The Sun.
London, England, 1817-09-18 00:00:00

[Parc r. -SEIitiNPENCE..

the Secretary to the Society, Of which the object is to inquire
into the causes of juvenile delinquency. It appears, then,
from the evidente-of that respectable and inteHigent person,
that from a minute investigation of the subject, there are
sereral.tbousand Goys in the metropolis who arc engaged in

thecommission of .crinte : that the-causes of ibis kt4rorable
evil are to be traced to the improper and criminal Fondact of
parents, the Willa of education, the ti. ticiency of emplil-
nelit, the violation of the Sabbath, .the pr• tailing habit of
gambling in the public streets, which, to the disgrace if our
police, is practised daily with intAtoity : ail these may be
considered as the principal incitements to crime iropel•ed into
extraordinary action,. during' _the last- few year,, by an in-
creased ,powilation, and by the distress among the lower
orders, utiiing from the want of employment. To these
causes allay be added t lie.onstence of dash holt es and .bro-
thels; almost exi.in i-vely.set apart for c hi,ldten of hoth.SOltes-;
and, lastly, to Abe bad management at the prisons, which
in-
stead of correcting the erintitial itelinghent by disri,dl:ne, are
schools and academies of Vice, which corrupt and'vniate their
-wretched inmates, and throw them back upon society'con-
firmed in every bad habit. •
Your Committee refer to the evidence given by Mr rennet
.(a Member) as ta the present situation of the different
of this metropolis, as well as to Oat of Mr. Cranford and
Mr.Poynder; and they feel that they should be -wontiug itt
-
their duty Pi they did .not protest against the preseift sylteta ;
and if they failed to state it to he their opinion that ilte!.giails"
are a discredit to those WOO hare the direction-of thrhi, and
.who are deepiY amenable to the public far the evils-that arise
trom their mismanagement. If these prisons are too small
for the number of criminals who are cimriaed herein, it is
thi, duty of thosa woo call itiOile bring furwa'al such subjects,
to propose to their respective county or city, or to Parliament,
that necessity of a prison upon a wore enlarged phti: but it
'is many years since this subject has been tir-t agitated, and
yet. even now, in all the prisons, offenders of dilfereut clia-
racters-and stages of crime are mixed indiscriminately toge-
ther. It is scarcely possible to devise a system netter calcu-
lated to vitiate and corrupt titan the mode iii vi hiolo
offenders are thus confuted : a number of boys ai-e
tie xe d in-
discriminately together, front right to sixteen jr eightern
years of age, exhibiting a great variety of character, and
'differing in degrees of guilt, the tried and untried, and the
first offender tvith't he hardinreil tonviet. '

Your Conentltlee. have au` ionsly soUght for infarniation as
to the number of jareaile deiloq who are annuallf
mit ted to the different prisons in the; myle pubs, an 1 find
that in 1813 the number committed to Newgute, on •-i• the
age of sixteen, were 43 buys and 19 girls, total 62, of ahom
was of nine, 3 of ten, mid 3 of t !even years of et.;e.—ln
1814, there were 89 boys and 9 girl,, total 9Q, of IN' h9ni 4
were of nine, 8 of ten, and 12 of eleven Years of
1815, there were 76 boys and 12 girls, total 88, of hum 3
were of ten, and .8 of -tieven years of lege t here
were 124 boys and 14 girls, total 146, of whom 1 was of trine,
3 were of ten, and sof eleven years of age. 7
In the other prisons of the`met ropolis the ages of the .pri-
sailers were not then tal,en ; but your Commilteeare unalded
to state, that in the year I,i there were confined in the dif-
ferent prisons 1,6-13 persons under 40 years of age, inv..
• In Newg,te. 429 males, 85 females.
(jell:cowed • :lf•i9 • 92
Cold,bath-fielas 221 50 .
Horsertionger-lane 67 18 .
To: h 2OB . 76 '
Ciltspor-street 33 5

1,357 3-2-1,G83 Total,
• Of seventeen years and tinder :
In I.,:ewgate 247 males, , 48 females.
Clerkenell 259 . 91,
Cold-bath-fields —292 ,--- 83
lior.votuger-lane lO
29
Giltipur-street l7 3

1,017 264-1,481 Totai
And of seventeen years and under, for felonies alone --.
In Newgate 247 males, 48 females.
• eferkenwell 298- 43
Cold-bath-fields 135 .37
FLirseinonger Vine 44
TOtbill-fields 147
Giitspur-street i 7 3

169-957 Total.

Yodr Committee remark, that the greater part of these jr.•
venile tiffeuders, some of them infants of 9, 10. and I I years
of age; are mixed indiserimmately with old' blfenders of all
ages, and ad of them with boys or. the ages of 15 or its, many
of whom have t,en long praeticed lathe commissiub tat Va►
rious acts of fraud and-crime.- Nu one but those who have
witnessed such rintul exhibitions cat, be aware of the plea-
sure which the older thieves take in corraptirig those who
have just entered into vicious courses, hythe detail of their
exploits., the narrative of hair-breadth escapes, the teachlog
or technical phrases all of which are great allurements to a
youthful ntind, being the amusements of theistic and the re-
sources of the desperate, and sea. tog to enliven 'and 'dispel
the solitude of a prison. its order to demonstrate to what an.
extent this intermixture of children is carried. your Com-
mittee observe, that there were in Newgate, at the commence-
ment of the last Sessions, 84 boys of all ages and offences
confined together; that in the New' Prison, Clerhenwell,
there were, in May last, 13 boys confined, four of whom
awaited their trial fur burglar) ; three were er:striated for
tossing up in the street, and would be brought up and
misted the next. Sessions ; one was confined t ,r an assault;
and 5 were committed for re-examination; they were all con-
fined in one yard with. the Men. It is scarcely possible that a
boy should be a single day in this prison without being con-
taminated; and yet it is usual fur boys to remain there until
within a few days of their trial, a•periodsometimes of three
or four weeks. At the House of Correction, Cold-bath-fields,
there were then 45 boys confined, who were committed for
misdemeanours, for felony, and fur re-examination ; the un-
tried and the convicted were together in one yard. • A boy
was lately committed and confined in this yard for offering for -
sale sonic numbers of a work without having a license ;• he
was there three months; the only sun of poor but reputable
parents.
From a return which your Committee have received, it ap-
pears that in the New Prison, Cierkenwelt, where young and
old are all mixed indiscriiiiiiiately together, and where net
classification according to age or offences exists, t-599 boys
under 20, were confined for felonies in Slit last year, of whom
one was of 9, 2 were ot• 10, 7of 1) 14 of 13, and 32 of 13
years of age; 17 were for misdemeanours, 15 for riots, and
31 for assaults: of which last, 3 were of the ages of 11, 12, •
and 13. That of females, 92 were for felonies,. 6 for misde-
meanours, • 10 for riots, and 29 for assaults.
Your Committee observe, that it is in evidence that the
most numerous class of delinquents err street ssilferers, said
for stealing privately from the person ; many of those boys •
may be considered as just commencing a course of crime:
the mode theta in v:Mich they are treated On apprebenslon,has
a tiattual tendency to encourage theta its vicious practices;
for the greater number found guilty of the former offeike are
usually committed for a shMt time to prison, suoietimes ,e-
-verelyllogged,• and then, without a shilling in their .pockets,
turned loose upon the world more hardened in aurae- '
ter than ever. The condition of these poor children is
of all others the most deplorable; numbers are brought •
up-to Thies's., as a trade, are driven into the streets .every
morning, and dare not return house without plunder; others
are orpbant, or. completely abandoned by their parents, who
subsist by begging or-pilfering, and at night sleep under the
sheds, in the streets, and in the market places; when in pri-
son no one visits them, nor do they seem to possess one friend
in the world; they are occasionally treated with severity,
sometimes' sentenced to be flogged, a practice than which
nothing tends more to harden and degrade, Mr. Crawford,
who gives this affecting. picture of -the sufferings of, these.children, adds, that many of thew occasionally- apply to • the
memberi of the Cotsamittee soliciting their advice and relief,
and declaring their readiness toshon their former connexions,
'and to abandon their vicious pursuits; but how are they to
subsist;' without friends' or character, who wilFgive themera-
ploynient ? Without temporary aid, where can they procure
food ? He is convinced that many are driven to renew their t
depredations by their necessities. Ile knows of several in.-
: Stande in which this has been the case; and thus some bops
are nrisooner discharged froth prison
,than they.'are again
brought in, for itt reality a prison is their oaly tanue.
ETo be eoutinuidd