The Press.
London, England, 1854-01-14 00:00:00

JANUARY 14, 1854.

CRIME—ITS CAUSES AND CURE.
WHILE Sir JOHN PAXINOTON and Mr. ADDS LEY
are maturing the measure which is to reform
our criminal law, a glance at the objects of
their special care may not be untimely. We
propose accordingly in this article to consider
first the condition, and secondly the more
usual causes, of juvenile crime. The mass of
evidence accumulated on these subjects is
more than sufficient—it is immense, unwieldly,
to most readers utterly repulsive. Yet it has
one special value—it is neither discordant nor
inconclusive. Only those who have pored
over blue books and statistical works can
know the hopeless perplexity with which such
a task is sometimes carried on, when every re-
sult which one authority seems to evolve is to
appearance overthrown by equally reliable and
equally positive testimony. Not such is the
case here. Observers and thinkers differ
upon details ; but, both as regards the facts
before us and their explanation, there is a
very general agreement as regards all really
important points.
With regard, then, to the actual state of the
criminal class, we begin by recalling attention
to a statement recently extracted by us from Mr.
VANDERKISTE'S work. Taking the entire popula-
tion, it will be found that the number of those
whose ages are between fifteen and twenty
does not much exceed one-tenth of the whole.
But, taking the criminal population apart (that
is, the convicted part of it), we find that of
that population one-fourth falls within the
above-given limits of time. In other words,
the proportion of crime to innocence during
those years is greater, in the ratio of five to
two, than the same proportion estimated on
the whole of a man's life. What becomes of
the great mass of these youths we find it diffi-
cult even to conjecture. Many, no doubt, die
early from the results of a hard, reckless, im-
provident, intemperate life; a few, it may be
hoped, being helped to emigrate, reform, and
thrive. The majority, probably, puss on from
prison to prison, sometimes with only a few
weeks' interval, until transportation or penal
servitude disposes of them for a longer period.
A life of crime once continued to mature age
is not often subsequently abandoned. The
statement already quoted proves as much. It
follows inevitably that unless the offender can
be checked in youth he is for practical pur
poses to be reckoned incurable.
Now, what has our present system done?
It is always hard to judge of the real state of
national morality, where no better test is
possible than that of the criminal returns, for
these, however accurately kept, deal only with
the number of offences detected, not of those
committed. Yet to these returns alone we can
apply for inforination, and the result is not
encouraging. Much has been said, and some-
thing done, about education, yet the proportion
of juvenile crime has slightly, if at all, de-
creased. Great fault must be found in this
respect with tho laws, which jumble together
real and conventional offences to an extent
surpassing belief. " I have cases tried before
" me," said Sergeant ADAMs, "for stealing
penny tarts, oranges, two or three apples,
" and articles of that kind. In one case a
" child nine years of age, totally unknown to
" the police, was tried before me for taking a
" little toy hammer, price Id., from a basket
placed at a shop door." Now, here was a
boy, guilty of a trivial childish offence, for
which punishment in the nursery would have
been amply sufficient, publicly stigmatised at
that early age as a criminal, and thereby
possibly corrupted for life. Far better to
declare such children irresponsible to the law
for their acts than thus to exaggerate their
faults, and chastise them vindictively. But,
taking only real crime, that is, theft or fraud
committed with deliberate intention, the
amount is very considerable. Nor is this
Wonderful. Take the working men of great
towns : what parental care or supervision can
they exercise over their offspring? The father
is at his work all day • perhaps the mother too:
if at home she ''
drudgery;
is occupied in domestic
u both are ignorant, both equally
unfitted and disinclined for the labour of