The Sun.
London, England, 1828-09-17 00:00:00

SLCONDARY FUNISHMENTs.

TransFortation for life is an excellent punishment
in certain cases. Where a man has made crime his
habit and profession—where he has become the
chief or a member of a band of thieves, and has no
resource on his return from imprisonment but to
herd with the same gang, and pursue the same prac-
tices, it is both mercy and justice to spare his life,
and remove him to a distant colony, tt here he may
first afford an example of punishment by hard labour,
and by degrees lose his vicious propensities inn new
state of society.
Much has been said of the advantages er6eyetl by
the convicts in New South Wales, and the little
effect which the punishment inspires. Still there
are numbers to whom the notion of being banished
for life, with several years of convict labour in addi-
tion, is very formidable; nor would it be wise to
abandon such a punishment.
which greatly dimi-
Transportation for fourteen years is far from hay-
tfhe return,
punisbment. T
hay-
ing the same advantages with transportation for life.
For those who dread the loss of their native con:.
try, it
The returned
transport, likewise, is generally a very abandoned
character, and he usually returns to his criminal so-
nishes
ciety, thus forming a link, as it were, between the
givestlie a
value hopoef o
thieves at large and the thieves under punishment.
Transportation for seven years to New South
Wales is seldom resorted to. The Committee would
be inclined to recommend that the punishment
should be abolished, were it wot that some trans-
ports have lately been sent to Bermuda; and they
have no evidence with regard to the effect of that
punishment.
Transportation for seven years is usually com-
muted in practice to confinement for four or three
years on board the hulks. The system adopted on
board the hulks appears, from the evidence of Mr.
Uoare, Chairman to the Society for the Improve-
ment of Prison Discipline, to be very defective, The
labour performed is said to be too light, and fir,,
want of separation exposes the men to continual in-
fluence of vicious society. Under these eircum.
stances, the Committee recommend an inquiry into
the labour performed, and the discipline adopted on
board the hulks, with a view to increase the severity.
of the lemur, mei avoid the efiects of contaruination.
If this should be found impracticable, a total aban-
donment the system donmentmight become desirable.
Imprisonment has of late Yea • Is greatly changed it,
character. There are, it is true, many small gaol
remaining, where the ancient vice and disorder pre-
vail, but in the greater part, cleanliness, order, and
wholesome food ;
le established.
When, however,institution, it
is
uNlgre.at changes take place in any
gulations to the end 'in.kv. fwtiarrilledto adapt the new r
must be masse, with temper frequent experiment
p perseverance, before_
the new system •
will produce the effect expected from
it. This remark may he dI apy te to the tered ma-
nagement of our gaols. Formerly a prison was
dreaded on account of the filth and disease whirl,
were held to be its constant accompaniments.
certain terror was inspired by those association,=.
Perhaps the general not:on of a prison cannot be
better described than by the old phrase of sending a
man " to rot in a gaol.' It was discovered that
this system was unwise as well as inhuman; that the
prisoners became worse by contamination, while they
excited sympathy by their wretchedness. Prisons
were cleaned, ventilated, and put in order. But, in
making this change, a prison altered its character ;
men no longer dreaded being confined in a place
where, under a good roof, and with good wholesum„
food, they were kept employed at labour less severe
than their usual worh. Hence it has become, nem-

sary to find some other means of inspiring dread; and
it is this problem which has engaged the more sen-
sible advocates of the new discipline of prisons for
many years; for it need hardly be observed, althougb
many seem to forget it, that it is not solely the refor-
mation of the offender which is desired. If that were
the only object, the setting him tip in a small shop,
or giving him a place as servant in a respectable fa-
mily, would he perhaps the best way of treating a
criminal. But we wish to deter others from crime,
and for that reason to make punishment irksome
and disagreeable. - It is from want of keeping this
observation in mind that many reforms of prisons
have greatly failed. After all the pains that have
been bestowed, when physical comfort, spiritual ad-
vice, and even amusing books, have been adminis-
tered with generous benevolence, the offender has
often come out unreformed, and the bystander learns
nothing by the example. As places of reform only,
gaols have not succeeded; as places of reform only
they_9light not to be considered.

With respect to diet, Mr. Hoare justly observes,
that the usual mode of living of labourers and arti-
sans of the different counties is so very various, that
it is net practicable or expedient to adopt any strict
uniformity of system. Still the difference now ex-
isting, from ls. 3,1. to 4s. Sd. a-head per week, in
expence, and so extremely great, both in the quan-
tity and quality of food, seems wider than any neces-
sity can require. As long as the health is not in-
jured, the plainer and the coarser the food given in
a gaol the better. No doubt men confined in a
gaol are more likely to suffer from want of good food
than those similarly fed who are at large • the in-
ittence of the mind in this respect is well known.
But beyond what is required for health, no extra diet
should be allowed in prisons.
The importance which attaches to the system
adopted for prisons is shown by the fact, that, in the
best regulated gaols, the number of recommittals is
always less than in others. Mr. Hoare has a list of
twenty-two gaols, in which the proportion of re-
committals was not more than 41 per cent.; in
others, worse managed, the proportion was nearly
20 per cent.
The Committee attach very great importance to
an improved system of prison discipline, not that
they are sanguine enough to hope for reform in the
more vicious among the inmates of a prison. But
they wish to observe that the same communication
with other prisoners which prevents reform of the
individuals tends to make the prison itself less an
object of terror. A months' solitary confinement, or
six months upon the tread-mill well applied, are
more formidable than two years of lax imprisonment;
at the same time, periods of two, and even three and
four years, may be properly applied to deter from
grave offences.
Your Committee have examined with attention
an account of the state of Criminal Justice in France'
for the year 1812, presented to Majesty Charles
X-. by his Keeper of th Seals. Some of the re-
sults stated in that a,ccot nt may, he compared with
those contained in the st mmary statement for the
gaols of England and Wa s in the same year.
In France, the total number, of Accused were 6,988
Acquitted 2,640
Convicted 4,348

6,988

In England, Committed for trial 16,147
Acquitted .. 3,266
Not prosecuted, or no bills found 1,786

• • 5,052
Convicted 11,095

16,147

Of 4,34.8, convicted in France, were condemned

to death MCI
In England, of 11,095 1,200
Of those condemned to death in France, it would
appear that the greater part were executed; in Eng-
land, of 1,200, only 57 were executed.
Of the crimes for which punishment of death was
inflicted, we find in the French statements—murder,
11 ; attempt to murder, 88 ; parricide, 4 ; - infanti-
cide, 6 ; poisoning, 11 ; false money, 9 ; 'robbery on
a public road 1 ; other robberies, 2; arson of houses,
17 ; arson of other descriptions, I.—The Eng-
lish statement, besides the crimes contained
above, -contains, burglary, 10 ; forgery, l ;
horse-stealing, 7 ; larceny in a dwelling house
to the value of 405., ; rape, 2; sheep-steal-
ing, 3. In France it appears to be the pracrice to
condemn, in the first instance, to the punishment in
tended to be inflicted. For instance, in France,
robbery, on the highway gives—condemned to death
1; hard labour for life 30; for a term, 8; solitary
confinement, 5 ; emTectional punishments, 22. The
English gives—robbery on person, on the highway
apd other places—sentenced to death, 144 ; exe-
cuted 15.
Of secondary punishments, France gives—hard
labour for life, 281 ; fora term, 1,13 G ; solitary con-
finement, 1,228 ; au cancan, 5 ; banishment, 1 ; de-
gradation from civil rights, 1; correctional punish-
ment', 1,478; In England we have—transporta-
tion for life, 1:33 ; for fourteen years, 185; seven
years, 1,945; imprisonment—five years, none; three
years, 11 ; two years and above one year, 297 ; one
year, 1,201 ; six months and under, 5,813 ; whip-
ping and fine, 310.
With respect to terms of imprisonment, we' find
in the French statement—

Far 20 years
15
10
5
Front 1 to 5 years
312
Six months to 1 year 6B
Less than six months
In t
France the number of accused were its the pro-
portion of 1 to ~
accused tried, 1 in 4.,5
57•
the population; of the
)England the propor-
tion would be greatly superior.
But it is difficult
to draw any parallel in this respect.
The offences
tried before the Correctional Tribunals in
of a graver character than those which France are
are punished
in tiiis country out of the uourts of Assize and
Quarter Sessions. For instance, in F •
lance, under
the head of Crimes Punished by the Correctional
Tribunals, there appear under the i
t.tle volt. 10,796
of whom 4,364 were condemned to imprisonment for
3 year or more. .
Distinguishing crimes' against the person, and
those against property, the number under the former
head are in France, of accused, 1,907 ; under the
latter, 6,988; leaving out Corsica, the former num-
ber would be 1,821, the latter 6,939, In England,
including, the same cle;s of crimes, the numboro ere,
Against the person ........................ 531
15,616
Against property • ......................
tint adding to the 6,988, 10,796, the numbers would he—
For France, against the person ~ ~•,... 1,821
property - - 17,735
England, against the person
against property
Being in France, in the proportion of more than I to
10, while in England
Without pretvrOing to any great exactness on this
subject, it may be ;inferred that the whole quantity
population i of crime is greater in proportion to then
England than in France; bet that of offences
againFt
the person there are more, both
ti proportion to the
t, ti whole number of offences, and e bee poptilation in
France, than in England. The g
from this and other facts, seems to
al
In, r that" 1l
crowdedci' 1
- s ina
n
towns and flourishing manufactUres tend to increase
depredations on property, and to diminish
acts of
violence against the person.
Passing to the Tribunal of Correctional Police
under the head of h asse el Port
Cd'Armes, there a
p,
pear 6,578 prevenus, of whom 5,04.7 werecon-
demned, but -5,t120 only to a fine. Under that of-
dilits ruraux, the number of prevenus are 5,109; of
3,669 condemned, 2,929 to fine.
It appears that the number of the judgments
given in 1826 extends those of 182.5 by 8260, and
that of these 6,049 were (Oils forestiers. No reason
is given for this augmentation.
The state of crime with regard to juvenile of-
fenders is peculiarly deserving of consideration, By
an Ordinance of Louis XVIII. of the 9th of Sept.
1814, all convicted prisoners under twenty years of
age were to be brought together in one prison,
where methods of reform were to be adopted. This

Ordinance is in conformity with the G6th Article of
the Criminal Code of France. In the tables before
us we find that the Bth table contains an account of
the age of the prisoners tried. Under 16 were 102;
of these, 39 were acquitted; 15 condemned to peines
correetionelles ; 48 to be detained in houses of cor-
rection ; none to any higher punishment. We find
in the next table, where crimes are specified, robbery
on the highway by persons
.less than 16 years .old,
two condemned to peines correctionelles.
In the 11th Table we find the following note :
Aged under 16, detained till the 20th yearof their age 18
19th 2
11th
16th
For 10 pears

....

Some of these terms of imprisonment seem exces-
sively long; it is the principle, however, of treating
boys differently from men, which is most worthy of
consideration.
July 17, 1828.