing does not so much apply to those who have been inmates of Industrial, or similar Schools, but rather to the young paupers from Workhouses, or waifs and strays from the street. The necessity for very careful selection and visitation of the homes, applies to every class of young persons thus sent abroad, or to distant localities. It is a matter of essential justice to the inhabitants of the countries where such young emigrants may settle, that they should be placed out under such arrangements, or after such training, as to secure them from becoming- nuisances to those around them. Some of the American people are becoming ver}' jealous as to this danger. And not without reason. It is too generally forgotten that the disadvantages arising from a want of oversight, or supervision, are far greater in the case of children brought up in the slums of cities, or even in the wards of workhouses, than in regard to those from rural homes, selected with reasonable care, either in Great Britain or the Colonies. The pestiferous life in the slums, with the too general promiscuous crowd- Child-Saving. 371 ing of both sexes in one room and one bed; the by no means infrequent cruelties and demoralisation in Work- houses and Pauper Schools; and the occasional revolts and incendiarisms in the best Reformatories and Industrial Schools ; all these things demonstrate the far greater dangers of the congregate than of the individual training of delinquent or destitute youth. Mild Corporal Punlshment. The English law, in certain cases of juvenile offences, permits the infliction of a few strokes with a birch rod, instead of other punishment ; and he must be a bold man who will dare to deny that it may be more merciful, in various instances, to impose such a short and mild infliction, rather than to have recourse to incarceration in a jail, or even to a long and costly detention in a " Reformatory " or " Industrial School." The Town Clerk of an English borough, of more than 12,000 inhabitants, wrote to a public journal : " It has been our rule, for five and thirty years, that no boy and no girl under fifteen years, shall go from our Town Hall to prison." The substitute, at least for boys, was a birching. In case of repetition or obstinacy, another birching has been given; in one instance three whippings were inflicted, with a couple of days' interval between each. It is added : " The result is that we have not a known juvenile thief in the place. Thieving is unpopular and contemptible, in the eyes of the boys who do not want to be birched, but who pro- bably might not object to become heroes of ' penny dread- ful ' depredatory adventures." All corporal punishment, whether for children or adults, should be free from cruelty, and not administered under sudden impulse, but after deliberation. An additional means of impressiveness, and also a provision against undue severity, in inflictions of this nature, may be aflbrded by regulations insisting upon the presence of some inde- B B 2 372 Penological and Preventive Principles. pendent witness, or a local authority. The chastisement of children by blows on the head, or " boxes " on the ear, is altogether objectionable. Serious injury has resulted from these, in many instances. Whenever corporal punishment is to be inflicted, whether in Schools, or by a Magistrate's order, some rules or arrangements are requisite, to prevent its becoming a mere result of passion, or other incapacity on tlie part of those who impose it. Brief Solitary Confinement. Those who still object to the infliction of any corporal punishment whatever, may perhaps approve the substitute, both for that chastisement and for imprisonment, which has been advocated by a Middlesex Magistrate— Mr. W. Knox Wigram — who, in his "Justice's Notebook," pro- tests against affixing the jail stigma upon either hoys or girls, and also objects to an excessive resort to Industrial Schools. He says : " It would be an immense boon if there were some legitimate way of ordering a boy or girl to be locked up, in solitude, for twenty-four hours," either at a police-station, or at some other place, perhaps still more suitable. He adds, " There would be no romance about it ; nothing heroic, no prison experiences to boast of. The ' obstreperous ' boy or Board-school truant, locked up alone for twenty-four hours or so, with nothing in the world to do, bread and water in extreme moderation, and a plank for the night, would have tasted punishment in its purest form. He would understand that he had been treated as a child. He would not have liked the treatment, nor the being delivered at his father's door next morning — like a parcel — with one shilling to pay." This is a suggestion, worthy of consideration. It might obviate, with advan- tage, much prolonged and costly detention in prisons and reformatories. A somewhat similar plan was tried, with success, for many years, with refractory French lads, by M. Demetz, in a special house in his establishment of Mettray, near Tours. Chikl-Savinfj. 373 It should constantly be borne in mind that the faults of the parents are the c/f/V;/' causes of juvenile delinquencies of all descriptions. Hence, the former should have the larger share of punishment and of executive pressure. A short imprisonment, would more often do good to a vicious father, and through him benefit his family, than sending the latter, at the public expense, to training institutions for a long- period. Help of Youth after Leaving Institutions. In reference to the extension of some further care over the young persons who have ceased to be inmates of Reformatories, Industrial Schools, Pauper Schools, or similar institutions, it may be appropriate to mention the benefits which have atended a practice long adopted at M. Wichern's establishment at the " Rauhe Haus," near Hamburg. When any of the children who are being trained, approach the time when their stay there must come to an end, their instructors endeavour to secure, for each one, a patron, or special friend, in the neighbour- hood, who may be willing to make some endeavour to obtain employment for his young ward, or at least, to render him, or her, some little help and kindly oversight, after finally leaving the schools. Much willingness to un- dertake such good offices has been shown by the respectable inhabitants of Hamburg and its vicinity, and many young lives have thus been eti'ectually aided and guided to happy and useful careers. Nor has the benefit been one-sided. The exercise of this benevolent friendship has been very helpful to the patrons themselves. The cultivation of a .similar principle might, with great advantage, be adopted for the assistance of many young persons, on their leaving institutions where they have received an education and oversight which it is very desirable should not wholly or abruptly cease with their departure h\m\ such places. Not merely juvenile offenders, not only friendless and pauper 874 Penological and Preventive Principles. children, but all classes of young persons beginning the battle of life, may be greatly benefited by some such arrangement, wherever practicable. The ancient, but un- fortunately too generally merely nominal, office of " God- father " and " Godmother," was wisely intended to meet this need. In London and elsewhere, of late years, some excellent efforts in this direction have been put forth, on behalf both of youths and girls requiring sympathy and friendship amid their loneliness and temptations ; as for example by " the M.A.B.Y.S.," or " Metropolitan Association for Be- friending Young Servants," and " The Girls' Friendly Society "; also by the " Church of England Society for Providing Homes for Waifs and Strays," which has boarded-out, emigrated, or otherwise trained and started in life, some thousands of poor boys and girls. The Anglican Church has taken an honourable leadership in this class of effort. Limitation of Hours of Labour. Undoubtedly multitudes of young persons, of both sexes, are, in our own day, driven into vice and pauperism, and into disease and death, by the excessive strain and exhaus- tion resulting from prolonged hours of labour, from early morning till late at night, in crowded shops, offices or fac- tories. Thus many of them become incapacitated for taking any profitable interest in intellectual improvement or religious truths. They become also, in consequence, the easy prey of the tempter. Hence one of the most useful forms of service to God and to man, on the part of phi- lanthropists, and especially of the employers of juvenile labour, consists in efforts to restrict, within reasonable limits, the hours of occupation, and to promote those con- ditions of sanitation, harmless amusement and moral pro- tection, which are essential for the physical and spiritual salvation of the young. Chapter XYIl. INTEMPERANCE— ITS DIMINUTION. Avoid Causes of Reactiox. A peculiarly "vexed" question is — "How to diminish THE Crime and Misery caused by Intemperance ? " To this end, numbers of good men have long been labouring, and undoubtedly with some success. Earnest Total Absti- nence advocates have been urging their countrymen to " go to the root of the matter," and become total abstainers from intoxicants, inasmuch as, in their view, there is no other safe or justifiable course, however moderate. Yet prisons and poor-houses, asylums and hospitals, are still tilled, in great degree, by the victims of intemperance. It is therefore useful to consider whether the repression of this great evil will not be more rapidly, as well as more effectually, attained, by a practical recognition of the truth conveyed in the wise saying of an ancient writer, " The half k better than the whole." For, para- doxical as this saying appears, it is often eminently true of political progress. Public opinion is produced and set in operation very slowly. To urge it too rapidly to adopt sweeping changes, involves disappointment and reaction ; just as the attempt to fill narrow-mouthed jars, by deluging them with buckets of water, results merely in 376 Penological and Prevcntice Principles. the waste of most of the liquid and the hindrance of the desired object ; whereas gradual advances, in accordance with the readiness of public opinion to support them, are at once more easy of attainment, more secure when reached, and more widely beneficent, by their general voluntary acceptance. There are several means, involving comparatively little innovation upon existing arrangements, which, it is likely, would be followed by a considerable improvement on the present state of things, and might comparatively soon be attained, if the friends of Temperance would concentrate their efforts upon the attemj)t in such a manner as to encourage the co-operation of thoughtful public opinion. And it needs much more consideration than has hitherto been generally given, by would-be reformers, to the impor- tant fact that all measures of mere legal compulsion are easily evaded. A prevalent public opinion against forcible liquor-license restriction readily devises means to secure its wish. The diminution of Licenses for the sale of Drink, and also laws to enforce the Sunday closing of public-houses are intrinsically good objects. But their compulsory operation is already largely nullified by the sanction of unlicensed drink- ing clubs, and by individuals supplying themselves with barrels of liquor at home for use when the taverns are closed. At Cardiff, for example, the " Welsh Sunday Closing Act " has caused the establishment, not only of scores of illegal " shebeens " for the clandestine sale of alcohol, but also of many drinking clubs, which are permitted by law, and are not subject to ordinary regulation, or supervision. On one Sunday, 5000 persons were observed entering twenty-one of these clubs at Cardiff. Again in London, the increase of the well-meant, and indeed laudable, efforts of the County Council to limit the licensing of certain music-halls, frequented by prostitutes, has developed, at the West End in particular, an abominable Intemperance — Its Duninution. 377 class of " dancing clubs," usually openintr after midnight. A visitor thus described them in a London newspaper, in 1894 : " Here you can, unfettered by the County Council, become a member of the club, by payment of a fee at the door. Here you can dance with the best and the finest of the demi-monde, with music, and with vitriolised drink sup- plied to you at fabulous prices, while the master of the ceremonies will come up to you with suggestions not to be repeated. It was at one of these places, kept by an ex-convict, that I saw a poor fast woman felled to the ground by the fist of a pugilist. It was at another of these places that I saw another poor creature, well soaked in drink, persuaded to divest herself of every vestige of her clothing, and dance to an ajaplauding crowd of shameless card-sharpers, and well-dressed rogues and vagabonds. It is at these dens that the licensing laws are openly defied and the lowest form of human scum is allowed to gather, under the legalising seiris of a ' club.' " Such is the state of afiairs in London, and probably in other British cities, in the last decade of the Nineteenth Century. For practical and social purposes, the chief question to be considered, in relation to this subject, is what measures for promoting Temperance can the general public be induced to adopt, with such concurrence of opinion as is essential to render them effectual and abiding ? Now it is about as certain as anything can be, that, all teetotal arguments notwithstanding, the Anglo-Saxon race, on both sides of the Atlantic, will not, as a people, abandon their mild beers, nor the Continental nations their light wines. The ordinary French Avine ("Bordeaux") is prac- tically non-intoxicating and healthful. And the French are generally a more temperate people than the English. A writer in the St. James Gazette remarks : " The very large majority of customers frequenting public-houses, in working-class districts, do not get drunk, even on a Saturday ; yet they spend a monstrous proportion of their 378 Penological and Prcventice Principle. earnings on liquor; injure their health and keep them- selves and their families in a constant state of impoverish- ment. The essential point to them is, that the public-house represents amusement and distraction in the handiest shape. They want amusement, and take it in the way that gives them the least trouble, whether they can aflbrd it or not. It happens to be drink." In view of such considerations and facts, it is desirable to make efforts for such aids as the following means would afford. Limitation of Liquor Licenses, A limitation of Liquor Licenses would, at least in some degree, lessen temptation ; because, as it has often been remarked, a man may be able to pass several taverns with- out entry, but not a score or more, in quick succession. The limitation could be secured partly by the licensing authorities ceasing to grant any vcn- licenses beyond those already existing. The latter also, where, as is usually the case, they are numerically excessive in proportion to the local population, might be gradually taxed more and more until their number was materially reduced — the money thus gained to be appropriated in compensation to those taverns which had been obliged to succumb. In view of the enormous increments of property which the grant of licenses confers upon the persons receiving them, and in view also of the detriment to the community largely occasioned by drink, especially as tending to fill the jails, asylums and hospitals, for which it (and not the publican or brewer) has chiefly to pay, it is unreasonable to suppose that the public should also be taxed for any further gifts to the liquor trade. But at the same time those persons who have made the largest profits by that trade ought to compensate their less fortunate brethren who may be " weeded out " by the Intemperance — Itn Diminution. 379 i gradual increment of taxation. And that increment ought accordingly to be thus applied. No Appeals. — No Clerks' Fees. Licensing Committees, Avhether appointed by County Councils, Municipalities, or otherwise, should not have their decisions open to appeal to any other body. And their Clerks or Secretaries should have no fees dependent upon licenses, but should be wholly paid by fixed salaries. Regulation of Drinking Clubs. All clubs where drink is sold should be registered, and the names of their members should be open for inspection. Their hours of usage should be the same as in licensed houses. And they should pay a license duty in proportion to the rateable value of the premises. A special police officer should be at liberty to enter them at any time. No Double Licenses. Music and dancing halls should not be also, or doubly, licensed for the sale of drink. Their temptations are thus unduly increased. Private inconvenience sliould give way to public interest, in this matter. A music-hall manager, on being asked for the free admission of certain applicants, replied, " Let them in; they'll drink like devils." Prosti- tutes cannot in general be kept out of music and dancing halls. But prostitutes ^^/ms drink are more than a com- munity ought to allow any capitalist exploiter of public amusement to avail himself of, for his profit, but for the ruin of men and women. Discouragement of Strongly Alcoholised Liquors. Seeing that nearly all the evils of intemperance arise from the atvowjUj alcoholised beers and ales, and from 380 Penological and Preventive Principles. spirituous liquors, such as brandy, whisky, gin and rum, it is of importance that all such beverages should be discouraged by being made the objects of special taxation and restriction. Limited Temperance Pledges. A Dutch gentleman once remarked to the writer : " We, in Holland, are not like those poor Westphalians across the Rhine, who drink on empty stomachs and so get easily upset with the liquor. We line our stomachs well with good food when we drink." There is some sense in this course. And hence a certain English Temperance Society encourages three forms of Temperance pledges, namely, firstly a promise never to drink alcoholic beverages except at meals, or with some solid food. Secondly, not to drink them in the presence of children, and to dissuade the latter from liquor. Thirdly, total abstinence. Some persons who will not take the latter are willing to adopt one or both of the former pledges. And in either case something is gained. The old-fashioned " Temperance Pledge," against " spiri- tuous " liquors, or " strong " drink only, was also a good and helpful one. Longer Detention of Inebriate Offenders. The treatment of habitual drunken offenders requires alteration, so that they may not be sentenced to a useless succession of five-shilling fines, or of a few days' imprison- ments, almost ad in fi nit ion, but they should be detained either in Inebriate Homes or on Industrial Farms, long- enough to form sober habits, or otherwise be only left at liberty, on satisfactory bail, for good conduct, being offered. Inebriate Homes — Real and Sham. In case of the committal of inveterate drunken offenders, to Inebriate Homes, it is of essential importance that (I Intemperance — Its Diminution. 381 these shall only be consigned to institutions of this kind, conducted by authorities who have full powers of strict detention, and of immediate re-arrest (without magistrate's warrant) in case of escape, and who, in particular, will most rigidly exclude all intoxicating liquor from the premises. This is the more important, in view of the fact that, already some of the so-called " Inebriate Homes " are mere shams and impostures, where the inmates, either through bribing the servants, or by other means, obtain alcohol readily. In some of these establishments, also, the inmates merely lounge away their time in idleness and card-playing, with little or no encouragement to self-improvement and industrial occupation. Habitual drunken offenders had far better be retained in ordinary prisons (with special adaptations to their class) than consigned to sham Inebriate Homes. A genuine example of an Inebriate Home (but not for offenders) is the Dalrymple Home, at Rickmansworth, Herts. (Vide " Inebriety or Narcomania," by Dr. Normax Kerr. London: H. K. Lewis, 1894.) Vigorously Enforce Existing Legislation. — Individual Effort. The example of the success of the Magistrates in some places, in greatly diminishing local crime, by means of resolutely carrying out the provisions of the " Prevention of Crime Act," as applicable to low public-houses harbouring disorderly characters, shows how much might be similarly effected in other districts, if combined popular opinion were brought to bear upon the Magistrates and the Police. It is local action, and especially on the part of a few active and well-concerned individuals, which is most effectual in this direction. Members of Parliament are, too often, apt to be of little reliability for combating popular vices. They are so " weak-kneed." So too, sometimes, are Home Secretaries and other Ministers of State. Years ago, when 382 Penological and Prerentire Principles. a Law for suppressing Burial Clubs was under discussion, in the British Parliament, a Committee of its members examined, amongst other witnesses, the Rev. John Clay, Chaplain of Preston Jail. As he walked away from the House of Commons, he said to his son : — '" They'll do nothing. The pot-houses back the burial clubs ; and I have long ceased to hope for anything from M.P.'s when the pothouse interest has to be meddled with. They daren't offend the publicans and so risk the loss of their seats. They'll slur the matter over, you'll see, in their Report." His son adds : — " Which, accordingly, they did." Independent Inspectors. The appointment of Independent Inspectors, by the Government, to act as general supervisors (similar to Inspectors of Factories), and to report to the Central Government on local Magisterial or Police laxity, would be a further check on existing evils, without involving any startling change of current arrangements. But at present it is a curious circumstance that the effect of diminishing Licenses has, in a number of localities, been followed by additional drunkenness, inasmuch as the increased value of the public-house property, previously licensed, has rendered the Magistrates less willing to sanction the heavier penalties on the publicans involved by a rigid carrying out of legal supervision. Independent Inspec- tors, in no iraij responsible to the local autJwrities, but only to the Central Government, would be able to stimulate a more strict oversight. And such Inspectors should be required to visit, not only Taverns and Public-houses, but all Drinking Clubs and Music and Dancing Halls. The ordinary Licensed Houses or Inns, are now, in general, the best conducted, or least disorderly, of all these classes of establishments, precisely because they are more subject to control. Intonpemncc — Itn Diminution. 383 Moderate Fixes, or Penalties. In England, hitherto, the penalties to which liquor sellers are liable, for proved abuses on their premises, have tended to defeat their own object by being too severe. Milder penalties would be more frequently enforced, and would, therefore, be more certain and effectual in their operation. The Gothenburg Licensing System. At Gothenburg and some other places in North Europe, the Municipality has taken the retail sale of spirituous liquors into its own hands (but without compensating the previously licensed sellers), and has employed vendors at fixed salaries. Some reduction in local drunkenness is reported, but it is does not appear that the system has the decided advantages which some persons at a distance have claimed for it. It does not interfere with the sale of malt liquors. The profits arising from the sale of spirits in Gothenburg and the other towns are devoted to town improvements and the reduction of taxation, etc. Limitation of Sunday Sale. Whilst the stoppage of the Sunday Sale of Liquor, if attempted on a general or sudden scale, in advance of local opinion, tends to develop worse evils, yet a limitation of the Liquor Traffic on that day, if well supported by the public, is most desirable. A wise and an active philan- thropist writes to the Howard Association on this point : " Observation of many years has made me believe that no single step is likely to eft'ect so much good." But in case the public are not prepared for so decided a course, the sale might reasonably be confined to a smaller number of houses than during the week. This might be effected by issuing Special Sunday Licenses, at a considerable extra charge. And even if publicans arc willing to pay such extra charge. 384! Penological and Prerenfive Princip/cs. only a certain proportion should be thus permitted to open on that day. NoN- Alcoholic Restaurants. Great benefit has already resulted in London and other cities from the establishment of cheap and good restaurants, where no intoxicants are sold. These have been found to be very profitable undertakings, also, to their projectors. Thus the £1 slmres of the Aerated Bread Company (one of the best of these restaurant companies) have been sold at £6 premium, and have returned handsome dividends. Squalid Dwellings and Intemperance. Over-crowded and unhealthy dwellings have often con- tributed something to the causation of Intemperance, just as naoffjingf wives have tended in a similar direction. But the influence of poor dwellings has been greatly exag- gerated. For drunken, intemperate people make their dwellings dirty, disreputable and unhealthy, by their own habits. In some cities where, by local changes of resi- dence, the good houses of prosperous merchants have been converted into tenements and let out to intemperate tenants, they have become as squalid and dilapidated as ordinary slums. A drunken family will spoil any dwelling. Whereas orderly and decent temperate persons will not, in general, abide in wretched dwellings. Their habits enable them to afford houses more in accordance with their tastes. Just as pigs would soon convert a parlour into a sty, so drunkards ruin even sanitary abodes. Buii abstainers, as a class, will not stay in squalid dwellings. They either rectify or quit them. At the same time there is, in every city, decided need for increasingly vigorous efforts to improve the undrained, ill- ventilated, sunless dwellings which unquestionably con- tribute a certain share of inducement to habits of intemperance amongst those who reside in them. Inf('inpcra)icc — Itn Dhniitufivn. 385 Religious Motives and Training. Religious motives and training will always be the chief power of God against Intemperance, as against other evils. An experienced prison chaplain remarks that " Drunkenness, Sabbath-breaking and profligate com- panions are but secondanj causes of crime. The source of these and of their consequences is the neglect of religious training. Criminals are not brought up in 'the way in which they should go.' " In proof of this he mentions that out of 1,224 prisoners whom he had examined, 674, more than half, could read fairly ; but 0)thj nix possessed a good know- ledge of the Holy Scriptures. The training thus needed implies, in particular, the early formation by parents, of the habit of prayer and of the fear of God, in their offspring. As God is honoured by a main reliance upon Him and His Gospel, for the means of checking this evil, He will bless such efforts. Numbers will recognise the claims of Christ's love upon them as an obligation to Temperance, in the sense of abstinence from drunkennesfi, when those claims are perse veringly urged and not extended to merely conventional, or strained, interpretations of the word " Temperance." The Christian Church, by its manifold organisations of Ministers and Evangelists, City Mission- aries, Bible Women, and District Visitors, is, and ever must be, the grcaiod of all agencies for promoting Temperance and many other social reforms — even when not directly aiming tliereat. And notwithstanding much shortcoming in these respects, so considerable a measure of success has attended the past and existing labours of the Churches, as to point with encouragement to the value and necessity of a far greater extension of organised social aggressiveness on their part — in humble and prayerful reliance upon the all-seeing and all-present God, who will bless endeavours to gather souls to Him, and to snatch from destructive influences those for whom the Redeemer has died. c c Chapter XVIII. PROSTITUTION Importaxce of Checking its Sources. The vast evil of female Prostitution is not only a vice, but also the direct and indirect cause of many crimes. For example, the thefts perpetrated by abandoned women are innumerable. The jewellery, watches, and money stolen by them, both inside and outside of brothels, amount to many thousands of pounds annually, in every large town. Many murders have been caused by quarrels with, or concerning, prostitutes. And these women are often accomplices in burglaries and violent assaults. Mr. RusKiN, in a lecture on the rivers of Lombardy, sharply criticises the Venetians and others, who in their endeavours to restrain the wide-spreading shoals and pes- tilential marshes produced by those streams, have confined their operations to the mouths of the rivers, where their current is unmanageable and irresistible, instead of giving attention to their sources amongst the mountains, where remedial measures are more available. So, to a very great extent, has the overflowing evil of Prostitution been treated. Its sources have (with comparatively little exception) been made very secondary objects of notice and effort. Froditution. 387 The causes of Prostitution are various, and deeply rooted in the social system. Absolutely extirpated they can never be, whilst human society remains as it is at present constituted. But the prominent sources may be greatly restricted, wherever strong Christian interest is excited to efforts in this direction, and whenever stronp- vested in- terests are vigorously grappled with. It is the more important that preventive means should be resorted to, in connection with this particular evil, because of the peculiarly difficult task of reclaiming women when they have entered upon a life of shame. Both they and the men who share in their vice are more rarely reclaimed to virtue than almost any other class of evil- doers. The writer of the Book of Proverbs wrote a too prevalent truth when he said of " the strange woman, who forgetteth the covenant of her God," that " her house inclineth unto death and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again ; neither take they hold of the paths of life." And again : " Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death." " The dead are there." The poet Burns, too, had observed of this or its kindred evils : — " But oh ! it hardens all within And petriiies the feeling." In a very literal sense, even physical death soon follows a life of Prostitution. The poor women perish like rotten sheep. Every year sweeps away a multitude of them. It has been stated, by medical men, that the average duration of a prostitute's career, as such, is less than four years. And the ravages of the horrible disease of syphilis, both among the guilty and the innocent, arc terrible, enduring, and far-reaching. Many an innocent wife, witli her off- spring, is rendered a life-long sufferer, in consefjuence of sexual innnorality on the part of her husband, even if many years before his marriage. c c 2 388 Penologiml and Pfcirntivc Principles. Irreligious Education — The Divine Claims ox Marriage and Home Life. Among the chief sources of Prostitution, must be placed foremost, Non-religious Education, of boys and girls. Ordinary secular education is powerless, if indeed it does not rather tend to facilitate early sensuality. In the Puritan communities of England and New England, and amongst the Mennonite districts of Holland, Pennsylvania, and Western Germany, as also amongst Quakers, as a body, where a careful religious training in a sense of the Divine Sovereignty has prevailed, very little of the evil of Prostitution has existed. It was, we may well believe, with a special design to set forth the sanctity of the Home and the truly Sacramental character of Marriage, that our Saviour wrought His first miracle at a wedding. He thereby placed His authoritative seal and sanction on the great truth that the most religious influences of human life are intended to be promoted and developed by family love, and responsibility : and that the most blessed Priesthood is that of Parentage. The Prophet Malachi, also, referrinof to the institution of marriage, as beincr jn its best form, the union of one man and one woman, says : " And wherefore one ? That He might seek a god/i/ seed." This is, then, the Divine purpose, that every home should be pre-eminently an abode and training school for godliness. This is the greatest source, at once of human happiness and qualification for duty. What does more to soften men's hardness of heart and to develop their sympathies, than married life, with its min- gled joys, sorrows, and claims of affection ? And what a great crime it is for any man to ruin and desecrate a woman's body, which is meant to be the shrine of godliness and of the purest and life-long happiness. The grand fact of the Divine Sovereignty teaches us that Prostitution. 389 God will finally hold every man and woman responsible for their obedience, or disobedience, in regard to the consecration of their sexual relations and functions — relations which so far from being in any way incongruous with the highest interests, are designed to be subservient to, and promotive of, the happiest and holiest developments of man and woman. But through a terribly prevalent neglect of godly educa- tion, and the resulting wide-spread ignorance of every person's inalienable and individual responsibility to God, these claims of His Divine Sovereignty over marriage and sex are too often disastrously ignored. And this is one of the chief sources of Prostitution, and can only be dealt with, by more fidelity on the part of the Churches and their members, in the promotion of training the young in the fear and love of God. If there was a more general sense of this Divine Sovereignty in the matter of sex, there would not be heard from young men the foolish and wicked plea : " I am only obeying the instincts of Nature, in indulging my passions." For the instincts of Nature are given by God for subor- dination to His own wise and gracious purposes. A gluttonous fool may just as reasonably plead his liberty to gorge himself to disease and death, in obedience to an appe- tite implanted by Nature. For God's sovereignty extends over the appetites. And this Divine Supremacy over all human duty, func- tion and enjoyment, is, and will be, a great fiial reality. " All His connnandments are sure. They Htand fast for ever and ever " (Psalm cxi.). The pleasures and capacities for enjoyment of this world are given by God for man's bless- ing, but not in reference, only or chiefiy, to Time and to this brief mortal life, but rather for Eternity. A certain nonsensical and (piasi-religious sentimentality often con- demns earthly enjoyments as " worldly," and therefore wrong. But what is worldly is only wrong in so far as it is separated from its relation to tlie Eternal world. And 390 Tenologiml and Preventive Principles. it is in this sense that the Holy Spirit has to convince us of the certainty of Divine Judgment : " Because the Prince of this world [merely as such] is judged." All that is of " this world " only, passes away. Its end is corruption. Empires, Kingdoms, Aristocracies, Democracies, Parliaments, "fade as a leaf," by certain ultimate decay. But there are other "things which cannot be shaken." And the Divine Sovereignty, with its irresistible requirements of future and final responsibility, is one of the sure and " last things." It may be forgotten, or ignored now, but all who thus neglect it, will, infallibly, have to submit to it here- after. And to ignore this, for temporary indulgence, is supreme folly. If the Churches, in general, had, like the old Puritans, more faithfully promoted the education of youth, in some real sense of this glorious but awful fact of the Divine Sovereignty, what immeasurable amounts of Prostitution and other Vice would have been prevented and arrested at the source. And to a vigorous and uncompromising resort to this great principle, must every community betake itself, in proportion as Prostitution, with other evils, is to diminish. Give no Quarter to Exploiters of Vice. Secondly, the large measure of legal and social protection to the capitalist dealers in vice, must be withdrawn. It is in vain to harry and worry poor prostitutes, whilst the far worse men and women who exploit them and enslave them in their brothels are allowed to prosper, and are positively encouraged in their diabolical trade. The law, in every country, should deprive brothel -keepers, and owners of houses of assignation, of all rights of property, in so far as the users and inmates of such houses are con- cerned. They should forfeit all legal power of enforcing payment for ani/ lodgings, food, clothes, or other accommoda- tion, supplied in such houses. For they have no moral ProsfituUou. 391 rights in these things. And when convicted of any offence, brothel-keepers should never have the option of a tine. They should always have strict cellular imprisonment, or corporal punishment. In England, in 1894, a man was fined £20 for keeping a brothel. He had already been fined £220, within the year, for the same offence. He paid the last fine with a smile. And well might the fellow smile at the legal and magisterial folly which thus en- couraged his wickedness. But so long as British, American and Continental law permits, as hitherto, the nastiast and vilest of human kind to derive a profitable trade from the ruin of female virtue and the causation of cruellest misery to myriads of pitiable creatures, so long will prostitution flourish. Legislators and administrators themselves have too often been criminally lenient to vice-capitalists, because of their own sinful participation with them. Police and Prostitution. Hitherto all police supervision of prostitution has more or less failed. In many cases the police have favoured or abetted it. The women have successfully defied the " Con- tagious Diseases Acts " and medical examinations. These may, indeed, have frightened some and checked others. But the mass, both of vicious men and women, have triumphantly evaded them. If a tithe of the legal and police vigour against prosti- tutes had been directed against brothel-keepers and owners, and against their agents and procurers, such efforts would have met with no inconsiderable success. The police, or some other authorities, however, ought everywhere to have a power of entry into brothels for the 2^urpose of taking down the names of their managers, their owners and all their frequenters, which names should tK3 regularly published by authority. This, also, would be some check on the evil. 392 Powlofjical and Preventive Principles. In Liverpool, Manchester, and some other towns, the police, by an increase of vigilance and with magisterial and public support, have been able to shut up many houses of ill-fame. Intemperance as a Cause. Another source of prostitution consists in the excessive facilities for intemperance. Licensed houses for the sale of drink have become so disproportionately numerous, that, to use the words of a Chief Justice, " Amongst a large class of our j^opulation, intemperance in early life is the direct and immediate cause of every kind of immorality, profligacy and vice — and until the beershops and all taverns and public-houses are placed under some sufficient restraint and regulation, there can be little hope of effecting any material reform in the habits of the people." Special temptations to prostitution are offered by many establishments doubh/ licensed as music halls and drinking- houses, whose visitors arc importunately pressed to drink, and are at the same time plied with the worst seductions to vice. A license for music and for the sale of drink should never be given to the same premises. Doubtless this would occasion inconvenience and annoyance to some of their frequenters. But this is not for a moment to be weighed against the disadvantages and increased tempta- tion attendant on double licensing. Large Standing Armies. There are in Europe millions of men in the vigour of life, kept under arms, for the most part homeless, and in enforced celibacy. Even in the British army, only a very small percentage of marriages are sanctioned. No regula- tions can possibly prevent prostitution from largely resulting, whilst tliis source continues. But, it is replied that these large standing armies are indispensable for national security. Are they indeed ? History proclaims Proditution. 393 quite the contrary. A nation of virtuous, free jDeople, having homes of their own, will always overcome, even when suddenly called under arms, a much larger number of homeless, wifeless hirelings, demoralised by camp and barrack life, just as the American volunteers routed the trained troops of George the Third ; as, also, undisciplined Swiss and Caucasians have repeatedly worsted large armies of French and Russian regulars. And in the United States Civil War of 1861-5 the Federal farmers and tradesmen of the North similarly conquered the Southern " Chivalry," trained to arms, but debauched by slavery. Lack of Sympathy and Fairness. Prostitution is increased by unsympathetic and unfair treatment of Women. Professingly Christian society too generally reserves for the fallen woman relentless severity, whilst smiling on the " gentleman " who seduces. The latter, however rich, is perhaps fined some half-a-crown a week for a short time, whilst the weaker offender is too often abandoned altogether and driven to hopeless ruin, and often to child-murder. The crime of deacrtiiirj seduced women should be specially punished. An eminent Physician has exclaimed, not without some reason : " I wish to say a word in reference to Ladies' Purity Associations. Is it not Ladies who, in many in- stances, drive young women to the streets ? Let a young person make a false step, and that moment her mistress becomes a very dragon of virtue." Public Sentiment and Seducers. In some communities the seducer of female innocence is regarded, too generally, as being still a " gentleman." And the vile fellow who has seduced a number of poor girls, boasts of liis wickedness and is admired by others like- minded. But in certain countries also, a healthier state of 394 Penological and Preventive Principles. public opinion obtains, and its eifect is greatly to diminish seduction and to protect young females. For example, in the United States this is generally the case. Practically, in the South, the seducer may be, with impunity, " shot at sight " by the relatives of her whom he has injured ; and in the North also this is largely the case. The punishment is sharp, but it acts as a great shield to women and children. Domestic Service. From want of a little consideration by their mistresses, virtuous girls in household situations are often suddenly dismissed without sufficient cause, and this has repeatedly led to their ruin. It is also stated that a high average of insanity prevails amongst the class of female ser- vants, and that it is mainly produced by severe anxieties respecting the uncertainty of employment and the sudden loss of situations, when without other means of support. To lessen such anxieties and dangers, it is important to urge upon domestics the early formation of habits of foresight. The Post-Office Savings Banks afford a facility for aiding such habits, which would be made use of by many who only need a little persuasion, or information, to avail themselves of the advantage. When once formed, the habit of saving easily becomes a source of permanent self- assistance. The provision made by some of the most respectable business-firms for the moral and intellectual improvement of those in their employ, of either sex, united with the practice of early closing, and with arrangements for comfort and order on the Sabbath, is a further exemplary means of lessening ternptation. But in some establishments, the assistants (boarders) are not permitted to remain in the house, on Sundays, from breakfast time till late at night, but are expected to find entertainment with friends, or at taverns, " tea " gardens, etc. It is a grievous fact, and well established, that the majority of prostitutes do not come from the ranks of Prostitution. 395 street-hawkers, or factory girls, but mainly from private families, where, as servants, their subordinate position has been taken advantage of in a wicked and cowardly manner by the husband, or some other man, or youth, in the house- hold. This root of the evil can only be reached gradually by godly education. Though, perhaps, systematic public exposure (exempted from charges of libel) might have some deterrent efficacy. Abuse of Registry Offices. Of late years, a considerable amount of Prostitution has been caused through the misuse of Servants' Registry Offices, by the agents of brothel-keepers and seducers, who thus become acquainted with girls, and by means of tempting offers and high wages, lure them to their ruin. It is very difficult to suggest a means of checking this abuse. But something might be done by publicity, visitation and warning. Girls' Aid Societies and Patronage. Much also may be accomplished, for the prevention of Prostitution and female ruin, by organised and individual efforts to look after and help young girls. An admirable and successful attempt in this direction is the "M.A.B.Y.S." — or " Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Servants." It has done much good. So, too, has the somewhat similar " Girls' Friendly Societ}'." Mr. Wyndham S. Portal, a Hampshire Magistrate and Guardian, well remarks : — " Until we can find that each child has at all events one friend, we must not rest satisfied. Whether Lady Visitors, ' Sisters,' Deaconesses, Bible-women, District Visitors, or by whatever other name they may be called, let us ask them to come and help us. It was but the other day that a penitent young woman, when on lier bed of sickness, was asked if she could give a reason for having fallen when little more tlian a child, and replied 396 Penolofjical and Preventive Principles. that had she then possessed even one friend in the world in whom she could have confided, and to whom she could have gone for help and advice, her life would probably have been a far different one. May I not, then, put this question to you ? Will you befriend one poor friendless child?" Great would be the " Home Mission " work, if amongst the ^o^fallen, the poor but still ^n?pauj)erised children of England, as well as amongst the pauper and boarded-out children, each individual boy and girl, could be oftered the friendly care of some one kind lady visitor. The Reclamation of Fallen Women. The means of rescue which appear to have been the most efficient, are the exercise of sfricf/i/ private efforts, to assist with employment and kindly visitation those who have fallen or are in danger of so doing. One of the most successful labourers in this direction is a philanthropic person who, in a large town, has employed a Christian woman to devote her whole time to the visitation and industrial assistance of this class, but with the utmost privacy, so as to uphold the character and self-respect of the persons thus aided. This single agent has reclaimed 335 girls in six years ; only one relapse having been known. Privacy, complete individaalimtio}i and subsequent silence as to the past, are special elements of success in this work. Yet " Homes " and "Refuges" have their use also, especially if rendered more or less self-supporting. "Prevention better than Cure." But such remedial agencies as " Midnight Meetings," and " Homes " for reclaiming the fallen, however excellent, can only diminish j)rostitution in the ratio of " a drop from a bucket," whilst the main sources of the evil are practically permitted free and overwhelming operation. On these sources, therefore, attention and effort should Pro.'ititution. 897 be chiefly and perseveringly concentrated. The motto " prevention is better than cure," applies with thousandfold emphasis to prostitution. All attempts at Hupprcmon kHI ccrtainhj fail, except and only so far as the roofs and sources are diminished. For instance, in great military and naval stations like Portsmouth, Plymouth, Aldershot and Woolwich, where multitudes of unmarried men promote vice by whole- sale, a few " Rescue Homes " for the poor fallen women must have their benefits immensely overwhelmed by counteractive influences. Chapter XTX. SUBSTITUTES FOR IMPRISONMENT. Fines and Restitution. Even the best prisons are, in a certain sense, evils. And one of the chief aims of a wise Penology is to devise means for advantao^eousl}^ and safely dispensing with them. As one form of substitute for imprisonment, in certain cases, the infliction of Fines possesses several advantages. It obliges the offending person to make compensation to the State, or injured party, entirely at his own expense, and not at that of the honest tax-payer. Nor does its operation pre- clude its subject from continuing his ordinary exertions for the maintenance of himself and family. The chief objection to this mode of punishment, as now inflicted, consists in its arbitrary nature, by reason of the penalty being a definite sum of money, to be imposed irrespectively of the pecuni- ary position of the offender. Hence the rich and poor are often inequitably dealt with in this matter, precisely because of the nominal equality of the imposition. A more just and efficient principle might be found in taking as a standard, for at any rate certain classes of fines, the amount of a man's income, as indicated by his salary, wages, or ordinary assessment for taxation and local rates. Thus, if instead of fining rich and poor alike, so many SubHtitutdi for Imprisonment. 399 pounds or dollars, the punishment consisted of so many days' income, or so mucli percentage on the regular taxation, a principal objection which has hitherto applied to this form of penalty would, in great degree, be removed. There would be some difficulty, at first, in ascertaining, for finable purposes, a man's income or taxation. But certain legal facilities and arrangements for registering at least the taxable status or assessment of the persons in each district, might perhaps be made fairly available. It is desirable, under modern conditions of society, that a more general resort should be had to this mode of punish- ment, than to imprisonment. The English Legislature has already considerably extended its operation, by the " Sum- mary Jurisdiction Act," of 1879. The enforcement of Restitution, made under ordinary conditions of life, as sanctioned by Mosaic and ancient British Laws, and by Apostolic precept, is, to some extent, contained in the principle of Fines. The Interest.s of the Injured Party. Even modern England, with all its progress, has not surpassed, if indeed equalled, the primitive Jews and Welsh Britons in the very important matter of making the interests and compensation of f/ic person injured by a crime a more prominent object of attention than the punishment or reformation of the offender. Those wise ancient peoples made it the first point to right the wronged party, at the expense, as far as possible, of the evil-doer, or those asso- ciated with him. Restitution was one of the many noble features of the Mosaic Code. Even now, in Encrland. of all countries, an injured person has to incur much expense and trouble, in order to prosecute those who have robbed or wronged him, and even when he has secured their imprison- ment or fine, there is no thought of compensating him. At the very least, the law ouglit to undertake the trouble and all the cost of prosecutions, by some such arrangement as 400 Penological and Preventive Princij)les. the appointment, in every district, of officers like the Scotch Procurators-Fiscal. At the International Prison Congress at Stockhohn, in 1878, Sir George Arney, Chief Justice of New Zealand, and Mr. Tallack, the Secretary of the Howard Asso- ciation, both advocated a more extensive adoption of this just principle of Restitution to the injured. It was also, and more fully, advocated at the subsequent Congresses of Rome and Paris, by M. Garofalo, and others. New Zealand and Restitution. In New Zealand, the British Government systematically, and with much advantage, adopted this course, in the treat- ment of offenders amongst the Maori aborigines. It was specially inexpedient to imprison those warlike and freedom- loving people. In cases of theft, they were therefore required to pay, either to the injured party or to the local authorities, four times the value of the articles stolen ; the same standard of restitution adopted by the publican Zacchfeus, in the Gospel. In various instances, the chiefs of the tribes to which these thieves belonged, promptly paid all or part of the fines. And this had the useful effect of securins: an increased exercise of tribal influence in favour of honesty. Fines are some of the best " Labour Sentences." Under a systematic scale of application, and for certain offenders, fines constitute the most practicable mode of carrying into effect the ideas underlying the schemes of " Labour Sentences " recommended by Dr. Paley, Arch- bishop Whately, Captain Maconochie, Mr. C. Pearson, and others ; whilst the serious difficulties, inevitable with any attempt to enforce such sentences darii/g imprisonment, are thus obviated. The application of just measurement to labour tasks and piece-work, whilst in detention, is a matter of perplexity and sometimes of impossibility. Even Substitutes for Iinprisoninrnt. 401 in reference to the simpler forms of exertion, such as agricul- tural occupation, it is difficult to impose a uniform and fair standard of measurement. For instance, if a number of men are required to dig so many square yards of land per day, it will continually happen that some of them will have to deal with more tenacious, more stony, or otherwise more intractable ground than others. Also, as to such operations as cleaning, watching, serving, repairing, and so forth, the application of the principle of piece-work is im- possible, except under conditions of mere arbitrary valua- tion. The same objections already apply, in some degree, to the apportionment of " good marks " for prison labour and conduct. This plan works tolerably well in some British and other prisons ; yet it is, at the same time, a very imperfect one, and is attended by certain dangers and objectionable modes of operation. The exaction of a portion of the money-earnings, under the competition and valuation of actual life, is a more generally available basis than imprisonment, for esti- mating both the punishable capacity of a man, and also his powers of restitution to an injured comnuinity, or to ag- grieved individuals. Whether the offender be a ploughman, a mason, a shopkeeper, a servant, or a physician, the scale of his ordinary earnings, or assessment, may furnish a fair foundation for estimating an amount of punishment which shall be really penal, but free from the demoralisation of the concentrated felonry of prison life. There can be little if any doubt, that to this mode of penalty, in conjunction with a vigilant police supervision, a resort might much more generally be made than hitherto, with advantages moral and economical, deterrent and reformatory, not possessed, in nearly the same degree, by imprisonment. FixE.s ARE IX Harmony with Natural Conditions. Punishment by fining lias the important recommendation of being in harmony witli nature. For the subject of it is D D 402 Penolocjical and Preventive Prineip/es. retained under the conditions of family and social life, and under those salutary influences which are, for the most part, exerted by wives, mothers, and daughters, but which are precluded by incarceration. The adoption of Fines, on any extensive scale, should always include arrangements for their payment, at any rate by the poor, in weekly or monthly instalments, extending over a considerable period, so as to allow the offender to work out his imposition at such a rate as may be reasonably practicable. The Efficacy of Fixes Enhanced by the Alternative OF the Cell. — Fraudulent Debtors. As a stimulus to continued exertion for the payment of fines, it is necessary to hold in reserve the alternative of a prompt infliction of cellular imprisonment. Much indeed of their efficacy depends upon their being regarded as a desirable suhstitnte for confinement. And unless the latter be known to be a really disagreeable infliction, it will be chosen in preference, in many instances. Cases have often occurred in England, where Fraudulent Debtors and persons arrested for the non-payment of fines, have deliberately allowed themselves to be sent to jail, even when able to pay immediately. The reason was that they confidently reckoned upon the pleasant and jovial companionship witli other debtors, to be enjoyed in the common wards usualh^ allotted to this class of prisoners. A veteran Governor of a jail informed the writer that he had adopted an effectual scheme to disappoint such expectations. He imposed, as far as possible, unpleasant conditions of restraint and strict separation. Consequently, in a day or two after entrance, the debtors were almost certain to exclaim, " I have had enough of this ; I'll pay. Let me out." In instance after instance, the money was promptly paid in tliat prison, after a little profitable isolation and meditation. But in other prisons, where less wise measures are Suhatit/ifcs for iDipn'soiimciif. 403 adopted with Fraudulent Debtors, they willingly allow the authorities to substitute, instead of cash payment, an easy detention in the association wards, at the cost of the taxpayers. In one such case, a man who was brought to jail for the non-payment of a small sum, was found to have, in his pockets five times the amount of the debi.. But ho loved his money more than he feared the lax restraints of association in confinement, without work. All such persons should simply have the alternative of paying their fines whilst in a state of liberty, or, as an equivalent, serving a dul}' limited term of cellular imprisonment. It is indis- pensable that the latter must be salutarily penal. Conditional Liberty, or Probation. Of recent times, the most civilised nations have very advantageously adopted, as a substitute for imprisonment, flie system of Conditional Liberty, or Liberty on Probation, for certain classes of ofi'enders. It may be here observed that there is a distinction between Conditional Libert// and Conditional Libera fioii. The former applies to persons who are permitted to escape imprisonment altogether, on the condition of their continuing good beliaviour for a certain period. The latter refers to offenders who ha\e undergone a portion of their sentences of imprisoinncnt, and who have then been discharged " on ticket of leave," or otherwise on some conditions implying a liability to prompt re-arrest and re-imprisonment in case of their relapse into evil courses. It is to be remembered tluit the j)rii/fij)/(' of Conditional Liberty (as distinguished from Conditional Liberation) harl long been practically recognised in England under the forms of Bail, or personal Recognisances; and in the " BINDING over " of Certain quarrelsome or offensive persons to " keep the peace " towards their fellow-subjects, for a given period, as an alternative to imprisonment. In Germany this plan is carried out l)y means of D D 2 404 Penological and Prcrcnfive Principles. sentences of Deferred Imprisonment. That is to say, the offender receives a certain sentence, but at the same time he is permitted to be at liberty until some further mis- behaviour on his part, when he becomes at once punishable both for the original transgression and the subsequent offence. In Belgium, France, Austria, the United States, and other countries, various modes of Conditional Liberation are also now being increasingly adopted, with advantage both to the State and to the individuals concerned. Massachusetts Adult " Probation." After the State of Massachusetts had (as already mentioned) successfully adopted the Probation System for Juveniles, it extended it to Adults, by a Law, passed in 1880, which instituted as a special class, " Probation Officers " for Adults, to be appointed in every district, by the respective Municipalities. It was then enacted, in regard to each of such functionaries, as follows : " He shall, in the execution of his official duties, have the powers of Police officers, and may be a member of the Police Force of his city or town. Such Probation Officer shall carefully inquire into the character and offence of every person ar- rested for crime, for the purpose of ascertaining whether the accused may reasonably be expected to reform without punishment ; and shall keep a full record of the result of his investigation. The Officer, if then satisfied that the best interests of the public and of the accused would be subserved by placing him upon Probation, shall recommend the same to the Court trying the case ; and the Court may permit the accused to be placed upon Probation, upon such terms as it may deem best, having regard to his reforma- tion." " When the Probation Officer considers it advisable for any person placed on probation to be sent out of the State, the local authorities may make the necessary appropriation . Siibsfitiifcs for Imprisonment. 405 i(X the purpose, to be expended by him, under the direction of the superintendent of police." " The Probation Officer shall, as far as practicable, visit the offenders placed on probation by the Court at his sug- gestion, and render such assistance and encouragement as will tend to prevent their again offending. Any person placed upon probation, upon his recommendation, may be re-arrested by him, upon approval of the superintendent of police, without further warrant, and again brought before the Court; and the Court may thereupon proceed to sen- tence, or may make any other lawful disposition of the case. It shall be the special duty of every Probation Officer to inform the Court, as far as possible, whether a person on trial has previously been convicted of any crime." The above are the principal clauses of the Massachusetts Law of 1880, permitting the experiment of Adult Proba- tion, and which at once went into operation. It may be observed that it is poD/issire in its nature, and entrusts, large powers of discrimination and decision, both to the Courts and to the Probation and Police Officers. Such must, necessarily be the case, from the very nature of probation. The Secretary of the Massachusetts Commissioners of Prisons informs the writer that "The success of the (adult) probation work is unquestionable." He adds : " It is the ' ticket-of-leave system ' simplified to suit the circumstances. Most of those here released, on such probation, are drunk- ards, or night-walkers (prostitutes); and the results have been gratifying." In the smaller towns of Massachusetts, Probation usually continues for a year : in the large towns, often only about two months. The latter period is (juite inadequate for many cases. One of the Boston Probation Officers reports that one of the best results of their system is the stinmlus whicli it affords to the relatives of the offending parties, to seek 406 VcnoJocjlcal and Preventive Principles. employment for them, and to exercise some effectual in- fluence and vigilance on their behalf. He remarks : " The best success has been secured by making it a condition with their friends that employment be provided for the persons probated, before they are bailed and set at liberty." The fees paid on liberation are stated to be nearly sufficient to cover the expenses incurred in carrying out the system." In one of the Reports, an Agent relates an incident which is not without instruction. He, one day, received a sharp lecture from a wealthy and influential Bostonian, who was indignant with what he regarded as the undue laxity of the State towards offenders on probation. He said : " I would have every one of them punished, to the extremity of the law." But some time afterwards this gentleman came to the officer, in great grief, to implore aid on behalf of his son, a youth of eighteen, who had got into trouble by embezzling money from his employers. On investiga- tion, it was found that the lad's previous character had been good, and that he had fallen under great temptation. The Agent reported favourably to the Court respecting him, and he was placed on one year's probation, to obviate the disgrace of imprisonment. He afterwards returned to his former employers, who eventually took him into part- nership. His father, meeting the Agent subsequently in the street, grasped his hand, and exclaimed with emotion, " My son is safe ; I was wrong." The same Agent remarks : " I have learned to believe that none are so good that they may not err ; and none so bad that they cannot reform." Prostitutes and Probatiox. The class of "unfortunate girls," or prostitutes, often derive effectual benefit from the " probation " system, by reason of the opportunities which it affords for inducing them to return to their friends, or to enter some suitable shelter. The Massachusetts Laws are nominally severe against certain forms of unchastity, in both sexes alike ; Siihstitutcs for Tmpri>ionmcnt. 407 but there, as all over the world, the women generally have to bear the brunt, both of the shame and the punishment. The men usually secure impunity. A Probation report mentions a girl, with whom six different men, in one evening, had been observed to go off, for an immoral purpose. But it adds, " Six to one. Who ever saw one of such men in the prisoners' dock, as an accomplice ? Who ever saw one of this class of men on the witness-stand, in his own defence ? " For female prisoners, the Massachusetts Laws permit a special form of probation, or conditional liberation. The State Board of Commissioners are authorised to bind out in domestic or other service, for the concluding unexpired portion of their terms of imprisonment, such women as they consider suitable to be thus liberated, on condition of good behaviour. Failing this condition, the licences are revoked, and all the original sentence is carried into effect. Such remissions usually amount to about one-third of the full terms of sentence. The great majority of these women are reported to behave well, and to furnish no occasion for re-imposition of penalty. But it is noticed that longer powers of sentence, and of subsequent control, are still needed for the female criminals, as a class. The Old English " Ticket-of-Leave " Imposture. It is important to observe that, although one of the Massachusetts Agents compares probation to a " ticket-of- leave " plan, yet neither that nor the present English system of Conditional Liberation, under supervision, is identical with the original mischievous " ticket-of-leave " practice, as adopted for British convicts, under Sir Joshua Jebd. That officer discharged his prisoners by wholesale, with the fonn of " Tickets," but iciihout the all- important elements of adequate supervision and inquir3\ The men were simply released with wild recklessness. The results were just what might be exi^ected, and occasioned 408 Penological and Preventive Princi2)les. an outburst of robbery, burglary, violence, and other crimes, until the very name of " Ticket-of -Leave " became deservedly offensive to the public. Unfortunately, too, the memory of that blunder has ever since constituted a chief obstacle to the progress of any system of " conditional liberation " or " probation " on each side of the Atlantic. But both Massachusetts and Great Britain have since been able to remove some of this popular misapprehension, by more cautious experiments. The Howard Association axd "Probation." The Committee of the Howard Association in London, in 1881, issued a paper, drawing British attention to the advantages of the Massachusetts Probation system, espe- cially for Juvenile Offenders. As the plan was then almost unknown in Great Britain, the Home Secretary had that document reprinted in a Parliamentary Paper. Subse- quently, Colonel Howard Vincent, M.P., expounded the system in an interesting manner at a meeting of the Social Science Congress. Later still, he introduced a Bill into the House of Commons with the object of securing the legis- lative sanction of an English " probation " system for misdemeanants, somewhat similar to the Massachusetts mode. This measure passed in 1887, and is entitled " The Probation of First Offenders Act." Probation by British Legislation. Of recent years, the public mind in England has been awakening, in some degree at least, to the advantages of inflicting other modes of punishment than imprison- ment. This impression had, even previously to the passing" of the Probation of First Offenders Act led to the enact- ment of the " Summary Jurisdiction Act " of 1879. That excellent measure not only increased the powder of magis- trates, already existing under the Juvenile Offenders Act Substitutes for Iniprisoiuiicnt. 409 of 1847, to dismiss young persons, on admonition, and without imprisonment, in certain cases, but also permitted the substitution of Fines instead of detention, for various offences under the Acts relating to Poaching, Vagranc}^, Public Health, and even some Felony. The previous scale of sentences for several crimes, was also reduced by this Act. And it obviated many imprisonments of poor persons, by authorising the fines to be paid gradually, by Instal- ments. In these and certain other respects, the Summary Jurisdiction Act was a very valuable measure of penal reform. The "Probation of First Offenders Act," 1887, effected further progress in a similar direction. Its provisions are as follows : — " In any case in which a person is convicted of larceny, or false pretences, or any other offence punishable with not more than two years' imprisonment, before any court, and no previous conviction is proved against him, if it appears to the Court before whom he is so convicted, that, regard being had to the youth, character and antecedents of the offender, to the trivial nature of the offence, and to any extenuating circumstances under which the offence was committed, it is expedient that the oliender be released on probation of good conduct, the Court may, instead of sen- tencing him at once to any punishment, direct that he be released on his entering into a recognisance, with or with- out sureties, and during such period as the Court may direct, to appear and receive judgment when called upon, and in the meantime to keep the peace and be of good behaviour. " The Court may, if it thinks fit, direct that the offender shall pay the costs of the prosecution, or some portion of the same, within such period and by such instalments as may be directed by the Court." These two Acts, together with the collateral measures for the connnittal of delinquent and neglected youth to 410 PcnoJogical and Preventive Principles. Reformatories and Industrial Schools, have materially contributed toward that diminution both of prisoners and of jails, in Great Britain, which is a gratifying feature of the age. Especially satisfactory is the approximate abandonment of the imprisonment of children, in this country, of late years. In proportion as the jail has been less used than at a former period, it has proved that other ways of disposing of offenders, at once less costly and less degrading, have been found practically advantageous. May this lesson be profitably pondered. And may it lead to further advances in the adoption of more economic, more reformatory, and more effectually jDreventive modes of dealing with trans- gressors against the laws, than by an excessive resort, as in the past, to either the solitary cell, or the corrupting convict ofanof. Chapter XX. CORPORAL PUNISHMENT. Diversity of Opiniox. Another advantageous substitute for imprisonment, in certain cases, may be found in Corporal Punishment. The authority of Solomon, and of other ancient writers, has been invoked in favour of this means of correction, whilst many instances of failure and of increased perversit}" have been adduced in counter objection. And certainly the opponents of flogging appear to be so far justilied in their position, when they object to a brutal or general infliction of this punishment ; when, for example (as often occurred in military floggings), the flesh of the suflerer was so lacerated that the surface of the body became a mass of bleeding wounds. Such a spectacle is brutalising to all parties concerned. It is savage and wicked, and is cal- culated to (|uench any remaining spark of self-respect, or hope, in the person so punished. Further, it tends to jDroduce cruel and criminal dispositions, in those who have to take part in its administration. Such an infliction is, in short, barbaric torture, rather than just chastisement. The fre(]uent and habitual resort to flogging, as a punish- 412 Penologicrd and Prevodive Principles. ment, has been a failure, and has always proved incompe- tency on the part of the authorities. Its subjects have then become reckless and irreclaimable. Two Missionaries of the Society of Friends, James- Backhouse and George W. Walker, who visited the Australian penal colonies in 1834, when flogging was in constant and abundant use by the authorities, recorded — " Most prisoners have a dread of flagellation, till they have once suffered the punishment ; after this, the generality of them exhibit a decided deterioration of character." This statement agrees with the remark of the Author of " Six Years in the Convict Prisons of England," who says, " You will never find a man doing much good, after being flogged. It may make him quiet under authority, but it ensures^ the very opposite when he is free." Mr. Sheppard, who was for thirty years Governor of Wakefield Prison, one of the largest in England, stated that during all that period it was not found necessary to flog any prisoner there. He- added " It is never necessary, when other right means are tried." Even in Tasmania, where flogging had long been in frequent, or rather constant use, as a means of convict discipline, there came a period of excellent government, under Sir William Denison, of whom it is recorded by his wise counsellor and friend, Bishop Willson, that "for some years previous to his departure from the island, not one convict had been subjected to the odious lash." This question of flogging is one respecting which there is a peculiar diversity of opinion amongst practical men, of similar experience and humanity. And especially in regard to it, the old proverb may be <(Uoted — " Who shall decide, when doctors disagree ? " Still, this difference of view will be found, on examination, to be not quite so perplexing as at first sight may appear to be the case ; for there is corporal punishment and corporal punishment. And some persons who most decidedly object to the brutal form of its administration, where the flesh is mangled or f Corporal Punishment. 413 the body disfigured, do not entertain an invincible repug- nance to the comparatively mild and only occasional, or exceptional, infliction of such whipping, or " spanking " with a leather strap, as merely produces transient but stinging, pain on cruel oft'enders who are insensible to reasonable persuasion. As to the utility of this description of punishment, in cer- tain cases, there is an extensive concurrence of view amongst men whose acquaintance with the criminal classes is based upon long and close observation. Many j^rison officers are able to adduce instances where ferocious and otherwise intractable men have been subdued by a whipping, or strapping ; or even by the knowledge of its being avail- able, as a reserve power, to be certainly inflicted if called for. It is reasonably argued by such experienced authori- ties, that they have found this castigation, when inflicted as a rare and exceptional resort, a peculiarly merciful penaltj^ as obviating a much greater, though less impres- sive, aggregate of punishment, by prolonged imprisonment, or special privations. The Mercy of Moderate Corporal Punishment. And indeed the chief defence of corporal punisliment, of a moderate description, consists in its mcrcifnlncHs, both direct and indirect, especially when inflicted upon the par- ticular class of cruel and brutal men who are apt to de- spise other influences, and from whom it is necessary that their ordinary victims, weak women and tender children, shall be more effectually protected. For example, a wretch was recently brought before an English court, for having so habitually beaten his wife upon the face, that she had been disfigured with " black eyes," in consequence, twenty- seven times ! Another flung his little child violently against the ceiling. Anotlicr, because his young brother, twelve years of age, refused to go out and beg for him. 414 Penological and Preventive Princij)les. stripped the boy naked, lashed him to a chair for fifteen hours, and struck him with a strap and buckle thirty-four times. Another horrible ruffian committed outrages, on various occasions, upon twenty-two little girls, whom he had enticed into lonely places by offers of sweetmeats. Other men have kicked their wives and children with their hobnailed boots until they have broken their bones, or have disfigured them for life ; others have assaulted in- offensive persons with crow-bars and knives, or gouged out their eyes ; others have scattered death and misery amongst peaceable citizens, by means of dynamite or similar explosives. These are the sort of outrages, and their number is legion, constantly committed by a class of wretches who are at once the most cruel and the most cowardly of the community ; creatures compared with whom the ordinary thief is a paragon of virtue. Such despicable miscreants are more effectually cowed, and more promptly held in check, by smart corporal punishment than by other modes of restraint. It is ab- surd to talk about " degrading " them by this infliction. The>/ liavc alreadi/ degraded themselves to, the iittennost. Any process of treatment which either checks their crimes, or brings them to some sense of wholesome fear or shame, is at once an elevation and a mere//. Even floggings of the old sort, are inflictions which the//, at least, would have no right to deem unjust. But, for other considerations, that des- cription of punishment is not to be advocated. To these inhuman foes of their own kind, the adminstration of a moderate but stinging castigation with rods, or a whip, or leather strap, on the bare back, for a reasonable number of times, at intervals, according to the enormity of the offence, is a much more dreaded, and therefore a more effectual, punishment, than months and years of mere imprison- ment, with the encouraging association of other wretches, and under comparatively comfortable conditions of food, Corporal Pioiis/niiciif. 415 lodging, and indulgence, and all at the cost of honest tax-payers. It must be remembered, too, that many of this particular class have already done despite to a vast amount of kind- ness and patient forbearance, on the part of too-loving relatives, as mothers and wives. They have become deaf to remonstrance, and hardened to ordinary persuasives. Pro- fessor Henry Rogers remarked many years ago, in the Edinburgh licricir, in reference to such persons : " Too many of them have deliberately advanced along their career of crime, in one perpetual outrage on all the best and holiest impulses of humanity ; in contempt of that passionate domestic love which outlives the worth of its object, and the dictates of reason itself ; in spite of infinite sacrifices and never-wearied forgiveness ; in spite of the spectacle of comprehensive and all unutterable misery, caused by their perseverance in evil. To suppose that such natures as these are to be subdued by leniency, is to hope that rocks will melt in the sun." It is for such a class of criminals, those characterised by the most hateful of all crimes, crncltij, that corj)oral punisli- ment is here advocated. Either Corporal Punishment, or the Cell. For this class of ruffians, either Corporal Punishment, or the Cell, is indispensable. The latter, with moderately cer- tain cumulation for repeated offences, would in many in- stances be effectual, and perhaps be even preferable to the former. But whilst tlie almost universal alleviations of modern prison life, necessitated by unduly prolonged de- tention, and by associated labour, are retained, there will be a constant danger that such conditions of existence will become a positive attraction to lazy and reckless offenders, or will at least fail to hold out a repellent or deterrent aspect to tlie criminal and the ruffian, unless some decidedly 416 Penological and Preventii-e Principles. disagreeable elements are added, or, at any rate, held in reserve, for ultimate adoption. Ancient Wisdom. Our forefathers were not so bereft of wisdom, in regard to their treatment of certain offenders, as it has become, of late years, the fashion to represent. They often proved, by experience, the efficacy of the very brief, very sharp, and very cheap infliction of a whipping, in such cases as have been mentioned. They believed the old Book was not in the wrong when it prescribed " a rod for the fool's back," at any rate for the cruel class of fools. For some trivial transgressors, our ancestors used the " Stocks." And here, again, it is fairly open to question whether the cause of mercy has been served, by sub- stituting the prison for that short and simple mode of warninof. Is it not a harsher thing to inflict the life-lonp" stigma of "gaol-bird" for certain petty ofl'ences, together with the involved withdrawal from family support, for weeks or months, rather than to place such persons upon the " stool of repentance," with legs in the " stocks " for an hour or two, amid the not always, or altogether, unsym- pathising, if somewhat rough, criticisms of their neigh- bours ; and then to have wholly done with the affair, so far as the interference of authority is concerned ? Public opinion is apt to vibrate from one extreme to the opposite, and from one folly to another. Hence, as soon as men began to perceive the brutality of such inflictions as the rack, the knout, the thumb-screw, or the pillory, they rushed to an opposite mode of dealing with offenders' and, under the delusion that all corporal punishment was wrong, proceeded to substitute prolonged, costly, demo- ralising, and hardening imprisonments, which ultimately were, in many cases, more cruel, to spirit, mind, body, and estate, than, at any rate, the more moderate modes Corporal PunifiJimcnt. 417 of short and sharp castigation, which had previously been in vogue. Many imprisonments have permanently ruined men, and thereby cruelly punished their innocent families also ; when, by the simpler and common-sense methods of our forefathers, much of this mischief might have been imme- diately nipped in the bud, at the cost of a few shillings in money and a few hours in time. E E Chapter XXI. CRIMINAL STATISTICS. Statistics of Crime and Prisons. As respects the Statistics of Crime and Prisons, it may be observed that the measure of imperfection, which is more or less inherent to all matters pertaining to humanity, is apt to be somewhat specially characteristic of this class of figures. Many years ago, a friend of the writer, Mr. Joseph John Fox, F.S.S., of Stoke Newington, read before a meeting of the British Association, a paper on the nccessifij of unifor- m'du of basis for statistical calculations. This principle is one of great importance ; but it is very apt to be disregarded. This neglect involves much practical difficulty in various directions. Thus, in reference to Crime, it is to be noticed that the legal definitions, and therefore the statistical tabulations of " Murder," " Burglary," " Forgery," etc., not only vary considerably in different countries at any one period, but have also undergone consecutive changes in each parti- cular nation. Hence, for example, if a statistician makes a collection of the English official returns, in regard to the number of burglaries, or forgeries, committed during suc- cessive decades, in this country only, it will be found, on careful examination, that owing to the progress of legisla- Criminal Statistics. 419 tion during the later periods, certain new forms of these crimes have become included under the categories in ques- tion ; or, otherwise, certain old forms have been excluded from them. In the iirst issue of the English Judicial Statistics in their reorganised mode of presentation, in 1894, it was remarked by Mr. John Macdoxell, that from year to year, the statistical student, or writer, should note, as is done in the Italian Statistica Gindiziaria Penale, changes in criminal procedure law, or in other parts of criminal law likely to affect the returns : e.g., extension of summary jurisdiction ; alterations in the definition of crimes ; decisions of great consequence ; and the formation of new Courts. But it is often very difficult, if not impossible, to adapt statistically such changes to previous or existing figures. Thus, if it is attempted to compare the statistics even of Murder, in different countries, it will be found difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain how far the respective figures include, or exclude, cases of manslaughter and general homicide, as distinguished from deliberately " wilful " or premeditated " murder." The legislation of the principal States of Europe and America differs so considerably, in regard to such points, that, at the best, only approximate accuracy can be secured in any calculations or inferences, based even upon the official penal statistics of these coun- tries, as compared with one another, or as generally sum- marised. Further, the departmental organisations for the collec- tion and determination of statistics, in the respective nations, vary so mucli, in reference to tlieir efficiency, as to import additional elements of imperfection and perplexity into the matter. Nor is there much reason to conclude that under the existing circumstances of States, a satisfactory avoidance of these difficulties is likely to be arrived at, at any early period. Hence the whole question of Inter- national Statistics, especially in regard to penal matters, E E 2 420 Penolorjical and Prevcnfive Principles. must be regarded as essentially defective, and of merely elementary development, from the point of view of mathe- matical accuracy. And yet, essential as is this numerical accuracy, it only forms one portion of the materials requisite for arriving at a uniform basis of statistics. An elaborate machiner}' for the collection of figures and enumerations may be per- forming its duty, with a fair degree of completeness, within its own province, and all the while, it may be con- veying a very erroneous final impression as to the real condition of affairs, for want of collateral and qualifying information on other connected matters. For example, the statistical returns of various districts of the British Metropolis indicated, to a certain student, a spe- cial mortality in several parishes. So far as the figures were concerned, this indication was perfectly correct. Never- theless the impression, at first naturally received, was altogether and most properly modified by the subsequent discovery that these apparently very unhealthy districts contained large hospitals, or infirmaries, where patients, in €langerous stages of illness and injury, were collected from the surrounding parts, and the deaths of many of whom gave an exceptional character to the local mortality in ques- tion. Again, there was a very healthy place in Cornwall, in which, during a certain year, only four deaths were re- corded. One of these was by public execution. It would, therefore, be perfectly correct, so far as mere mathema- tical accuracy is concerned, to remark that twenty-five per cent, of the deaths, there, in one year, took place at the hands of the hangman. But, at the same time, such a statement would tend to convey an impression unjust to the people of that virtuous and orderly locality, in which the execution of a criminal was probably an occur- rence so exceptional, that it is doubtful if any other indi- vidual, from there, had been hanged for half a century or more. Cruiunnl Statidics. 421 The above are extreme illustrations of the possible dangers of reliance, upon mathematically accurate statis- tics. But some such danger often, if not indeed always, exists in this department ; and it is intensified b}^ the pre- valent deficiency, even of the single element of numerical accuracy of registration. In consequence of these almost unavoidable features of statistical defect, throughout the woidd, more or less, it is needful that Penologists, everywhere, should not attach too much importance to mere numerical returns. For it may be fairly concluded that, in vicAv of the actual cir- cumstances of the collection and condition of International Criminal Returns, their general value is much over- estimated in many quarters. Some Penologists, it is true, are hoping great things from a further development of this class of Statistics. But there seems to be very little real ground for an expectation of early or considerable advantage arising in this direction. It would have been well for some nations, if portions of the lai'ge sums of money and of the great amount of time, long devoted to the collection of minute numerical details, in reference to prisons, police, and arrests, had been appro- priated rather to the study and exposition of a few simple principles, to be practically regarded in the treatment and prevention of crime. Government Departments are apt to manifest undue favour to such excessive statistical registration, for two reasons ; firstl}', because it gives easy routine work to many officials; and, second)}-, because it affords a great show of attention to duty, and at the same time often fur- nishes a convenient excuse for indefinitely postponing more laborious, but more essential, performances for the public welfare. A very serious defect in the criminal and other official statistics, even of some of the chief nations, is that they are not seldom characterised by culpable omissions. Where 422 Penological and Preventive Princijyies. there is not the positive suggcstio falsi, there is sometimes to be found, and not always in a small measure, the siippressio reri. In some ostentatious volumes of Departmental Returns, the careful Penologist may look in vain for im- portant information which he ought to find there, but which is studiously withheld ; whilst at the same time, a tedious minuteness, in comparatively trivial matters, is thrust upon the reader, to the extent of many pages of figures. The class of numerical statements, sometimes known as " cooked accounts," is not such a rarity as it ought to be, even in Returns issued ofiicially to Parliaments and the public. And where, when, or how, may we hope for a generally effectual remedy for this ? Chapter XXII. THE POLICE Especially in Relation to Pawnbrokers, Publicans, Prostitutes and the Prevention of Crime. The Police More Influential than Prison Authorities. Not only has there been manifested, in most nations, a too prevalent tendency to over-estimate the general efficacy of Imprisonment, but also and especially, a disposition to form an exaggerated idea of its influence, in comparison ■with tliat of the Police. The latter have been too exclu- sively regarded as mere instruments of arrest and of detec- tion ; or as a body of men wdiose chief function consists in being the outside servants of the prison authorities. In reality, the position and powers of a wisely organised Police Force are much more efficacious and comprehensive in their operation than those of the other class. The officers of Prisons have, for their special duty, the infliction of punishment, and to a certain minor extent, the applica- tion of reformatory efforts, in regard to those persons placed under their cliarge. But such constitute only a \evy small proportion of the community. Whereas the Police are more or less brought into contact with the great body of the population ; and if rightly directed and trained, they have unlimited opportunities, both for the exercise of 424 Penological and Preventive Principles. preventive influences in regard to crime, and for the pro- motion of various modes of social improvement. Yet, in most countries, hitherto, the splendid possibilities and powers of a beneficently organised Police, have been largely ignored, or very inadequately regarded. For example, throughout the greater portion of the European Continent, the governing authorities appear to have had little idea of making their police anything but a mere agency for the purposes of political or criminal espionage and arrest. The detection, rather than the prevention, of offences, has too exclusively constituted the function of these officers. But this is a grave mistake. For in proportion as such a one-sided course is adopted, it becomes the interest of the police to abstain from influences and exertions which might, by destroying or obviating criminality, at the same time deprive themselves of the opportunities of earning reward and promotion. The motive and principle resemble those of the cunning rat-catcher, when paid in proportion to the number of animals which he secures in his snares, and who there- fore, takes, also, effectual measures that the supply of such creatures shall never fail, or be reduced in such a degree as to put an end to his own occupation. But when his services are utilised in a more intelligent manner, by his. employers, and when he is remunerated in proportion to the success of his endeavours in keeping places altogether and permanently clear of the vermin, it is observable that he manifests resources of skilful efficiency, which appeared to be beyond his power, so long as he was paid only for the capture, rather than for the continuous absence of the rats, as tested by the discontinuance of their depredations. Absence of Crime, a Chief Test of Police Efficiency. Similarly, a decisive test of the success of the Police system of any country, is the general comparative amount The Police. 425 of its crime. This is not to be chiefly measured by the number of criminals arrested, but by the known and felt absence of violence, theft, and vice. Certain countries, or districts, could be named, where there is a notorious pre- valence of serious crimes, whose perpetrators remain, in many instances, undiscovered and unpunished. This indi- cates a double inefficiency of the local authorities. They are, in such places, comparatively impotent, both for preven- tion and for detection. Whereas the characteristic of able police administration, is skill in both directions. But the prevention requires much more ability than the detection. And hence it is found, as a matter of fact, that the Police who are best trained in preveiitire efficiency are also the most skilful in detective ingenuity. Distinctively Military Police are the Less Intelligent. The comparative efficiency and popularity of the British police are in a great degree to be attributed to the progress already made, in efforts on the part of their chief officers, to develop amongst their men the faculty of individual thouglitfulness and general practical aptitude. Tliey are encouraged to use their own wits, and to think for them- selves. This they are the better qualified for, inasmuch as they have not, for the most part been subjected to previous military training. It must, however, be acknowledged that much more of this intelligence is still to be desired, even on the part of the Metropolitan police. One of the chief au'l most successful of British Police Autliorities has remarked to the writer, — " Soldiers, in general, make the wornt police, precisely because they have usually been trained not to thinl: for fhemsclres, but simply to obey commands implicitly. If you order an old soldier to perambulate a certain street, he will just ' cover the ground,' and do nothing more. He simply goes where he is told to go, and sees what he is told to look at, but is apt to 426 Penological and Frcvcntiic Principles. direct his attention to nothing beside, and to allow all else to elude his observation ; because he has always been taught to do nothing but to obey orders in a mere mechanical spirit." The same officer added, " If one of my men asks me to give him precise directions for the detection of a certain crime, I know that he is not adequately skilful. I expect him to think out and to derise,for himself, the best means of detec- tion, in accordance with the special circumstances of each particular case. But unless he has been trained, or accus- tomed, to think for himself, he is incompetent for such mental exertion." And hence it is that mere military police fail in the highest functions of a first-class organisation. Their antecedents, as a body, have not only not qualified them for the lively, independent exercise of their own intellects, in the double work of detection and prevention, but have positively unfitted them for such important services. In other words, the very foundation of military efficiency is one of the chief sources of incompetency, as respects the highest police functions. This important truth is, however, greatly disregarded by many authorities, both in reference to the police and prison officials. Efficiency of the British Police. It is no undue boast, on the part of Englishmen, to assert that, notwithstanding some decided defects, the police of their own country are amongst the most efficient in the world, and are indeed probably unequalled. One reason for this high position is that the central and municipal autho- rities in Great Britain have, at any rate of late years, chosen for their chief Directors or Commissioners of Police, gentlemen of high qualifications, and have not permitted the elements of political partizanship to usurp a prominent influence in this selection, in comparison, at least, with the extent to which such inducements have operated in regard to some other appointments. It is true that these able chiefs have, in general, had a military training ; but then The Police. ' 427 this has been of a very different nature from tliat of the comparatively uneducated private soldiers. The former have been men of much intellectual development, through collegiate or university advantages, and have thus been accustomed to think and act for themselves. Some of the foremost among them have been, and are, men of piety and morality. Tliey have been in sympathy with the people, and have insisted upon their subordinates cultivat- ing this spirit. The British police, as a body, are therefore popular. And herein consists much of their power. An experienced Director of the police said to the writer : — " We are ' in touch ' with the people. Otherwise we could not get on at all ; or, at any rate, we could not maintain order with anything like our present numbers." Moral Functioxs of the British Police. The attainment of success, in the eminently important vservice of preventing or diminishing crime, imperatively demands the cultivation of moral qualities and human sympathies, in addition to detective intelligence. And in this department, also, many of the British police are exem- plary. They have approximated the honourable standard described by an observant magistrate, in the following words : — " The Police should not be a separate body, antago- nistic to the people, but more citizens than police ; respected and valued by their fellow-subjects, and specially fitted to keep a friendly watch on liberated prisoners." Many of the English Police, both in the superior and subordinate ranks, are to be numbered amongst the prac- tical philantliropists of the nation. They are kind to the children and dumb animals, and courteously helpful to the citizens in the streets. And tliey may fairly be credited with some share in securing tliat marked diminution of serious crime, which has taken place in Great Britain of late years. 428 Penological and Preventive Principles. The Police and Receivers of Stolen Goods. There is a form of evil, in Great Britain especially, to which legislation and public attention have not been adequately directed, and in regard to which the interests of the community demand that more power should be given to the police, or at least to the Superintendents, and more intelligent officers amongst them. This is a most fertile root of crime, and consists in the insufficient con- trol over the Receivers of Stolen Goods and similar " Crime Capitalists." It has been repeatedly observed that, if there were no receivers or dealers in stolen pro- perty, there would be very few thieves. There are, amongst the Pawnbrokers, many respectable persons who afford considerable assistance to the police in the detection of crime, but there is also amongst them a minority of a very different character. And the business of even the best class of Pawnbrokers, for want of more stringent regulations, may render them unconscious instruments of facilitating crime. There has also arisen, of late years, a body of men who advertise for large or small consign- ments of goods from distant places, for which prompt payment is promised and no questions are to be asked. This mode of doing business places great temptations in the way of dishonest servants, workmen, and others. It also aids the operations of " The Long Firm," a name given to individuals, or groups, who, whilst pretending to be legitimate merchants, are in reality base thieves, often on a wholesale scale, inasmuch as they obtain, by regular order, goods for which they have no intention whatever of paying, but which, through the help of other dishonest traders and receivers, they promptly turn into cash, at a very cheap rate, and at a good profit (having incurred no expense for the same), and then disappear, or become bankrupt, or in various ways manage to elude the grasp of the law. Very extensive injury is thus inflicted The Police. 429 upon the public, and cruel wrong done to many respectable dealers. But hitherto, when any attempt has been made, in England at least, to impose an effectual check upon •such dishonesty, some of the oftenders, or their agents, have been able to mystify the public, and frustrate the needful legislative changes. They have pointed to the danger of increased police power, and have pleaded that only a minor portion of their business is connected with fraud. And, like the young woman who excused her having an ille- gitimate baby, because it was " so small," so by raising a somewhat similar plea, some of this class have succeeded in averting that vigorous repression of their operations which is essential. There can be no doubt but that a vast amount of property is annually stolen with impunity, in every country ; and somehow it finds purchasers. Individual thieves are often apprehended, but it is a rare event to see one of the wholesale receivers convicted. Yet these are incomparahhj more dancjerous, more intelligent, and more culpable, than the open thieves and robbers. In regard to this, as to other public evils, the sources and roots of the mischief should be mainly dealt with. But, with some exceptions, this has not yet been the case. It ought not to be an insuperable difficulty, in England, to secure measures for destroying the confidence between thieves and the cunning receivers of their jDlunder, the men who have their secret melting furnaces in readiness to promptly convert stolen gold, silver, and jewellery into a condition beyond the power of identification by its legiti- mate claimants. It has been suggested that special induce- ments, through a reduction of sentence, or of punishment, should be held out to thieves to furnish such information (often only known to themselves) as might tend to bring to justice the cliief agents and abettors of crime, these more wicked dealers in plunder. The Police have long been obliged, through defect of the laAv in this direction, to refrain from arresting persons whom they have good 430 Penological and Preventive Principh'S. reason to consider the most dangerous and effective sources both of local and distant crime. It was stated by Mr. M. D. Hill, that for one such person punished, five thousand have escaped. It is also to be desired in England that the Police, or, still better, some Magisterial authority, such as the Scotch Procurators Fiscal, should be furnished with greater powers for the initl\tiox of Prosecutions, both of the receivers of stolen goods and of other criminals in general. This too generally devolves upon private persons, to the great injury of the public interests. Police Institutes. Most valuable aids to the moral elevation and general efficiency of the Police, as a body, have of recent years been afforded by the establishment of Police Institutes, in Great Britain, the Colonies, and the United States. The extension of these Institutes, or Clubs, has been greatly promoted by a philanthropic lady, MiSS C. GURNEV, whose labours in this direction have been most praise- worth}^ From the Central Institute at Adelphi Terrace, London, branches have been established far and wide. The principal Institutes combine Libraries and Recrea- tion Rooms, with arrangements for the encouragement of Temperance, Thrift, Excursions, Meetings, and Entertain- ments. Police Orphanages and Convalescent Homes have also been instituted. By means of correspondents and travelling agents, an active organisation of a model character has been formed, which has already conferred great benefit upon the Police and the community in many lands. The chief authorities have helpfully encouraged these Institutes, the further extension of which is desirable in every countr3^ In America, a similar movement has been greatly helped by the New York " City Vigilance League," and kindred bodies. ^ TJie Police. 431 The Police and Kindness to Animals. In Great Britain, the Police render excellent service in the promotion of kindness, and the discouragement of cruelty, to animals, especially horses and dogs. The shock- ing treatment of such poor beasts in France, Spain, and Italy, ought to be checked by the Governments of those countries, where, also, the Police should be requested to devote special attention to the repression of an evil which is so dishonourable to any nation. The Police and the Poor. The Police can, and often do, render valuable assistance to the poor, in the manifestation of various modes of practical sympathy. In Edinburgh, for example, in con- junction with a local benevolent association and certain philanthropists, such as Mr. Keith Murray, Mrs. Mac- DONNELL-Lemmi, and others, and with the active en- couragement of Captain William Henderson, the local Chief Constable, the Police have greatly improved the condition of poor children in that large city, by their services in connection with admirable arrangements for lending clothes to the most destitute families, under wise conditions. Police Matrons. Both in the United States and Great Britain, of late years, a long-needed reform has been introduced, by the employment of middle-aged women, as Matrons, at Police Stations and Police Courts, for the care of prisoners of their own sex, and of children under arrest. Many philan- thropic ladies, such as Miss Florence Balgarnie and others, have already laboured for this reform ; as also has the Howard Association. The more general, not to say universal, employment of Police Matrons is, however, very needful. 432 Penological and Prcrcnfive Principles. The Police and Temperance. A number of " Temperance Unions " have been formed amongst the London and Provincial Police. They have been greatly helped by Mr. John Kempster and other energetic workers, and have been joined by some of the principal officers. A fine example of the latter was the late Mr. John Kobin.son, Detective-Superintendent of the Birmingham Police, an able and universally respected man, and a practical Christian. In one period of live years, he induced one hundred and thirty-seven policemen to sign the Total Abstinence pledge. Many members of the Force, with their wives and families, were largely indebted to his influence for the happiness of their lives and homes. Some excellent remarks on the importance of Temperance amongst the Police were made at a meeting at the Mansion House, London, by Mr. James Monro, then one of the principal Commissioners of the Metropolitan Police. He said — " I must not lose sight of a special temptation which is caused, not by the work that the Policemen have to do, but by the action of others. I think most of you will bear me out in saying that there are not many places in London where a Policeman cannot get his beer, pretty well all the year round, for nothing. This is very much more insidious and dangerous than the temptation which is afforded by the performance of hard work, because yielding to it means the omission to perform duty, shutting a man's eyes and holding his tongue. If, by Total Abstinence, j^ou overcome this evil, then I am perfectly certain you will be better policemen and better men." In America also, the temj^tations put in the way of Police by drink-sellers are very great. Dr. Howard Crosby states that the Chief of Police, in one city in the United States, earned some thousand pounds sterling annually " by his carefulness in leaving the license-law breakers alone." It is further stated by Rev. JosiAH Strong, Secretary U.S. The Police. 433 Evangelical Alliance, that in New York, until recently, the liquor vendors collectively possessed such power, throuf^h bribery of some of the Police officials, that, in certain cases, punishment was secured, not for the violator of license laws, but for the conscientious subordinate of the Police who might venture to arrest such a one. In order to extend Temperance, whether amongst police- men or the general community, a principal condition of success is the contrivance and adoption of such details of arrangement, as render the desired object readih/ prac- ficahle, and prevent its becoming too difficult of attainment. Thus the movement in favour of popular sobriety amongst the general community has of late years made very consi- derable progress, chiefly through the opening of numerous self-supporting establishments for the sale of cheap and good substitutes for intoxicating liquor ; or otherwise, for the provision of light, warmth, books, music and recreation, as attractive rivals to the tavern, or gin-palace. Compara- tively little advance was made in the Temperance cause, until these facilities for its more general observance were secured. And, in like manner, if the Police authorities are to encourage sobriety amongst their men, and to protect them from the very severe temptations to which they are subjected, it is necessary for them also to institute such detailed arrangements in connection with the stations, lodgings, and duties of their men, as shall bring the desired object within their reach, easily and generally. Hot tea, coffee, or cocoa, should be provided at all Police-stations, for the men during the night and early morning ; and they should be allowed to fortify themselves with such non- intoxicating beverages during prolonged liours of duty. Soldiers and sailors have, in many instances, been greatly assisted and cheered by having such refreshments served out to them in the early mornings, and also just before going on guard at night. F F 434 Towhrjkal and Preventive Principles. Need of Public Co-operatiox. In every countiy and town, the efficiency of the Police greatly depends upon the interest taken in them by the general community, and upon the wise vigilance exercised in regard to them, by the People and the Press. In several cases, where there has been a temporary exertion of special Police efforts in the direction of Temperance, Sanitation. or Kindness to Animals, it has been observed that these endeavours were intimately connected with the stimulus furnished by certain local Philanthropists, Editors, or Asso- ciations ; and that when these relaxed their diligence, the Police also relapsed into comparative inertness. The Police, the Publtc, and the Press, are three colla- teral and mutual influences, neither of which can become inactive, without loss to all parties concerned. In Great Britain there is an increasing development of this beneficial and truly patriotic union. Public Womex, Public Houses axd the Police. It is with regard to public women and public houses that Police failures, or corruption, chiefly and most often arise ; because here the men themselves are most open to temptation and bribery, through the strong induce- ments of appetite. Even in the cities where the Police are most efficient, as in London and Berlin, they are verer reUahle — never safe, as the sole or chief protectors of societj- from the e\dls of PROSTiTUTiox, whether as to its degTad- ing vice, or its constantly connected robbery and violence. The Police are always under special — sometimes almost irresistible — -temptations, to levy blackmail on the frail sisterhood, either in money, or in compliance with evil. Vigilance over the Police, as well as by Them, Indispensable. In the interests both of the Police and of the Public, the latter should be well protected, by the law, against any I The Police. 435 abuse of authority, or needless violence, on the part of the former. This is largely the case in Great Britain, where the Police are legally punishable for such transgressions of duty as the unnecessary use of their truncheons, or for making wrongful arrests, or for perjury, drunkenness and other offences. But, in some other countries, they are practically permitted to become instruments of oppres- sion and even of brutality. This is a very unwise policy on the part of the chief authorities, for it tends to destroy the pojjular sympathy with the Law and with its agents, and deprives the Police of that support and respect, on the part of the public, which are of such material service for the facilitation of their duties. Utility of " Watch Committees " over the Police. Neither Prostitution nor Drunkenness can be effectually put down by the Police, or by mere legal Prohibition. The experiences of Paris, Berlin, Brussels, and other cities where the " Police des Moeurs " have been glaring failures, and sources of rank demoralisation, prove this, as to the former vice. And the wide-spread evasion of " Total Prohibition," in some of the United States, conclu- sively demonstrates it as to the other. Nevertheless, in each case, certain checks, or powers of control by the Police, are very needful. But, in view of tlic ordinary liuman frailty and special temptations of these officials, it is essential to public morality that some independent or collateral authority should be instituted, both for the assistance and for the control of the Police themselves, in reference to these special tempters, before whom they so often fall prostrate — the public woman and the public- house keeper. In London the authority of the Chiefs of Police is comparatively autocratic. It is partial!}' influenced by the Home Secretary in the " Metropolitan District," and F F 2 436 Penolofjical and Pirrcntire Principles. by a small Committee of Aldermen in " the City " proper ; but generally these collateral elements of control are of very limited activity. The Civic supervision, however, appears to have been more satisfactory and effectual than that supposed to be specially exerted by the Home Office, in the wider " Metropolitan District." But in man 3^ of the provincial towns there are vigilant and efficient bodies, appointed by the local Municipalities and named " Watch Committees." Their function is to guide and watch the guardians of public security. Most valuable, in many places, is this independent check and support. And it has often prevented the police from getting themselves, and others, into difficulties. The highest Police efficiency, in every department, but especially in reference to Morals, is essentially dependent upon the measure of collateral control possessed, and of vigilance exercised, by the local Municipalities, or County Councils, or similar Boards, and by the Press. And it is to be particularly i-emembered, in this connection, that the importance of the Police, as a body, will continue to increase, in proportion as, in various countries. Con- ditional Liberty, instead of Imprisonment, and Conditional Liberation, after a certain measure of detention, become more and more resorted to, as means of effectually dealing with offenders, rather than by an undue resort to the Prison, with its numerous disadvantages. Chapter XXIII. JOHN HOWARD'S PRACTICAL PRINCIPLES. The present volume seeks to render homage to simple but ^reat and fundamental principles, both for the Prevention of Social Evils, and the maintenance of Social Good. And it may be useful to some readers to remind them how practically the illustrious Howard based his actions uj^on these or similar principles. John Howard, F.R.S., was born in 1726, at Hackney, educated in London, engaged in business pursuits in the City (Watling Street and Old Broad Street), resided, before iind during hi.s first years of married life, at a house (still .standing, in 1895), in Church Row, Church Street, Stoke Newington, but subsequently dwelt chiefly at Carding- ton, near Bedford, He became High Sheriff of Bedford- shire in 1773, and died at Cherson, in Russia, in 1790, aged 64. He travelled about fifty thousand miles, and expended £30,000 of his property, in efforts of mere}'. Diu'ing his life he received the thanks of the British and Irish Parliaments, and the homage of Europe, from the prince to the peasant. His death was ofl^icially announced in the London Gazette, and occasioned lamentation through- out the civilised world. He chose for the single motto of his epitaph, tlie words, " Christ is my Hope," and reijuested 438 Pciwlofjical and Prerciitke Principles. that the text for his funeral sermon should be Psalm xvii. 15: " As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness." It has, perhaps, been too common to regard him merely as a man of one object, as an indefatigably persevering- visitor of prisons, at home and abroad, and a keen-eyed investigator and exposer of their abuses. But he was much more than this. A leading feature in his character was his comprehen- siveness of aim, together with an unimpassioned, practical circumspection of the jjyos and cons, and the associated bearings, of all the subjects which interested him. In this he was an eminent example to philanthropists, that excellent class of men whose besetting weakness is, not unfrequently, to pursue their objects so rapidly and impulsively as to lose sight of the guiding posts of surrounding fact, B^wd to plunge into difficulties which might otherwise be obviated, or diminished, by a due regard to the real state of things around. This width of outlook was the more creditable to him, inasmuch as he never had the advantages of a University education, and was born amid some of the narrowest sectarian influences. But his com- bination of Scriptural study and meditation, with London business training, much travel, and long intercourse with Churchmen, Roman Catholics, Quakers, Unitarians, and others, more than compensated for this disadvantage. A decided Congregationalist himself, he regularly accom- panied his two successive wives to the services of the Church of England, once each Sunday. A staunch Protes- tant, he dwelt with delight upon the manifold charities of self-denying Roman Catholics, witnessed by him on the Continent, and on their efforts for the reform of prison discijiline, which anticipated his own, by the establishment of several prisons and reformatories in Rome, in 1G55 and 1704, possessing improvements far in advance of any Protestant institutions of the time. And he expressed dis- JoJin IloicanVs Prncftcal Friiiciphf!. 439 approbation at the liarsh treatment of aged monks by tlie Emperor Joseph II. He habitually cherished intimacy with many members of " his favourite religious sect, the Society of Friends," as his biographer, J. Baldwin Brown, terms the Quakers. To some of these, and, in particular, to Dr. John Fothergill, the founder of the large Quaker School at Ackworth, in Yorksliire, he was indebted for many suggestions and much useful assistance in his prison labours. His admiration of civil and religious liberty, simplicity, and useful industry (the latter specially enforced in the Dutch jails and schools) attracted his interest more to Holland (which he visited nine times) than to any other foreign land. But, plain and simple as he was, he was also so eminently polite, so gallant to ladies, and so neat in his attire, as to be most welcome in company, and he was once mistaken for a French dancing master. He pursued his inquiries abundantly amongst ministers of state, magistrates and other authorities ; but he also visited and questioned the prisoner, the criminal, and the outcast. He moved an honoured guest amongst nobles and even monarchs ; but he records, " Let this maxim be a leading- feature in my life, — coii-^fanf/// to fdcowv and rcHi'rc fliosc fjicd are loursf." Kings honoured him, Senates thanked him, the Pope blessed him ; yet he was literally " a hero to his valet." His faithful attendant, John Prole, charged his children to imitate his " good master," " that wortliy, benevolent and good man, Mr. Howard, with whom I enjoyed all the happiness that a rational mind could wish." His comprehensiveness of effort was by no means confined to Prisons. He was a pioneer of Saxitahy Reform. His last great journey was undertaken, not to visit prisons, but to investigate into, and acquire the most accurate in- formation possible in relation to, the Plague, its nature, origin, treatment, cure and prevention. Hospitals and Lazarettos claimed a vast amount of observing study from him. He not only urged the importance of a great increase 440 Penological and Preventive Principles. of attention to cleanliness, diet, and regular nursing in these institutions, but far outstripped his contemporaries in the perception and inculcation of the value of ventilation, and exposed prevalent errors as to the inert and poisonous tendency of confined or vitiated air. He urged also the necessity of a (/ood irater sappl// and thoroiifjh drainage, for all buildings. Nor did he overlook the sanitary advantages of light and sunshine, but denounced the window tax. All his study was practical ; not mere library erudition, or book- shelf knowledge. Everywhere his plan was to visit personally — see for himself — measure, weigh, note, record in every detail. He was, as Dr. William Guy remarks, a most eminent STATISTICIAN — indeed, a model statist. A model Landlord also was he. Not in mischievous, poverty-perj)etuating alms-giving to his tenants ; but by liberal, intelligent beneficence and well-calculated charity. He mainly aided the poor by inducing them to /lelp t/ieni- ■selves. He made his bounty generative, as George Peabody did, a century later. He greatly encouraged Popular Educa- tion in his vicinity, but did not believe, as some modern School Boards seem to do, that education of the head is much real help to the children of the poor, apart from education of the heart and htnuh, and training to industry. One of Howard's principles, in the education of children, the reformation of offenders, and the prevention of crime, was remunerative industry — his again and again repeated motto was the Dutch saying : " Make men diligent and you irill mal/like all the martyrs) He could have struck His enemies dead in an instant — the merits of His Incarnation, with His Avliole Life, Death, and Resurrection — are boundless, and, there- fore, in God's great pity, they avail for the pardon of all sin, but with simultaneous honour to God's Majesty. This snhstitiitio)iari/ merit of Christ is a great gift of grace to man, who is in himself so weak. This free (/iff, from an inexhaustible treasury of Divine goodness, is just what is needed by poor /real,- humanit}^ as such, whilst at the same time glorifying to the Highest. Christ, as the Good Shepherd, leads His frail sheep, and carries His tender lambs. And just as the setting sun throws, far and M-idc, a warm glow of crimson and golden light on the shining windows of whole terraces of houses on a hill-side, or on 448 Penological and Preventice Principles. the high, reddened trunks of the mountain pines, so the merits and pardon of Christ, given to man, diffuse honour and blessing on a redeemed race. Well may the ascription be reverently, and eternally, raised, " Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift." Not only does Christianity reveal a reason for whole- some fear, amongst individuals and communities ; it also furnishes the brightest and surest source of hope and virtuous encouragement to our race. For it conveys the proof of the infinite love to man, shown by the God of immaculate holiness. The Incarnation was (as the poet Hawker, of Morwenstow, has concisely expressed it) that exceeding gift of Divine Grace : — " Where woke to breath and beauty, God's own birth, For men to see Him hi/." The previous revelations of the Highest, whether in outward nature, or by comparatively vague spiritual impressions, had not adequately manifested the depths of sacred sympathy existing in the Supreme Father. As Lord Macaulay has remarked, "God, the uncreated, the incomprehensible, the invisible, attracted few worshippers. A philosopher might admire so noble a conception ; but the crowd turned away in disgust, from words which presented no image to their minds. It was before Deity embodied in a human form, walking among men, partaking of their infirmities, leaning on their bosoms, weeping over their graves, slumbering in the manger, bleeding on the Cross, that the prejudices of the Synagogue, and the doubts of the Academy, and the pride of the Portico, and the swords of thirty Legions, were humbled in the dust." And this " express Image " of the Divine Personality, once revealed, is never to be withdrawn from manifest existence. As the all-victorious Redeemer, He lives on for ever, in His risen "spiritual Body," whence He irradiates, by the vitalising energies and individualising visitations of His Holy Spirit, the hearts of His believing Christian it 1/ the Bank fov Reforms and RcHtrahdx. 449 children, one by one, thus i;Tanting to their souls the inestimably precious gift of separate, loving recognition. Even the old Pagans craved and earnestly sought such private and distinguishing links between themselves, their homes, and " the lunnortal Gods." Hence their " Lares and Penates," their " Household Deities." Such aspiration was a measure of the natural desire, which springs up, in every earnest heart, for an abiding communion, special to itself, with the Divine and Everlasting Father of Humanity. And He, having honoured in His own incarnate Person, the claims of His awful majesty of Supreme Sovereignty, then opened, freely and without limit, the measureless resources of His love to men, not only collectively, but separately. Hence, from the holy risen Clirist, flow forth, for ever, the blessed emanations of the Eternal Spirit, shining into each heart and bringing there also the grow- ing impress of His Inuige, with His light and sunsliine of celestial fire. This priceless gift of the individualizing manifestation of Christ, spiritually, brings into each soul, singly, a treasure, as of home sweetness, which shall never experience the bereavement of the beloved object. It kindles a glow as of a paternal and private fireside, which shall never be quenched. And it tends, by similar links with tlie beloved souls of kindred and of others, to reunite, in indissoluble brotherhood, the members of the one "whole family in Heaven and in Earth " But to individuals and to the race, these unspeakable blessings are connnunicated, as is God's way generally, by gradual development. Tliis is to be prepared for, and patiently wrought out, in tlie first place, by the calling and training of the Christian Church and its elect mem- bers, even that body of chosen and disciplined souls, to whom, in every age, the Holy Spirit has granted special visitations and peculiar privileges, not for any private merit or selfish interest, but for present or ultimate service to their fellow creatures. For Divine Election is a great G G 450 Powlofjical and 'Preventive Principles. and blessed historic fact ; although Calvinistic " Reproba- tion " is a pernicious delusion. The Incarnation of Christ manifests God's justice and fairness, in taking into full consideration, not only the demands of His own Law of spotless sanctity, but also the natural claims, upon His compassion, of every human being, as inheriting, from the First Adam, inevitable ten- dencies either to actual sinfulness, or to moral disinclination and weakness, in consequence of which men are universally born, as on to an inclined plane, and not placed in a posi- tion where it is, from the first, possible for them to make an unbiassed choice of virtue, or to tread the path of right with equal facility with that of evil. The Apostle Paul again and again declares, and even five times in one chapter, that Christ the Second Adam, shall " much more " than make ultimate " restitution of all things," not only to the few, tlie Church of the First-born, to whom distinc- tive favours have been given for the subsequent benefit of others, but also finally to " the many." For, as he again records, Christ is " the Saviour of all men ; >ipeci(tJhj of those that believe." And we may trustfully expect everlasting- developments of " the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose, which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Eph. iii. TL) There is a verse in St. Paul's Epistle to Philemon, which, while apparently unsuggestive of any high significance, may realljr be interpreted in a very instructive sense. It is " Prepare me also a lodging." If these words are imagined to be addressed by Christ Himself to ever}^ Christian and Social Reformer, in reference to each indi- vidual's opportunities of facilitating the entrance and growth of the Holy Spirit in the liearts of other men, then they may be regarded as an important and stimulating practical precept. It is indeed a grand Avork, and one for which eternal results and rewards may be confidently expected, to prepare and secure, by wiseh" beneficent efibrts C/iri-sfianif// the Ba>ik for R('fonn>^ and Redraint-s. 451 and measures, tlie dwelling of Christ's Spirit in human hearts and communities. For such visitation, amid present terrestrial conditions, will lead on to eternal mansions of celestial blessedness hereafter. John Howard was but one of myriads to whom the hope centred in Christ has been the great sustaining power of life, and the chiefly animating impulse of philanthropic action. A similar hope has generally characterised the good men and women who have been the chief instruments in efforts for the diminution of Crime, Sin, Poverty, Slavery, and Wretchedness ; such as the Suringars, Buxtons, and Wicherns : the Clarksons, Wilberforces, and Shaftes- burys ; the Borromeos, Fenelons, and Vincents de Paul ; the Andrew Reeds, George Peabodys, Dr. Charles H. Parkhursts, and Samuel Morleys, of the world. These, and innumerable others, of noble efforts and aims, have, for the most part, based their lives upon definitely Christian principles and hopes. Hope in Christ is the soul of Philanthropy and of indi- vidual, national, administrative and penal amelioration. It is the great stimulus to beneficent effort, whether in Social Reforms at home, or Missionary Evangelisation abroad ; because it involves the promise of the highest rewards — those of Christ's everlasting love and peculiar favours — to the persons who, in whatever sphere of life or action, become His willing instruments, in His own great work of the permanent education and moral development of the human race. This, we may infer from past and present experiences and analogies, will ])e always carried on, chiefly by His servants : of each of whom, however humble, it may still, for gracious purposes, be declared, " The Lord hath need of him." And as God has, in general, wrought out His dispensations amongst lunnanity, by prayerfully dependent instruinvids and reverentl}' rolitionni agents, so may it probably continue, through the un- ending Future. To this principle, so stimulative of G G 2 452 Penological and Preccntire Pfuicipks. useful and happy activity, seein applicable the familiar words, " As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be." Hope in Christ is as sunshine, to the race and to the individual. But to what similar hope, light, or power, can the unscientific Agnostic, or the vaguelj^ credulous Posi- tivist, point mankind ? These turn us but to blanks, or failures, in the present, and to dense clouds in the future ; to no effectively victorious influence over evil, and to no animating relief from despair and gloom. But the Chris- tian is furnished with the grandly scientific basis of innu- merable historic verifications and personal experiences of the fruitful power of the love of the Lord Jesus, in mould- ing the best lives and in overcoming, throughout the world, obstacles otherwise insuperable. Even in niodern missionary successes alone, as for example, in China, Burmah, India, Africa and elsewhere, the initial triumphs of Christianity, through the labours of very few and very feeble instruments, prayerfully leaning on God's Spirit, have efiected results in the reclamation of criminal, vicious, and miserable lives, and in developments of social progress and civilization, as marvellous as any miracles re- corded of old time, and as demonstrable, in point of fact, as any matters of physical or mathematical science. This great spiritual force ever advances to victory. It was never more widely diffused, or more hopefully active, than it is to-day. The present, more than any preceding century, is " the Age of Saints," notwithstanding various and vigorous collateral operations of evil — -operations, it is to be noted, which are in large degree being overruled, even already, for benevolent ends, through the moral discipline, for which a certain antagonism and contrast appear to be essential concomitants. Hardly one, if any, of the departments of the Christian Church, has any reasonable ground for regarding its human Fathers and Founders as having been better, or more pri^'ileged, Chnfifiaiiiti/ flic BuhIh for Rcfonn^ and Restraints. 453 than its existing members. To all Churches and to every Christian, the Lord still proclaims, as hopefully as to the Jewish remnant in the days of Haggai, and indeed, in- comparably more so now, " My Spirit rcmaineth among you." The voice of the Pessimist, or of the Agnostic, is the cry of the blind. But Christianity, with all its beneficent energies, upon communities and individuals, is manifestl}^ destined to magnificently progressive develop- ments, throughout the boundless ages. APPENDIX I. THE INTERNATIONAL PRISON CONGRESS OF PARIS, 1895. The proceedings of the fifth (quinquennial) International Prison Congress, held in Paris, in July, 1895, indicated, in a very cheering manner, that the principles advocated in the preceding pages of this volume, have, of late years, been receiving greatl}^ increased practical attention amongst the chief nations of the world. This Congress, like its predecessors, by no means confined its labours to matters connected with Prisons, but also embraced more important subjects, such as the Prevention of Crime and Pauperism. So far as Prison Discipline is concerned, the Paris Congress gave the weight of its sanction to the separation of prisoners from evil (but not from good), association. And it was informed that France, Germany, and some other leading nations are building all their ncir prisons on the cellular plan. But it is much better than any system of Imprisonment, however good, to be able, with safety to the community, to substitute conditional liberty, or probation, under friendly but efficient supervision, for incarceration. And the Paris Congress afforded gratifying evidence that, both in Europe and America, the adoption of this substitute for the Prison has already made very extensive j^i'ogress The Intcvnatio)ial Pfixo)i Cotiyresn of Parix. 455 The elo(|iient addresses of the tine body ot" delegates from the United States, to the Congress, and in particular of General Brinkerhoff (Ohio), Major McClaughry (111.), Mr. C. D. Raxdall (Mich.), Mr. Charlton T. Lewis (N.Y.), Mr. M. Heymann (La.), and Rev. Samuel Barrows (Mass.), bore testimony to the considerable degree of success which, in their great country, has attended the experiment of thus exercising a reformatory influence over offenders of the less criminal grade, whilst obliging them to support them- selves by honest industry, under the natural conditions of free and family life, instead of being continuous burdens upon the taxpayer, and amid the unavoidal)le disadvantages of the jail. It was, however, pointed out, in a specially interesting manner, by Professor Pessina, of Italy, that the system of Conditional Liberty, or Probation, ought to involve more generally than hitherto, in Europe, the collateral appointment of Prohafion Officers, as in Massachusetts. The American Delegates were able to report some gratifying results from the partial adoption, in the United States, of Indeterminate Sentences ; and they mentioned that the discipline in such establishments as Pontiac and Elmira, under this plan, is rendered more deterrent, as well as more reformatory, than it has generally been reputed in Europe. They said that the obligation imposed upon the prisoners, in such institutions, to raise themselves, by mental as well as industrial hibour, into higher grades, as a necessary condition for liberation, is felt, by many of them, to involve so much exertion, that they would rather be consigned to some ordinary prison, where self-improvement is not specially enforced. A large and influential Russian Delegation, headed by the courtly M. Calkine-Wraskoy (Chief of the Imperial Prison Administration), attended the Congress, and afibrded encouraging proofs of recent active efforts to reform the Russian and Siberian penal establishments. M. Wraskoy 456 Penological and Preventive Principles. had just returned from a journey across Asia, and had taken measures for a reorganisation of the Exile System, and for a sweeping reduction in the number of persons to be sent thither in future. The Russians did not deny some of the charges made against their prisons, by Mr. Kennax and others ; but they felt that, in justice to them and to their country, more credit should have been given them for their improvements and sincere efforts at amelioration. M. Wraskoy has recently issued an interesting and com- prehensive Report of Russian progress, in this department. The United Kingdom was officially represented, at the Congress, by Mr. E. J. Ruggles-Brise, Chairman of the Prisons Board of England and Wales, Mr. E. R. Spearman, J.P., Mr. James L. Gibbons, Chairn)an of the Irish Prison Board, and Mr. A. Beatson Bell, Chairman of the Scotch Prison Board. The influence of good Women, in the work of Prison Visitation, and in connection with Reformatory and Preventive Effort generally, was abundantly recognised by the Congress. In particular, Mr. E. J. Ruggles-Brise, in one of the two valuable papers contributed by him to the Congress, remarked : " I should like to see an Aid Society, consisting of Ladies, in connection with every prison exclusively occupied by women. We have already, in many of our prisons, such Lady Visitors, whose zeal and kindness cannot be too highly praised." M. PuiBARAUD, and others, bore testimony to the special success which has, both in France, Luxembourg, and else- where, attended the placing of Reformatories and Houses of Correction, for boys, entirely under the care of religious ladies, Catholic and Protestant. Thus at Frasnes-le-Chateau (Haute Saone), a band of Alsatian " Sisters " have the complete management of 400 youths, of from twelve to twenty years of age, with wonderful success. And, without assistance from male officers, they secure obedience and good discij^line. The I)(f(')')inilonal Prison Conr/res-s of Paris. 457 The Congress revealed a large extension, during recent years, of Chii>d-Savixg efforts, in various countries ; especiall}^ in connection with Reformatories and Industrial Schools of various kinds, as substitutes for the pernicious system of juvenile imprisonment. Renewed evidence was also given of the preventive value of Dis- charged Prisoners' Aid (or "Patronage") Societies, and of the need which still exists, for a much larger increase in their number, in most countries. England, however, occupies a peculiarly honourable position, in this matter. The Congress, being held in Paris, afforded the Ijest opportunity, to its members, for studying the practical application of the Bertillon System of Anthropometric Measurement, which is an honour to its inventor and to France. Its advantages have been specially brought before the English people by Mr. Edmund R. Spearman, and in America by Major McClaughry, formerly the efficient Chief of Police at Chicago. The Delegates were also permitted to visit the various Prisons, in and around Paris. At Ld Saiifr, in particular, they were interesteil in the Warders' School. Ever}' year, forty-eighl of the principal warders of the French provincial prisons come to La Sante, in two parties of twenty-four each, who stay for six months, during which time they receive a course of lectures and lessons in subjects useful to them in their prison duties. They are also practically instructed in the application of the Bertillon system of criminal identification. Some animated discussion, in the Congress, on the subject of Prostitution, revealed the existence of an extensive practice of inveigling respectable young women (under false pretences of employing them as governesses, type- writers, travelling companions, or otherwise) into innn<;ral lives, and it was shown that an extensive traffic in " white slavery " is being carried on by the transmission of girls, 458 Penological and Proventice Principles. especially from Belgium. Holland, and Austria, to Egypt, Turkey, and other countries, even to America and Australia, for prostitution. M. Yves Guyot reported on the valuable efforts to check these practices, which are now being made by local Committees of benevolent ladies, who meet friend- less girls at railway stations, provide them with temporary lodgings, and insert advertisements in newspapers, warning young women against the snares so industriously set for their ruin. M. Lecour, a former Chief of the Paris Police, stated that the Law and the Police cannot do much in these matters, the means of evasion being so numerous and subtle. Mr. Heymann (U.S.) eloquently pleaded for efforts to raise the general moral tone of the community and to excite public disapprobation of seduction, as being a chief means of diminishing such evils. Much consideration was devoted to Intemperance, and it was urged by Dr. Magnan, of Paris, and others, that the excessive alcoholisation of spirituous or " strong " liquor was a principal cause of it, and that a more general use, and cheapening, of ordinary light wine, tea and coffee, as substitutes, would be beneficial. It was contended by him that the " natural " light wine of France is, practically, a temperance drink, there being scarcely any intoxication amongst those who use it as their ordinary beverage. Professor Dymcha, of Russia, advocated a general exten- sion of Inebriate Asylums, for habitual drunkards, the time of detention to be sufficiently long. The institution at Ellikon-sur-Thur, near Zurich, was mentioned as being a model institution of this nature ; also the Dalrymple Home, at Rickmansworth, as described by Dr. Norman Kerr, in particular. The very important question of Sentences on Habitual Offenders, or " Recidivistes," claimed attention at the commencement of the Congress. A paper by Mr. Tallack, advocating a very gracliiaUij progressive, but certain, cumulation of sentences, both for habitual misdemeanants The Iido'natiomd Prison CongresH of Parin. 459 and criminals, was, in fact, placed first in the group of papers arranged for discussion in the First Section. Pro- fessor Van Hamel (Holland) advocated Indeterminate Sentences for these classes of otienders, but Professor KiRCHENHEiM, of Heidelburg, preferred the moderately progressive gradation of sentences. Valuable papers on this subject were also contributed by Professor FoiNlTSKY (St. Petersburg), Dr. Garcox (Lille), .M. Armengol Y. Cornet (Spain), M. Garofalo (Naples), and other specialists. Ultimately the Congress recommended the adoption of Gradual Cumulation, as of special efficacy. Another very important question was, after considerable discussion, postponed for further consideration by the next i. 469 in that country. But the Italians (like the people in most Roman Catholic countries) are still very cruel to animals, especially to horses and dogs. Russia and Siberia. The vast Empire of Russia and Siberia had long lingered in the rear of Civilisation. But in the last quarter of the century, Railroads have been energetically pushed forward, and with their development have come other features of progress. Siberian Transportation has been greatly re- stricted. New and better Prisons are being built. An active Administrative Department, for prisons, has been established and placed under able leadership. Some of the finest Philanthropists in the world are Russians. And with more Constitutional Freedom, and more scope for Legal Justice, in place of Arbitrary Punishment, both Nihilism and Conspiracy may be eradicated. Russia is shaking herself from the slumber of centuries. She still honours the memory of John Howard, w^ho died in the Crimea. And she gave a cordial reception to the International Prison Congress of 1890. Spain and Portugal. Spain and Portugal have peoples capable of great things, but religious bigotry has long impeded their national advancement. Spain has not yet recovered from the ex- pulsion of the highly civilised MooRS, and the annihilation of its Protestantism, by the Inquisition, centuries ago. Neither American nor Indian conquests have assisted to raise her much, since. She has, how^ever, of late, made some hopeful efforts at Penal Reform, of a local and limited nature. Portugal has abolished Capital Punishment and is improving her Prison Discipline by degrees. Switzerland. This little country has latterly been honoured by the 470 Penological and Preventive Princijjles. labours and writings of some of her citizens who have taken a very creditable position in Penology and in j^rac- tical efforts to diminish Pauperism, Crime, and Ignorance. Switzerland has the most democratic constitution in Europe, by its " Referendum." It offers its cities as centres for philanthropic and scientific Congresses. And it manages to secure efiective National Defence, with the absence of that burden of most nations — a great standing army. The Swiss are unsurpassed in their arrangements for the aid of Discharged Prisoners, and they excel also in the care of Juvenile Offenders and neoiected Youth. Japan. Of the three large Continents of Asia, Africa, and South America, in reference to Penal Reform (and in manj^ other matters also), it may almost be said that it is " Japan frsf, and all the rest nowhere." For of all the great social and national revolutions of the Nineteenth Century, the change which has taken place in Japan is one of the most marvellous. She has sent hundreds of her most intelligent people to study and report on European and American Institutions, and amongst other matters has adopted the chief Western improvements in Prisons. Scarcely any country in the world has a more completely organised Prison System than Japan. In 1895, her Government published an elaborate series of illustrations, depicting almost every feature of ordinary European prison life, as being now adopted in Japan, even including cellular carriages for conveying prisoners. Japan also has an ably edited Journal of Prison Discipline ; and it may be here mentioned that its conductors translated into Japanese, for its columns, the first edition of " Penological and Preventive Principles." Japan sends very intelligent Delegates to the International Prison Congresses. f A Glance at Nineteenth Centurn Progress. 471 Other Countries. Turkey, Morocco, and other Mahometan countries ha\e scarcely made any progress in Penal Reform during the century, but still retain the savagery of Mediajval nations. Under ISLAM, both women and prisoners will probably continue to be in a condition of almost hopeless degra- dation so long as that sj^stem lasts. Morocco indeed, down to the last decade of the century, has retained the barbarous punishments of blinding, of rolling to death in spiked casks, and of causing the permanent shrinkage of limbs, by gashes filled with salt. Egyptian Prisons were horrible dens, until recently reformed by British admini- strators. China retains the cruel punishments of slow starvation, the wooden collar, and wholesale executions by gradually cutting off small pieces of the body. The South American Republics, except perhaps Chili, have made some advances in prison administration. Doubtless, as Railways and Steam communication arc developed in these regions of the world, both Penal Reform and other features of modern Civilisation will become collateral features of such changed conditions. The outlook througliout the world is, for the most part, hopeful. INDEX Aberdeen, 351. Adult Reformatories, 218. Advantages of Separation. IM. jSldiles. 338. Africa, South, 464. Age and Sex, 204. Agents for Discharged Prisoners, 30.5. Agricultural Labourers, 226, 32'J. Air and Light, 136. Allotment Sj-stem, 225, 33(J, 441. Almsgiving, Foolish, 3, 10, 321. 339. America and Capital Convictions. 255. America, South, 471. American Jails, Local, 71), 144. American Progress, 455. American Sheriffs, 81. American State Prisons, 266. Amyatt, Captain, 337. Animals, Treatment of, 54, 431, 467. Apprentices, London, 367. Arbitration, 46, 334, 465. Armies, Standing, 3'J2. Artel, Siberian, 76. Athaliah. Queen, 32. .Vudit, Enforced. 331. Australia, 322, 412. Australian "Larrikins," 114. Australian Transportation, 62, 73. Austria, 404, 468. Baby-farmers, 360. Bail. 403. Baker, T. Barwick. 1 72. 205, 211 , 218. Beggar-Farms. 223, 316. Beguinages, 465. Belgium, 43, 124, 132, 223, 289, 319, 404, 465. Bertillon System, 21'.), 457, 466. Bible. 256, 287, 385, 462, 467. Biblical Instruction, 38. Biggadyke"s Case, 247. Birmingham. 360. Boarding-out System. 353, 362, 365, 369, 464. Bodelschwingh, Von, 222, 468. Brethren of the Common Lot, 327. Bright. John, 447. Brinkerhoff, General, 80, 455. Brise, J. E. Ruggles, 304, 456. British Police, 426, 435. British Progress, 461. Britons. Ancient, 399, 459. Brockway, Z. R., 80. 199. Browne, T. L. Murray. 318. Browning, Dr. Colin, 284. Burt. Rev. Mr., 139. Bury, Rev. \V., 12. Bushnell, Dr., 19. California, 363. Camorra, Italian, 76. Canada, 84, 356, 463. Capacities, Immortal, 35, 444. Capital Punishment, 131, 234, 236, 239. 243. 474 INDEX. Carlyle, Thomas, 155, 161. Cassidy, M., 274. Cayenne, 74. Cellular Separation, 93, 99, 118, 121, 130, 134,188, 144, 168, 190, 232, 276, 415, 442, 454, 465. Chalmers, Dr., 316, 331. Chaplains, 280, 289. Channing, W. E., 33. Charity, Meaning of, 35. Charity, True and False, 11. Charles II., 26. Cheap Chastisements, 417. Child-murders, 360. Children, Cruelty to, 116. Child-saving, 342, 361, 457. Child-Widows, 54. Chili, 78, 471. China. 471. Christ, the Lord Jesus, 11, 25, 33, 35, 39, 51, 55, 282, 287, 312, 322, 388, 443, 445, 447, 450. Christian System with Criminals, 285, 385. Church. The, 23, 385, 390. Clarke, Marcus, 65. Classification, 118, 145, 147, 187, 214, 225. Clay, Rev. John, 39, 147, 154, 278, 382. Clubs, Drinking, 22, 376. Cobbe, Frances Power, 348, 359. Codification, 185, 201. Colonial Progress, 463. Colonies, Agricultural, 221, 467. Compensation to Injured, 399, 459. Competition, Jail, 28. Concentrated Criminality, 147. Conditional Liberation, 186, 188, 192,219,403, 454, 462. Conditional Liberty, 186, 202, 219, 403, 408, 454, 467. Conference before Sentence, 199. Continuation Schools, 322. Contract System, 267. Consumption, 137. Convict System, British, 65, 168. Corner Stone, The, 445. Corporal Punishment, 109, 115.342, 871, 411. Corsica, 259. Court Houses, British, 66. Crime Capitalists, 390. 428. Criminal Lunacy, 138, 141, 235, 248, 250. Criminal Statistics, 418. Crofton, Sir Walter, 165, 237, 301. Cruelty, 49, 63, 69, 78, 84, 101, 109, 111, 114, 215, 233, 366, 393, 413, 469. Cumulative Sentences. 91, 177, 183, 191, 4.58, 462. Day Feeding Schools, 350. Death Penalty, 234. 236, 239, 243. Debtors, Fraudulent, 402. Demagogic Usurpation, 57. Demetz, M., 221. Denison, Edward, 320. Denmark, 332, 466. Detective Efficiency, 425. Deterrence, 23, 117, 171, 174, 445. Dickens, Charles, 161. Differing Opinions, 121, 412. Difficulties, Prison, 89. Discharged Prisoners, 172, 207, 214, 299, 303, 307, 457, 470. Domicilio Coatto, 224. Dormitories, Common, 77. Dorset Plan, 337. Draper, Dr. J. W., 56. Du Cane, General Sir E. F., 142, 168, 198, 235, 278. Ducpetiaux, M. 123, 125. Dundrum, 235. Edinburgh. 431. Education, Irreligious, 48, 52, 388. INDEX. 475 Education, True, 27, 322, 832. 440. 467. Edwards, Betham, 52, 228. Egypt, 471. Elberfeld System, 319. Eldon, Lord, 342. Elmira, 105, 146, 455. Emigration, Juvenile, 369. Eternity, 33, 35. 280, 289, 389, 443. Extremes. Avoid, 102, 119, 132. 135, 232, 318. Fear, 23. Feudal Evils, 50. Final Objects. 205. Final Results, 3, 171, 260, 424. Fines, 383, 398, 401. First Offenders, 189. First Offenders' Act, 408. Flogging, 411. Force, 23. Foster-parents, 359. France, 29, 4 s. 50. 72, 143. li)0. 227, 292, 332, 377, 404, 456, 454, 457, 460. 466. Free Cultivators, 225. Freeholds, Small, 52, 228, 467. French Commission, 190. French Prison Society, 292, 466. French Progress, 143. Fry, Mrs., 148. 159. G-alitzin, Prince, 75. Garofalo, M., 459. Gatcliffe's Case. 69. Germany, 77, 222.291, 322, 373, 403. 434,467. Gheel, 4(;5. Ghent Prison. 124, 129. Gibraltar, (55. Girls' Aid, 374. 395. Giving, True. 10. Glasgow, 32. 352. Gloucester, 172. Godliness, 33. Gothenburg System, 383. Gover, Dr. R. M., 289. Governors, Prison, 277, 294. Gradation of Sentences, 91, 177, 458, 462. Griffith, G. S., 87. Guilds, 327. Guillaume, Dr.. 214. Gymnasiums, 349. Habitual Criminals, 184, 206, 216, 458. Habitual Misdemeanants, 178, 180. Hamburg, 373. Hardy, Gathorne, Act, 315, 320. Hawker, Stephen, 448. Hebrides, 137. Henley, Joseph, 256, Heymann, Mr., 455, 458. Hill, Frederick. 277. Hill, Joanna M., 356, 359. Holland, 149, 223, 23.3, 316, 324, 459, 465. Holy Spirit, 33, 37, 290, 446. 449. 453. Homes for Discharged Prisoners 307. Homicidal Insanity, 248, 250. Hooker, Richard, 281. Hope, 23. 241, 445, 451, 471. Horses, 54. Howard Aasociation. 71, 159, 335. 40S. 467. 470. Howard, John, 122. 124, 437, 445, 451, 469. Humanitarians, /puisi, l(j3, 115. Identification, 219, 466. Incarnation, The, 36, 446, 448, 4.50. Incorngibles, 209. Independent Inspection, 382. 476 INDEX. Indeterminate Sentences, 187, 192, 155. India, 4(53. Indiscriminate Almsgiving-, 3, 10, 321, 839. Individual Influence, 24, 381, 431. Industrial Councils, 334. Industrial Schools, 4, 343, 353. Inebriate Asylums, 381, 458. Inebriates, Habitual, 180, 219, 380. Infanticide, 3(50. Ing'alls, Senator, 53. Initiation of Prosecutions, 201, 430. Innocent convicted, 201, 245. Insanity, 138, 141. Inspectors, 72, 358, 382, 435. Institutes, Police, 430. Institution Craze, 4, 344, 354, 356, 363. Intemperance, 19, 375,392, 441, 458. Ireland, 235, 288, 301, 355. Irish System, 165, 224. Islam, 471. Italy, 224, 237, 4G8. Jails, Local, American, 79. Jails, Local, British, (5(5. Japan, 228, 292, 470. Jebb, Sir Joshua, 407. Joan of Arc, 447. Judges and Sentences, 197, 205 Justice, 30, 197. Kennan, George, 75, 456. Kent, 336. Kimberley Commission, 14i Labouchere, Henry, M.P., 111. Labour Bureau, 330. Labour, Prison, 261. Labour Sentences, 400. Labour, Shorter, 374. Labour Test, 314. Labourers, Agricultural. 329. Lancashire " Cotton Famine," 316 Land Cultivation, 221. Lambert, Brooke, 317. Larcenies, 188. " Larrikins," Australian, 114, 348. Laurent, Dr. E., 73. Law, Majesty of, 446. Laxity, Cruel, 101, 1U9, 111. Lay Influence, 297. Legislation, 177, 185, 4(;2. Letchworth, William P., 362. Liability to Imprisonment. 203, 408. Liberation, Conditional, 186, 188, 192, 219, 403. Liberty, Conditional, 186, 202, 219, 403, 404, 408. Licensing-out, 212. Life Imprisonment, 230, 241. Liquor Licenses, 383. Livingston, Edvpard (U.S.A.), 145. Local Jails, American, 79. Local Jails, British, 66, 170. Local Option, 20. Lombroso, Professor, 249. London, 367, 435. London Apprentices, 367, Long Firm, 428. Louvain, 127. Love, Divine, 35, 39. Lunacy, Criminal, 138, 111. Lusk Farm, 13, 167, 224. M.A.B.Y.S., 374, 395. Macaulay, Lord, 448. McAuley, Jerry, 295. McClaughry, Major, 455, 457. MacCormac, Dr., 137. Machinery, 272. Maconochie, Captain, 147, 171, 279. Macquarrie Harbour, 63. Magnan, Dr., 458. Manchester Prison, 69. INDEX. 477 Market Monopolies, 330. Marriage, .^Ss. i Marks, Good. H.J, 169, 401. Mason. Miss H. M., 358. Massachusetts. 363, 404, 464. Matrons. Police. 431. Max Miiller. Professor, 446. Medical Officers, 133, 284, 288. Meredith, Susanna, 308. Merxplas, 223, 465. Michigan, 7, 362, 464. Militarism, 45, 392, 468. Mill. John Stuart, 251. Millbank Prison, 160. Ministers. 331. Mirabeau, 143. Misdemeanants. Habitual, 180, 219. Montesinos, 204. Morel, Dr., 289. Morocco, 471. Mosaic Code, 399, Nan terra, 144. Napoleon I., 49, Natural Conditions, 401. New Caledonia, 73. New York, 5, 272, 356, 363. New Zealand, 399, Nineteenth Century Progress. 4(;i. Non-attractiveness, 9, 171. Norfolk Island. 148, 290. Norway, 21.233, 466. Offenders. First, or Casual, 177, 189. Offenders, Habitual, 178, 180, 184. Old Age Pensions. 328. Orthodox Devils, 444. Oscar I., King, 85. 233. Outbreaks. 96, 345. Overcrowding, 333, 384. Ozanam, M., 325. Pardons, 107. Parental Responsibility, 347, 350. Paris Prison Congress, 454. Patmore. Dr. T., 142, Patrons, 214, 373. Pauperism, 3, 314, 320, 355, 431, 440, 465. Pauper Schools, 354, 357. Pawnbrokers. 428. Pawn-offices, 330. Pearson, Charles, 221. Pease. Sir J. W., 251. Peek, Francis, 317. Penal Labour, 262. Pennsylvania, 53, 271. Pensions, Old Age, 328. Pentonville, 139. People, Trust in the, 58. Peter, St., 3, Piece Price Plan, 268. Philadelphia, 162, 274. Philanthropy, True, 12, 38, 298, 321. 444. 451. Placing Out, 361, 464. Pledges, Temperance, 380. Police. 423, 432. Police Institutes, 430. Police Matrons, 431. Police Supervision, 173, 207, 211, 213, 300, 390, Popular Errors, 26. Portal, Wyndham S., 395. Portugal, 240, 46!». Prayer, 284, 297, 385. Press, The, 434. Prevention, 16. 17, 258, 385, 396. Principles, Importance of, 1. Prins, M., 459. Prison Acts. 167. Prison Chaplains, 280. Prison, Class. 214. Prison Classification, lis, 14.", 147. 187, 214. 285. Prison Competition, 269. Prison Dietary, 91. 478 INDEX. Prison Difficulties. 89. Prison G-ate Missions, 208. Prison Governors, 277, 294. Prison Labour, 28, 261, 264, 269. 274. Prison Libraries, 284. Prison Magazines, 292. Prison Medical Officers, 1.33, 284, 288. Prison Murders, 96, 168. Prison Revolts, 96. Prison Schoolmasters, 284, Prison Systems. 119. Prison Ventilation, 136. Prison Visitation, 153, 320. Prison Warders, 282, 457. Prisoners. Discharged, 172. 299. Prisons, Association in, 77, 89. Prisons (Convict). 168. Prisons (Local), 66, 170. Probation, 186, 202, 219, 403. 404, 408, 455,464. Probation Officers. 363. Procurators Fiscal. 201. 430. Progress during Xineteenth Cen- tury. 461. Progressive Sentences. 177. 185, 191. 211. Prohibition Liquor Laws, 20, 23. Prostitution, 17, 44. 386, 406, 434. 457. Puibaraud, M., 456. Punishment, Capital, 131. Punishment, Corporal. 109, 115. 342, 371. 411. Quakers (or " Friends "'), 40, 63,159. 412, 439. Quarter Sessions. 196. Randall. C. D., 7. 362, 455. Rawlinson, Sir Robert, 316. Receivers of Plunder, 428. Recidivistes, 184, 206, 216, 458. Reclamation, 290, 396. Referendum, The, 58. 470. Reformation, 175, 186, 192. Reformatories, 4, 99. 343, 353, 456. Reformatories, Adxilt. 218. Reformatory and Refuge Union. 308. Reforms, Penal, 89. Registry Offices, 895. Reserve Force, 1 76. Residuum, 311. Restaurants, Xon-aleoholic. 384. Restitution, 399, 459. Restraint without Detention. 202. Revolts in Prisons, 96. Rogers. Henry, 415. Round, W. M. F., 80. Ruffians, 113, 348. Ruskin, John, 386. Russell, Earl, 257. Russia. 74, 455, 458, 469. Salvation now, 334. Santiago, 78. Schools, Continuation, 322. Schools, Feeding, 350. Schools, Pauper, 354. Science, 40, 452. Scotland, 201, 236, 329. 331. 340. 351, 352, 355, 431. Secrecy. Jail, Excessive. 69, 71. Seducers, 393. Self-help, 3, 10, 273, 314, 325. 330, 440, 465. Sentences by Chance, 198, 202. Sentences, Cumulative, 91, 177, 183, 191, 458. Sentences. Indeterminate. 187, 192. 4.V). Sentences, Irregular, 112, 194. Separate System, 93, 99. 118, 121, 130, 134, 138, 144. 168, 190, 276. 415. 442, 454, 465. Servants. Domestic. 394. INDEX. 479 Sex. 380, 408. Sheffield. 369. Short and Sharp, 90. Shrewsbury. Bishop of. 302. Siberia. Tn. 4.-)f;. ■i(;9. Silent System. 119, 147, ISC. Simon. Jules, 49. Sin and Crime, 280. Sloyd, 191. 273, 351. Social Crimes. 'A, 61, 101. Socialism, 323. Solitary System, 119, l(i2, 46."). Solitude, Brief, 372. Sovereignty, Divine, 3S9. Spain, 204, 469. Spearman, E. R., 4.">7. " Spectator," 33.-), 349. Spencer. Thomas, 33(). Spirit, the Holy. 33, 37, 290, 446. 449, 453. Stafford, 340. Staffordshire, D. P. A. S., 305. "Star Class," 170. State, Action of, 24, 56. 57. Statistics. Criminal. 418. Stead, W. T.. 47. Stephen, Fitzjame.s, 243. Stocks. The, 416. Substitutes for Imprisonment, 398, 462, 467. Suicides, 254. Sunday Closing. 376. 383. Supervision, 172. 207. 213, 300. Supervision, Independent, 72, 435. Suringar, W. H.. 149. Surveyors. District. 333. Sweating System, 45. Sweden, 56, 233, 4(i6. Switzerland, 58. 214. 322, 469. System, the Christian. 285. Tasmania. 63, 289. 412. Technical Education. 332. Temperance, 15, 19, 375, 432, 441. 458. Tenure, Security of, 227. Thefts, 189. Thieves, Chronic. 216. Thomson, Alexander, 343. Thrift, 326, 394. Tickets of Leave, 407. Trade Unions, 52, 271, 366. Training Ships, VAo, 354. Tramps, 337, 340. Transportation, 62, 73, 74. 224. 467. Treads-heel, 262. Truant Schools, 349. Turkey, 470. Ullathorne, Archbishop, 64, 148. 157, 291. Union of Essentials, 14. United Kingdom, Progress of, 461, 464 United States, 79, 363, 36(;, 432. 455. United States Child-saving. 361. United States Convicts, Leased. 86. 266. United States Murders, 108. United States Pardons, 107. United States Progress. 455. United States, South. 259, 266. 394. United States Underground Jails. 85, 162. Unnatural Crime. 65. 73. Vagrancy. 335. 340, 467. Veenhuizen. 223,465. Ventilation, 136. Verdicts. 2()1. Vice Exploiters, 390, 457. Vincent, Colonel Howard. 408. Visits to Prisoners. 153, 320, 466. Voltaire, 51, 45(;. 480 INDEX. War and Crime, 47. Warders, Prison, 282, 457. Warders' Training School, 457. Warner, C. Dudley, 103. Watch Committees, 435. Wayland, Francis, 209, 255. Weapons, 258. Wheatley, William, 307. Whippino-, 109, 115, 342, 371, 411. White, Henry A., 114. Wines, Dr. E. C, 71, 79, 29G. Wines, Dr. F. H., 82. Wichern, Dr., 373. Wigram, W. Knox, 372. Willson, Bishop, 290, 412. Wilson, J. Wycliffe, 369. Wisconsin, 234. Witnesses, Imprisonment of, 84, 4fi5. Women and Reformatories, 456. Women Visitors, 320, 45(5. Women's Harshness to Women, 393. Women's Rights, 58. Woodhouse, Dr., 289. Workhouse Officers, 348. Workhouse Test, 315. 321. Wraskoy, Galkine, 455. PENOLOGICAL AND PREVENTIVE PRINCIPLES. PERSONAL OPINIONS OF THE FIRST EDITION. PiiOFE.-5»oii Fkaxcis Wayland, Deuii of Faculty, of Yale College, U.S.A., and State Com- missioner of Prisons. '"'' I da not ktiow any work containing so many sensible and pertinent suggestions in regard to most important penological problems. It is a mine of information on all questions Avhich concern the Tkeatmext and Pkevextiox of Crime. " Your loorh must be an indispensable handhooh for all Penologists, in all civilised countries.'''' The late Chief Administrator of the Peisoxs of Belgium (31. Gautier de Rasse). •• I cannot tell you with what pleasure I have read your remarkable book, and have ob.served, at every step, the aj,Teement between your opinions and mine, on the greater proportion of the questions of which you have treated in an incontestably superior manner. You have com- prehensively surveyed and discussed the subjects of Vagabondage, Alcoholism, Pkostitutiox, Neglected Youth, the ruin of Family Life, and the chief Causes of Crime, and you clearly point out the means of controlling these evils. You have heartily recognised and appreciated the eiforts of Belgium in the promotion of Separate Impuisoxment. I entirely agree with the views which you have expressed in regard to the importance of the services and duties of the Police." The Empress Frederick, of Germany. '■Count Seckkxdorff has been laying this book before Her Majesty the Empress Frederick, who has graciously expressed the wish to keep it. Her Ma.jksty commands Count SFCKENnoRFF to say that she is reading it with great interest. Count Seckendorff is desired to thank Mr. Tallack very much for this book." The King of Sweden (Oscar II.). The King's Secretary writes : — •• I am desired to express His Majesty's best thanks for • Penological and Preventive Principles.' " The Royal Librarian (Windsor Castle). " I have much pleasure in adding your work to the Roj'al Library." The late Earl of Derby. •• Full of interesting matter." The New York Prison Association. Mr. William M. F. Round. Secretary of this Association, and hLso Joint Secretary of the National Prison Association of the Unitcfl States, writes : — "• Permit me, on behalf of the Executive Committee of this Association, to thank you f<;r the admirable and valualjle book, received for our Library. Jt /'.« a long timr xinn- irr rrrrivrd (inijthinij no vnhiablt'." I I General Brinkerhoff (President of the National Prison Association op the United States). '■ I have read your book with great interest, and consider it one of the ablest and soundest contributions to penological literature which has ever appeared." Mr William P. Letchworth (President of the New York State Board of Charities). " Of the many books I have read, relating to Penology, I have found nothing in which I have been more deeply interested than in your work, entitled 'Penological and Preventive Principles.' It is full of instruction, and abounds in profitable suggestion. I wish a copy could be placed in the hands of every one in America, interested in the subject of Penology." The late Ex-Pkesident Rutherford B. Hayes, U.S.A. " Your work on Pri-