The Sun.
London, England, 1816-09-09 00:00:00

J OVE,N ILE OFFEND ERS,

Ate more children and boys brotight before yen)
than were Formerly ?---.8 great many more.
diave you in your office an account from which
you could give a ref urn of time ages of the accused,
under '4O,- that have been brought Wine you for
the last 4 or 5 years )--,rl should think it piQbabie
it might be collated; buti cannot speak with
any certainty.
Ibis the number of those of a very young age
Considerably increased from what it Was,i—Very
much.
Have you them ever brought before you of the
early age of eight or nine yeats•?-1 think we
have.' •
Can you State to the COmmittee what, accord-
ing to your opinion,,is thc_retetion for this alarm-
ing inciense are -several reasons which
may be assigned for it ; there are a number of chil-
tire!) who are deserted at an early age by their
parenta; and many brought before tis. who appear
to be orphans, and without any friends; there
artrothers, whose parents arc in indigent circum-
stances, not capable of providing for them, nor
able' to Put then* out apprentice. After a certain
age the parishes tvill not keep them, urging that
they are big enough to earn their bread ; and there
is 11 -"number dvii,,nink thieves constantly on
the look-out-for children, who are naturally
inclined lo he idle that to wink, and Who commence
with petty thefts at the wharfs and other places Where
property is -expOsed; these the confirmed thicwes.
sieze hold of, anti make them the cat's-paw in doing
t tit*tic thin goviiich they otherwisewouldt hemseNes,
and • fty which- they would probably stiller detec-
tion mill punishment, -hoping that, 11t consoltlera-
Lion of their youth, columiseratiou tnayhe excited
itiAltirritilts of the magistrates; and that they
Andy be tli:iinisscd; haye frtvsentiy, seutlor :Oiv,
,
vittents of such .0 bare beeii broutht.

alaiis'n 'their soleinay Orotnisineto tate care of
the children, and punish -them themselves for the
offences they have commititted; 1 have given them
up to them ; but it seldom .happens to any gota
purpose, for they get out, and again associate
with their' thievish comrades, and contiutie their
Oractices:
Do you consider that the public schools esta-
blished in the Borough have lessened time nomber
of children that cominit crimes ?..,---I am afraid
nor, because We• have mere children hrong!it to
the office latterly than 1 ever knew or ever heard
of.befom.

You wish the Committee to underaktod that the
increase ut ill use javen kle depredators is very great
--Certaioly.

The tootther going on from year tb year in-
creasing ; but I am of opinion that
they have not made their appearance till within
the last year or two, at such an early period of
life, It has often occurred to me, that if a ship
fitted up as a. .penitentiary were provided, and
those, young depredators coMmitted *to it, snd
made to work, they would not only be taken away
from the bad boys they associate with, and be
released front the crutches of the wietelies they
are now
~connected with, who have them under
tuition, but they might learn and be Made to
Work, and after a certain period of time perhaps
becOme good members of sotiety, • and by thk
mode be kept detached from other had charaeters.
Ilas it fallen .vithin ydur observation, whether
person k who have been- discharged from the hulks,:
as they are establiShed.at present, have; generally
speaking, nine times out of too, returned to their•
old habits of thieving believe nine times out
of ten they have; 1' have heaill'.tntuyin3tincei'
of U.

Do you COnsitler the tleteetlein of-an. increased.
number of juvenile depredators at all attributable
to an increased ‘igilance on the., part of the police.
adic,rs ?—it stone -degree be owing to that,
Iktq, not ; those whin have heim brought
haute the ifilice hdve bcr'n apt:telten,icil not otily
by the futenticnt ht the ~mice oflicers, htit of
'parochial Constab:es, who ate attending at the.
vviter-side tti)(l ilie wharfs.

.. .
Are you oFotlition that it is in Consequence of
treater vigilaßcenn the part ot those parochial
constables ?--41 cannot say :that ; but certainly
many have heel+ brought before us:by them.
You would think the increase proceeds frou‘
two causes---pertly . from the increased vigitanee
of the Police ofrierrs, but more particularly froni
the increased untnher of crimes ?—.Frotti the in-
Creased number of crimes, chiefly. -;